Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Earlier this offseason Donovan McNabb said he wanted to see how the Eagles upgraded the roster before he would talk about a contract extension. After last fall, when things got so bad that Andy Reid benched McNabb for Kevin Kolb, it looked as if neither head coach nor starting quarterback would be in Philly another year, much less long term.
Last offseason, the Bengals franchised offensive tackle Stacy Andrews, the team's 2004 fourth-round pick, even though he had just 17 career starts. He started 15 more times last season, but a Week 17 knee injury convinced Cincinnati to let him walk this time around.
The Eagles, who are in need of reinforcements along the offensive line due to age and, ironically, injury, wasted little time in signing Andrews. His younger brother Shawn just finished his fifth year with the Eagles, and has 47 career starts at guard and tackle. Stacey's addition means that 34-year-old Jon Runyan's Eagles' career is likely over.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
The Eagles underachieved for most of the 2008 season (the nadir had to be either tying the lowly Bengals are getting thumped by the Ravens -- take your pick) only to get hot during the last month of the season.
Philadelphia would eventually lose to Arizona in the NFC Championship game. And while nobody saw that coming as recently as Thanksgiving, the team did have high expectations heading into the season. Assuming Donovan McNabb is indeed in the organization's long-range plans, what do the Eagles need to do in the coming months to make a Super Bowl run?
While the offensive line might not represent a direct draft day decision for your roster, few areas of knowledge can offer a competitive advantage in fantasy football like having a good grasp of the various units of trench soldiers around the league. Over the course of a couple weeks, I'll break down every NFL team's offensive lines into five tiers: the crème de la crème, the highly competent, the serviceable, the grim, and the bunk.
The "serviceable" group is akin to a pack of trusty white Hanes beefy tees. They don't necessarily add a whole lot, but they work well for most situations and won't let you down very often. Just be careful not too rely too heavily upon them, because they'll stain your armpits and turn into something that resembles yellow bulletproof glass. Maybe we better just get started.
The Jacksonville Jaguars: Any team that can rack up 2,391 rushing yards and average 4.6 yards per carry with Fred "It's Pronounced Frahgeelay" Taylor leading the way must have a decent offensive line. Despite being a group of pretty obscure names with zero Pro Bowlers, this is a reliable unit. Brad Meester is a solid center and Tony Pashos, a free agent signing after the Jags waived Chris Naole due to injury (nice right?), should do well at right tackle.
2007 Sacks Allowed: 31
2007 Yards Per Carry: 4.6
Continue reading for the rest of the "Serviceable" offensive lines.
"It's not helping us and it's not helping him sitting out," right tackle Jon Runyan said. "The longer he holds out, the longer it'll be before he gets in there. So it's going to be a tough situation. If you keep giving reps to the guy who's backing you up, at some point, he's going to pass you."
Over the weekend when this whole Shawn Andrews mystery started to come to light, Runyan made a comment about Andrews taking a "really expensive vacation." At $15,000 or so a day, the Eagles lineman has surpassed the six figure mark. Could Andrews really be that lazy that he'd rather pay 100 large than have to work hard twice a day in the Pennsylvania humidity? I'm thinking there must be deeper issues.
The guy stepping in for Andrews is third-year guard Max Jean-Gilles who by all accounts is quite a large man. Reports from camp keep talking about just how gigantic he is. (yet agile!)
In other Eagles camp news, DeSean Jackson returned to the field on Wednesday after his "tweaked" hammy kept him out of drills on Tuesday.
In offices, factories and other places where men gather, a lot of the talk on Monday was the Eagles Brian Westbrook taking a knee at the one yard line. Westbrook easily could have scored a TD and given the Philadelphia Eagles a 17-6 lead ... and probably the win. Instead, he kneeled down on the one yard line which allowed the Eagles to kneel down a few times and salt away the clock to the win.
In fantasy football circles, that may have cost some folks a win. Not just a win ... but a playoff win. Why would he do such a thing? I mean, it was smart, but we need those fantasy points, dag nabbit!
When the Giants have the ball: You never know what to expect from New York's offense these days. Which Eli Manning will show up? How foolish will offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride get with the play calling? And how will some of the injured players perform? Those questions are nearly impossible to answer, but on the bright side, at least the Giants will have Brandon Jacobs and Steve Smith back on the field.
Defensively, the Eagles will look to do what Jim Johnson does: blitz, blitz and blitz. They'll aim to knock Manning around, hit hard and try to force a turnover ... or four. If they can stick to their gameplan, it could be a long day for the Giants struggling offense.
Jon Runyan is a large man. He also has quite the booming voice to go along with his 6 foot 7 inch, 330 pound frame. The man is intimidating. Big Jon is also rather durable, having made 165 consecutive starts in a row. But even the biggest, most durable of men meet their match one day. On Thursday afternoon, it wasn't a giant defensive lineman that banged up Runyan, but rather a sneaky tub. Apparently Jon fell onto his [tailbone] while trying to get out of the cold tub after practice.
"It's frustrating, because you're getting in the tub to kind of take care of your body, and you end up hurtin' yourself. So it's very ironic and, at the same time, frustrating,"
330 pounds of offensive lineman falling onto his [tailbone] certainly can't be pleasant. As of Saturday morning, Runyan was listed as probable tomorrow's game with the Bears.
It's hard not to have a sense of humor about such an injury, as Andy Reid points out, "He was going in the cold tub, and he slipped. It's a long way down to that tailbone." Even Big Jon himself notes that he can't even lay down. So how will he sleep? "Maybe sleep like a vampire, hanging by my legs. Whatever," Runyan quipped. Give that guy a chestbump!
When the Eagles have the ball: What Philadelphia does on Sunday night will be decided by the status of running back Brian Westbrook. If he's able to play, the Eagles will no doubt turn to him as their primary offensive threat. If he's not, the onus will be on Donovan McNabb and the wide receivers. And although McNabb really lit it up last week, he did so against the league's worst secondary. Then again, the Giants secondary hasn't played much better.
Defensively, the Giants will gameplan as if Westbrook is playing. Their main objective will be stopping him, and should he sit out, they'll be forced to adapt on the fly. Luckily for them, that would be the ideal situation. But in either case, they must play like they did in the second half versus Washington, and not the way they did for the first 10 quarters of the season.
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Last offseason, the Bengals franchised offensive tackle Stacy Andrews, the team's 2004 fourth-round pick, even though he had just 17 career starts. He started 15 more times last season, but a Week 17 knee injury convinced Cincinnati to let him walk this time around. 
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer. 
While the offensive line might not represent a direct draft day decision for your roster, few areas of knowledge can offer a competitive advantage in fantasy football like having a good grasp of the various units of trench soldiers around the league. Over the course of a couple weeks, I'll break down every NFL team's offensive lines into five tiers: the crème de la crème, the highly competent, the serviceable, the grim, and the bunk. 
Shawn Andrews has still failed to show his face at Eagles training camp at Lehigh University and some of his teammates aren't exactly happy with The Big Kid's absence.
To get you ready for week 14, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the New York Giants/Philadelphia Eagles preview.
Jon Runyan is a large man. He also has quite the booming voice to go along with his 6 foot 7 inch, 330 pound frame. The man is intimidating. Big Jon is also rather durable, having made 165 consecutive starts in a row. But even the biggest, most durable of men meet their match one day. On Thursday afternoon, it wasn't a giant defensive lineman that banged up Runyan, but rather a sneaky tub. Apparently Jon fell onto his [tailbone] while trying to get out of the cold tub after practice.
To get you ready for week 4, FanHouse is previewing all 14 NFL games. Here is the Philadelphia Eagles/New York Giants preview.
