Andy Reid's Power Play Continues: Joe Banner out as Eagles President

Back in mid-March, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reported that Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid was ready to "walk away from the Eagles if he didn't get more personnel control"—which resulted in Reid getting exactly what he wanted. 

Apparently caught in the wash of this power play by Reid is team president Joe Banner, who the team announced Thursday morning will be transitioning to "a new role as Strategic Advisor to the Owner, Jeffrey Lurie."

In other words: Banner is out. 

Taking his place as Eagles president will be former Chief Operating Officer Don Smolenski. 

It would appear the Eagles now have a bit of a triangle of authority in Reid, general manager Howie Roseman and owner Jeff Lurie. Roseman will most likely take on Banner's responsibilities with the salary cap, which Banner was heavily involved in.

The Eagles are trying to frame this as some sort of natural progression—I don't buy that. I tend to line up much more with what Les Bowen wrote this morning on Philly.com:

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At the McCoy signing, agent Drew Rosenhaus kept talking about how different it was doing business with the Birds these days. Rosenhaus described a negotiation done with Reid and Roseman, and spoke of having had an opportunity to "visit with" Banner. Rosenhaus described Reid's heavy involvement as unprecedented.

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As Bowen also points out, Banner was the one who said that Reid needed to win a Super Bowl to get a new contract. With Banner out of the picture, could Reid be in line for a new deal?

His current contract is up in 2013, and you have to think a big part of Reid's desire to call more of the shots is that he wants to be able to control his own destiny, Super Bowl or no.