Will Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman Make Any Moves at the Trade Deadline?

I think it's wise to let the season play out before we deliver our formal evaluation of Howie Roseman's first year in the saddle as the Eagles General Manager.

We have early evidence that the results will be mixed. Certainly there are encouraging signs that the draft class may be one of the Eagles most productive in recent history. The offseason free-agent moves offer some cause for concern (Mike Bell) and some potential positives (Ernie Simms, Daryl Tapp). With the exception of the outstanding pickup of Owen Schmitt in place of the injured Leonard Weaver, the other post-training camp and in-season moves look to be largely inconsequential with the pickup of Antwan Barnes and Reggie Wells as the obvious head-scratchers.  

While the verdict is certainly to be determined, the most recent swap of Mike Bell for Jerome Harrison certainly appears to be an in-season upgrade to the roster. (Harrison can't be any worse!) That said, I believe there is one more move to be made as the NFL trading deadline goes into effect October 19th at 4pm EST.

While a strong opposing argument is easily constructed, I believe the Eagles would be well served to trade Asante Samuel prior to the trade deadline.

Why in the world would the Eagles consider trading their top corner at this point? After all, Asante is coming off a nine-interception, Pro Bowl season, has two picks this season and continues to show an uncanny knack for being around a lot of balls.

The case is as follows:

1. There are playoff-caliber teams in desperate defensive back straits, and desperation tends to advantage the team, in this case the Eagles, that offer a potential solution. The teams most in need of Asante include the Ravens, Vikings (anybody see our old friend Lito get torched yesterday?) and Packers. 
2. The author confesses to being at "wits end" with Asante's approach to run-support. In reviewing the tapes from this season, there are six examples where Samuel clearly balks at attempting to tackle and multiple examples where he simply half-heartedly whiffs at opposing ball carriers. There is evidence that Samuel can in fact tackle, it's simply that he doesn't want to do it. Bob Cunningham makes note of this in his Bleacher Report article on June 10, 2010 and Paul Domowitch made this case in the Philadelphia Daily News on April 26, 2010. Both of these are excellent reads for those requiring more detail on the pros and cons of Samuel.
3. The Eagles are blessed with depth at corner. While the depth remaining in a post-Asante roster doesn't offer the same ball-hawking capability as Samuel, I would suggest that when you factor in Asante's approach to run support and tackling in general, I don't know that you lose that much. As a refresher, in a world without Asante, the Eagles are left with Hanson, Patterson, Lindley and Calvin. Personally, I didn't miss Asante in the Niners game.
4. This is a subtle point, but I think worthy of mention. The Eagles are a very young—and with that—impressionable group. I have no evidence that Asante is a bad locker-room guy, but he certainly strikes me as a guy that is all about Asante. As evidence, he essentially refused to play press coverage last year despite that being McDermott's designed coverage to combat the Cowboy's bubble screen attack. Do you want a guy who refuses to play the coverage around the youngsters? I don't. I think a plus of this Eagles team is that in the absence of a superstar/lightening rod like McNabb, no one individual, even Jackson or the humbled Michael Vick, floats above the rest of the roster. Samuel seems to float off to the side and I don't think we need that.
5. Lastly, Samuel is in the third year of a six-year deal meaning he doesn't present the same challenge of a recently-traded Randy Moss and even McNabb who were in the last year of their deals. Said differently, he is locked up for the next three seasons making him a no-risk (at least contract-wise) addition to a team's roster. Add on to this the fact that this January, Samuel will cross the magic threshold of age 30. With perhaps one exception currently playing safety in Denver, the Eagles often times—sadly but wisely—say goodbye to established players at that age. The time is now to make this deal as Asante's value will never be higher.

So these trade deadline deals are rare and certainly the Eagles don't have to make this move. At the same time, if Howie can extract meaningful compensation for Samuel package, like a two and a five, it's worth serious debate in the bunker deep inside the Novacare complex. 

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