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Shortly after the Philadelphia Eagles hired Andy Reid, team president Joe Banner sat down with the coach to review company policy. At one point the conversation turned to the salary cap, with Banner proposing an idea that, if not revolutionary, was so far out there that Reid questioned its feasibility.
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| Joe Banner has laid out Philly's winning blueprint. (Provided to SportsLine) |
So he did. For the next six years.
The Philadelphia Eagles not only are one of pro football's most successful teams, they're one of its most successful operations, period. Each season they win a slew of games, advance to the playoffs, then turn around to re-sign their own players and hire free agents so they can bully the NFC East the next year.
The salary cap was supposed to curb a team's ability to win over the long haul by limiting the number of expensive stars it could retain.
The Eagles and a handful of others, like New England, rejected that idea and proposed something different. They would draft wisely and invest in younger, cheaper players. Then they would identify the best and lock them up by extending their contracts. They would fill in with free agents. They would stay within the cap.
And they would win. And win. And win.
Over the past five years no one has won more games than the Philadelphia Eagles. They're 59-21, 64-25 if you include the playoffs. They've never had fewer than 11 victories in any season, and their NFC East title this season was their fourth in a row.
But look at how they got here.
A year ago they were 12-4 but lost the NFC Championship Game for a third consecutive season. So they blew up their roster and let starters like Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, Duce Staley and Carlos Emmons walk. They added key free agents like Jevon Kearse, Dhani Jones and Jeremiah Trotter, acquired All-Pro wide receiver Terrell Owens, and then left the accounting to Banner.
The result? The Eagles won an NFC-best 13 games, have 19 of their 22 starters signed through next season and are $17.5 million under next year's salary cap. I don't know about you, but those numbers suggest to me that Joe Banner knew what he was talking about.
"I'm very pleased with this," Banner said. "Frankly, between us and the Patriots -- and it's a little hard for us to say it because we haven't won a Super Bowl -- but I think between the two of us, if there's anyone out there who still believes there are limited windows of opportunity and that you can't get good and stay good they haven't really studied it.
"We'll still face challenges like we have. Hopefully we'll continue to be right in picking our spots and drafting well so we have good replacements when that happens."