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Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Eagles in 2012.

Dream scenario (13-3): The Eagles believed they'd assembled a team last year that could be among the very best in the NFL, and they believe it still. They will need to play defense better, but new middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans and the year the rest of the players have now spent in the new defensive scheme should help them do that. Michael Vick will need to commit fewer turnovers, but his words last December and so far this offseason indicate a better understanding of his own level of responsibility. In the Eagles' dream scenario, Vick plays safer than he did in 2010 and smarter than he did in 2011, and the meet-in-the-middle result is one of the league's most productive quarterbacks. With DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy around him, as well as his own ability, he has no excuse not to be. The Eagles' dream scenario also has them leading the league in sacks again but covering receivers better this time, especially in the middle of the field. And it has Demetress Bell serving as a surprisingly good replacement for injured left tackle Jason Peters. If these things all come to pass, the Eagles will be capable of beating anyone on their schedule.

Nightmare scenario (7-9): Yeah, as bad as they were last year, they still managed to finish 8-8, and Andy Reid's had only one sub-.500 season since the turn of the century. In the Eagles' nightmare scenario, though, the turnover problem doesn't get fixed, the downgrade from Peters to Bell at left tackle messes with the entire offensive line dynamic, Vick gets hurt again and someone like Mike Kafka or Nick Foles has to start a half-dozen games. In the nightmare scenario, 2011 turns out not to have been just one down year for Nnamdi Asomugha but rather the start of a decline. Maclin can't regain his 2010 form the way he's expected to now that he's fully healthy, and Jackson remains a deep downfield decoy who keeps the safeties back and limits Vick's offense to smaller chunks of yardage instead of backbreaking big plays. The nightmare scenario, in which the Eagles finish under .500 in year two of this big plan, sees the end of the Reid and Vick eras in Philadelphia, and leads into a 2013 offseason of great change and upheaval in an organization that prizes continuity as one of its better traits.

Can we trust the Philadelphia Eagles this time?

The Eagles were, as you'll recall, the stars of the 2011 offseason. The lockout ended, and they started spending and signing. Coming off a 2010 division title season during which quarterback Michael Vick had emerged as one of the best players in the league, the Eagles believed they were going to be awesome. Instead, they were one of the league's biggest 2011 flops. Radical changes on the coaching staff and with the defensive personnel failed to come together as quickly and effectively as the Eagles believed they would. They started out 1-4 and never recovered. This offseason, they've been more measured, expressing the belief that the 2011 roster was better than it played and deserves a mulligan. They added a great middle linebacker in DeMeco Ryans to address their biggest need, extended the contracts of some of their core players, and are coming off a draft that many have hailed as the best in the league. Once again, they believe they are going to be awesome.

But is it real this time? Will Nnamdi Asomugha play to his all-pro pedigree in his second Philadelphia season? Will former offensive line coach Juan Castillo's second year as defensive coordinator be free from the growing pains of his first? Will the Eagles be tougher against the run? And perhaps most importantly, will Vick be more responsible with the ball? Because as much as the defensive lapses coast the Eagles in the early part of the 2011 season, the turnovers on offense might have been even costlier. The Eagles might not need the brilliant, electrified 2010 version of Vick, but they do need a version that's more careful and responsible -- with the ball and with his own body -- than the one that played for them in 2011.

Any and all of these things could happen. With all of their problems, the 2011 Eagles still finished 8-8, only one game out of first place in the NFC East. So it's not as though there's some huge mountain to climb to get into the playoffs. But owner Jeffrey Lurie was clearly upset about the way the high hopes of 2011 fizzled, and if the 2012 Eagles disappoint, this could be the first time in Andy Reid's tenure as head coach that his job is legitimately in jeopardy. There's a lot riding on this Eagles season for a lot of people. They didn't do much to correct last year's problems, having sold ownership and fans on the idea that they would correct themselves because of the talent on the roster. That's a big bet to make, and for the sake of Reid and the rest of the folks in charge in Philadelphia, it had better pay off.

Traditional trade logic does not apply to the Asante Samuel trade. Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles have enough good cornerbacks to allow them to make this deal, but this isn't a case of dealing from a strength to address a weakness. The Eagles aren't weak at sixth-round pick. They already have three, including the second one of the round. They're trading Samuel and his eight-figure salary cap number to the Atlanta Falcons (who will reduce that number as a condition of the trade) simply because he no longer fit in Philadelphia. And that's just the latest bit of proof of how all-in the Eagles still are on their 2011 offseason plan.

The two most high-profile acquisitions the Eagles made last summer -- cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie -- are the two that rendered Samuel obsolete. Sure, he's a better player than Rodgers-Cromartie is. Sure, he played better in 2011 than Asomugha did. But he's more expensive than the former and doesn't fit into the Eagles' new defensive scheme the way they believe the latter does. The Eagles want to play press coverage with their cornerbacks when possible, and that's not Samuel's strength. He squirmed and said some snarky things about the front office after they brought in two big-name guys who played the same position he played. And with LeSean McCoy due for a contract extension and a number of early-round draft picks to sign, the salary cap room they pick up by dumping Samuel helps the long-range plan as well. All of that, combined with his salary, combined with his age (31) means he's the guy who has to go.

But this move is, effectively, a continuation of the 2011 offseason. The Eagles may well have traded Samuel last year if it had been a traditional offseason with free agency before the draft and time to work out an acceptable deal. Dealing him now is the latest bit of evidence in a long string that supports their claim of how strongly they believe in the 2011 plan. They're all-in on the Wide 9, on Juan Castillo, on playing press man. They believe the players they brought in last year, plus the trade that brought them DeMeco Ryans last month to shore up a woefully undermanned linebacker corps, will form the nucleus of one of the league's best defenses in 2012. They finished in the top 10 last year, after all, in spite of a rough start and a rocky transition. Given a year to jell, and a full offseason this time, the Eagles believe they will have something special.

They need to be right, or else jobs could be lost, and I guess you have to give them credit for not hedging. Trading Samuel now means they're going full-speed-ahead with this mulligan they're taking, in the belief that what they assembled last summer really was a very good team that underperformed. If they flop again at 8-8 or worse, the whole thing gets blown up anyway. If Samuel intercepts a pass and the Falcons eliminate the Eagles from the playoffs next year, they could look like fools. They know all of this, and they're dealing him anyway. All I'm saying is, when you trade away a player as good as Asante Samuel and all you get back is a sixth-round pick, your plan had better work.

With 17 days left until the draft, the Philadelphia Eagles do have one fairly large remaining piece of in-house business to take care of. That would be veteran cornerback Asante Samuel, a very good player who might be worth more to the Eagles as a pre-draft (or during-draft) trade chip than as a 2012 cornerback.

As Ashley Fox writes in her offseason notes column, the Eagles could be looking to deal Samuel to rid themselves of a potential "headache":

Samuel is a terrific player, but Philadelphia has two other good cornerbacks in Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Samuel wasn't happy about the Eagles' acquisition of Rodgers-Cromartie last season, and when trade rumors persisted last year, he said that the front office was playing fantasy football with owner Jeffrey Lurie's money.

After a disastrous 2011 season, the Eagles are going to be all about limiting distractions and building team unity in 2012. They can't do that with an unhappy Samuel.

I think the Eagles will be able to get something of value in return for Samuel. As he pointed out during an Easter Sunday twitter rant, Samuel is still a top cornerback, and those are rare and coveted in today's pass-happy NFL. The Eagles would be moving him (as opposed to Rodgers-Cromartie) because of his contract and his outspokenness regarding what he believes is the team's lack of respect for his ability to help them win games.

Dallas Cowboys fans often ask whether their team could be in the mix for Samuel, and while I was told by a few people at the owners meetings that the Eagles wouldn't be opposed to dealing Samuel to another NFC East team if the price were right, I find it hard to believe they'd want to play against him twice a year. My belief is that Dallas (or Washington, or the Giants, if they wanted him) would have to pay more to get Samuel than would another team outside the division.

As for what the Eagles can get ... I don't know. I'd have to believe if they'd been offered anything better than a fourth-round pick, they'd have already jumped on it. That's why I wonder if maybe this is the kind of deal that happens during the draft, after a team or two that thought it could fix its cornerback need with a draft pick has failed to do so and is willing to part with a mid-round pick in order to do it.

I don't see, to answer a lot of people's questions, a scenario in which they pair Samuel with their first-round pick (No. 15 overall) and move up higher in the first round. They don't need to make a deal like that, first of all, and second of all if a team is dealing out of the top five, it's likely doing so in order to stock up on future picks, not in exchange for a veteran cornerback. Other teams know the Eagles' reasons for wanting to deal Samuel, so they're not likely to get a premium price for him. But I do think, in the end, they get something that makes it worth their while. Especially if, as Ashley suggests, their main motivation is to avoid a headache.

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Dallas Cowboys

Key additions: CB Brandon Carr, S Brodney Pool, QB Kyle Orton, FB Lawrence Vickers, LB Dan Connor, G Nate Livings, G Mackenzy Bernadeau

Key losses: WR Laurent Robinson, TE Martellus Bennett, FB Tony Fiammetta, CB Terence Newman, G Kyle Kosier (cut)

"You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're all right": Rather than go big for the biggest names out there, the Cowboys took a more directed, focused approach to free agency this year. They did spend a lot to bring in Carr, but they had a glaring need at cornerback and they believed Carr was the best one on the market. The two guards were specifically targeted by Cowboys' scouts and new offensive line coach Bill Callahan, and Connor was brought in to address a need at inside linebacker while 2011 draft pick Bruce Carter continues to develop.

The only loss that they didn't upgrade is that of Robinson, who signed with the Jaguars after coming out of nowhere to catch 11 touchdown passes from Tony Romo in 2011. The Cowboys will hope that one of the young receivers on their roster fills that No. 3 wide receiver role, or that they can catch lightning in a bottle again this year as they did with Robinson last year. They could miss Kosier's leadership on the offensive line, but he was getting old and injured and they needed to keep getting younger on the line.

What's next: While they'll keep an eye out for a bargain-bin receiver to replace Robinson, and they could try and find another tight end to replace Bennett, the Cowboys' main focus the rest of this offseason is likely to be on defense. They could add to the safety or cornerback mix in the draft or with another free agent. They'll keep looking to upgrade the pass rush, either with another outside linebacker or a defensive lineman. Those are the likely areas in which the Cowboys will focus their efforts in the draft.

Otherwise, it's going to be about sorting things out, especially on the offensive line. They need to find a pair of starting guards from a group that includes the two newcomers and the two youngsters -- David Arkin and Bill Nagy -- they drafted last year. Training camp should help sort out what needs to be sorted out on the offensive side of the ball. The draft will be for adding more pieces to Rob Ryan's defense.

New York Giants

Key additions: TE Martellus Bennett

Key losses: RB Brandon Jacobs, WR Mario Manningham, CB Aaron Ross, T Kareem McKenzie

"Reason to believe": The Giants don't like to make big free-agent splashes, and since they're up against the salary cap they also have little choice. But their second Super Bowl title in five years should help ease any concerns fans might have about if they're doing enough in the offseason. The Giants' way is to establish fair prices for the positions they need to fill and to be patient until they find players willing to play for their number. They'd have loved to have Jacobs or Manningham or Ross back, but not for the kind of money those guys found in free agency. They'd love to have linebacker Jonathan Goff and defensive end Dave Tollefson back, but if they get big-money deals elsewhere, the Giants will let them go too.

They targeted Bennett right away and signed him on the second day of free agency, since they saw in him a young talent at a position where they lost two players to major knee injuries in the Super Bowl. And they re-signed cornerback Terrell Thomas and punter Steve Weatherford, two of their offseason priorities. But since then, the Giants have been quiet, content that they have a good, deep, championship roster and willing to let the market come to them.

What's next: The areas of concern, if there are any for the Giants, are linebacker and offensive line. And if Goff comes back, they like what they have at linebacker with the incumbents and last year's rookies. With McKenzie leaving, they could move David Diehl from left tackle to right tackle, but they'll still need to add depth at tackle as they look to the future on the offensive line.

There remains the chance that the Giants could trade defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who was disgruntled about his contract this time last year and now only has one year to go. If they did that, they could move Mathias Kiwanuka from linebacker back to his old pass-rushing spot on the line. But the Giants would have to be really blown away by an offer to move Umenyiora, who has relaxed a great deal about his contract situation and said he'd like to stay.

Philadelphia Eagles

Key additions: LB DeMeco Ryans (trade), G Mike Gibson

Key losses: DE Juqua Parker, WR Steve Smith, QB Vince Young

"We take care of our own": The Eagles' focus so far this offseason has been internal. They extended the contracts of right tackle Todd Herremans and defensive end Trent Cole, signed wide receiver DeSean Jackson to a long-term deal and re-signed free-agent guard Evan Mathis. The Eagles believe last year's team was a good roster that underachieved, and they basically are taking a mulligan and hoping it works this time.

The one exception is a big one -- the trade that brought them Ryans from Houston in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick. The Eagles were pitifully weak at linebacker last year, and that weakness hurt their otherwise successful implementation of the "Wide 9" defensive line formation. They could get to the passer with their front four, but teams were able to attack the middle of their defense at will. The addition of Ryans, a veteran middle linebacker who was a productive tackler and beloved leader with the Texans, should help solve a lot of those problems.

What's next: There remains a strong chance the Eagles will trade cornerback Asante Samuel before or during the draft. They can afford to do so because they'd still be left with Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie as starting cornerbacks and the underrated Joselio Hanson at nickel corner. Other than that, the Eagles figure to be fairly quiet the rest of the way.

They're most likely to use their first-round pick on a defensive player, though Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, who'd be a great addition, now looks likely to be gone by the time they pick at No. 15. So they could pick up another veteran linebacker and use the draft to add to their defensive line rotation. It's also likely they add a veteran safety and a veteran running back to back up LeSean McCoy, who's next in line for a new contract.

Washington Redskins

Key additions: WR Pierre Garcon, WR Josh Morgan, CB Cedric Griffin, S Brandon Meriweather

Key losses: S O.J. Atogwe (cut), S LaRon Landry, WR Donte' Stallworth

"When the change was made uptown and the big man joined the band": The Redskins' biggest move of the offseason was the draft-picks trade they made with the Rams, sending three first-round picks and a second-round pick to St. Louis in exchange for the No. 2 pick in this year's draft. That pick ensures that Washington, which has been looking for a franchise quarterback for a couple of decades, will be in position to take one of the two quarterbacks in this year's draft that projects as a franchise guy. They're most likely getting Baylor's Robert Griffin III, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner who's got Redskins fans in a tizzy already.

The Redskins' first big moves when free agency opened were aimed at building a new offense for their rookie quarterback to run. Garcon and Morgan are, the Redskins believe, receivers with big-play talent who will fit well into the offense they like to run. The other two big additions -- Griffin and Meriwether -- were brought in to beef up the secondary, which lost its two starting safeties. It's possible Griffin could play safety, though he played cornerback in Minnesota.

What's next: The Redskins continue to try to re-sign veteran linebacker London Fletcher, and they're confident they can do that. They also want to bring back running back Tim Hightower, assuming he's recovered from his ACL injury, and they're in talks with him about doing just that. If they fail in either or both of those efforts, they'll need backup plans, as they'll lack depth at running back and inside linebacker.

Washington still could stand to add to its secondary and find help for the offensive line. Right tackle Jammal Brown has injury problems, and the team is looking for a better option. Demetrius Bell remains on the market and is a player Washington likes for that right tackle spot.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, made it sound like the team could trade cornerback Asante Samuel if it wanted to. The Eagles are deep at cornerback with Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and there did seem to be some overcrowding issues last year.

But Eagles coach Andy Reid, when asked about the same issue Wednesday, was a little more non-committal.

"Asante is obviously on the team," Reid said. "We'll see how things go with the three of them. I said last year and I'll say it again: It's a pretty good situation to have, if you can sit there and say you have those three corners. Asante and Nnamdi are a little bit older, but both of them can still play at a high level. So we'll see how things work out. That's the best I can tell you."

Like a lot of things about last year's Eagles defense, the deployment of those three cornerbacks often seemed confused. Rodgers-Cromartie was asked to play inside in the nickel position, which was not something he'd done in the past. And it's fair to assume they'd be better off with two of the aforementioned three on the outside and Joselio Hanson in the nickel spot. But Reid isn't going to come out and admit he needs to trade a guy because it would help him construct his lineup better. That's not the kind of thing that helps your leverage in trade talks with other teams. So publicly, he insists all was and will be hunky dory.

"As [Rodgers-Cromartie] settled into the nickel position and he learned it, he understood the leverage, and that was really the primary thing that was the problem," Reid said. "Just learning the leverage along with the coverages and indicators of splits with the inside receivers and the kind of routes that came off. He went through and he learned all of that. And we keep all of that kind of in-house with our players, any talk we have with them."

So we'll see. If I were a betting man, I'd be broke, but if I were a betting man I'd bet the Eagles find a taker for Samuel before the draft and that Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie are the 2012 starters with Hanson, who has more experience in the nickel spot, playing there. They have four weeks to figure it all out.

The Oakland Raiders received three badly needed compensatory draft picks.

While these picks are far from ensuring the team they are going to get contributors, it does help salvage a weak class. Oakland received picks in the third, fourth and fifth rounds in next month’s draft. Oakland has the first comp pick in the third (No. 95) and fifth (No. 168) and the second comp pick of the fourth round (129). The comp picks will be added at the end of the third-through-seventh rounds. Comp picks cannot be traded.

The picks more than doubled Oakland’s draft class. Oakland has its own picks in the fifth and sixth rounds. It’s certainly not ideal that Oakland has to wait until the 95th pick to join the draft and having two picks in the first 129 picks is a tough road, but the Raiders’ draft is in better shape than it was going into Monday.

Under the rules for compensatory draft selections, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in the previous year are eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.

In 2011, Oakland lost free agents Nnamdi Asomugha, Robert Gallery, Bruce Gradkowski, Zach Miller and Thomas Howard and signed Kevin Boss and Stephon Heyer. Teams do not get credit for comp pick consideration for cutting players.

San Diego will receive a comp pick in the seventh round (No. 248) even though it did suffer a net loss of compensatory free agents last year. Under the league’s formula, the compensatory free agents lost by San Diego were ranked lower than the ones they signed (by a specified point differential based upon salary and performance). San Diego lost Darren Sproles and Kevin Burnett, while it signed Takeo Spikes and Travis LaBoy.

In total, 15 teams received a total of 32 picks.

We've known for months that, when the time came, the ax wouldn't hurdle Terence Newman, and it didn't. The Dallas Cowboys have released the beleaguered cornerback who became the symbol of their second-half defensive problems, according to Todd Archer and Calvin Watkins.

The move saves the Cowboys either $4 million or $6 million against the salary cap, depending on the official timing of it and whether the NFL's 31 other owners decide two years from now that they didn't agree with it. (Yeah, I made that last part up.) The Cowboys also cut kicker David Buehler (which they announced, unlike the Newman move, and remains a secret for some reason) and, according to Todd and Calvin, restructured the contracts of cornerback Orlando Scandrick and tackle Doug Free. The Scandrick restructure converts $5.9 million of his $7.1 million base salary into bonus money. Similar deal with Free, as they convert $4.8 million of his $6 million base salary into bonus money.

All of the moves are designed for the salary cap, which the Cowboys need after the league docked them $10 million worth of cap room over the next two years for violating a handshake agreement the teams made to not spend too much during a supposedly uncapped season in 2010. Todd and Calvin calculate that Tuesday's moves cleared $15.82 million in 2012 cap room. Dallas is expected to be aggressive in free agency in spite of the sanctions, and it needs help at cornerback, safety and on the offensive line. Expect it to be mentioned in pursuit of the top cornerbacks on the market, such as Brandon Carr and Cortland Finnegan, once free agency opens at 4 p.m. ET.

Newman played well at the start of this season upon his return from injury, but he slowed down severely as the season went along. He gained an unfortunate sort of national notoriety in the season finale that decided the division title, when two Giants fullbacks were able to hurdle him while he tried to tackle them. The Cowboys were looking to upgrade from Newman last summer and likely would have cut him had they succeeded in signing Nnamdi Asomugha. But they held onto Newman instead, and the defense suffered for it.

The Seattle Seahawks looked around the NFC West in 2003 and decided they needed a cornerback with Marcus Trufant's size, speed and skill.

They made Trufant the 11th pick of the draft.

"In this division we're in, you can't have enough good corners," then-coordinator Ray Rhodes said on draft day 2003.

Trufant wound up covering Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald while all were at or near their primes. He fared well enough to earn Pro Bowl honors during the 2007 season, but age and injuries eventually caught up with him.

As Danny O'Neil reports, the Seahawks plan to release Trufant in a move that seemed inevitable for various reasons.

Trufant, 31, missed 12 games to injury last season. Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman flourished in his absence. There was no way Seattle was going to bring back Trufant at his $7.2 million salary for 2012. The question was whether the sides might work out something allowing Trufant to return at a diminished rate, and in a diminished role. He had taken a reduced salary for 2011 heading into the season.

Trufant was the longest-tenured current Seahawk. He started at least 15 games in seven of his nine seasons, picking off 21 passes. Trufant started the only Super Bowl in franchise history. He made an immediate impact, starting every game as a rookie and playing well early.

"It’s hard to put into words when you’ve been at this a long time how a young player like Marcus, who’s a rookie, can be as consistent and solid as he has been," then-coach Mike Holgmren said at the time. "I'm one of those who has said, 'Let's not anoint him yet.' But he has been playing very, very well for us."

Terence Newman, Andre Woolfolk and Nnamdi Asomugha were the other first-round cornerbacks entering the NFL with the 2003 draft class.

Back trouble slowed Trufant in 2009 and again last season. He started the first four games in 2011 before landing on injured reserve.

Is Stanford Routt a better player than Brandon Carr?

It depends on who you talk to and what you want from your cornerback. Routt is 28 and Carr is 25 and both are considered high level No. 2 cornerbacks. The Carr-Routt debate really is a matter of preference, but I can see why the Chiefs chose to go with Routt as their new No. 2 cornerback to pair with No. 1 starter Brandon Flowers.

By signing Routt, who can play man-to-man defense, on Monday, the Chiefs took care of one of their two biggest questions in free agency. Kansas City’s top free agents are receiver Dwayne Bowe and Carr. The Routt signing, of course, means Carr will be walking as a free agent.

Routt signed a three-year deal worth $19.6 million with Kansas City, bypassing offers from several other teams. Last year, Flowers signed a five-year, $52 million deal. Carr will likely get in the $7-9 million range in free agency. There is no way the Chiefs will pay three cornerbacks premium money.

By choosing Routt over Carr, the Chiefs also solved another problem. There was a question whether the Chiefs, who are well under the salary cap, would give the franchise tag to Bowe or Carr. Now, they can give Bowe the franchise tag to keep him off the open market with Carr no longer being a priority.

Starting free agency with a player of Routt’s caliber and securing Bowe would be a great start for the Chiefs.

I give Kansas City general manager Scott Pioli a lot of credit for making this move. Routt will fit well with Flowers, and I expect him to be closer to the player he was in Oakland in 2010 than the 2011 version. Routt was solid as the No. 2 cornerback to Nnamdi Asomugha. But after Asomugha went to Philadelphia in free agency last season, Routt struggled as the Raiders’ No. 1 cornerback. He had 17 penalties and gave up eight touchdowns, which was tied for the most in the NFL by a cornerback last season.

Routt, who signed a huge deal in Oakland last year, was cut by the Raiders earlier this month. Playing opposite Flowers should help Routt, and I think he will fit in well in Romeo Crennel’s defense.

The Chiefs have a young, exciting roster and the resources to get better this offseason. By signing Routt, they have a fine head start on becoming a better team in 2012.

We've talked a great deal about the DeSean Jackson situation, and that is the biggest offseason issue facing the Philadelphia Eagles right now. But there's also the matter of cornerback Asante Samuel and whether he'll be a part of what the Eagles are doing in 2012.

Samuel played the best of any Eagles cornerback in 2011, which considering the play of the secondary isn't saying much. And he's under contract through 2013. But there are a number of factors that could drive the Eagles to trade Samuel this offseason. His scheduled base salary for this year is $9.4 million (and then $11.4 million in 2013), and last summer the Eagle signed free-agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and traded for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Trading Samuel would give the Eagles some more salary cap room with which to work over the next two offseasons, and it appears to be a move they could weather, since Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie are both capable starters and Joselio Hanson is a good nickel corner.

Eagles GM Howie Roseman was asked about the Samuel situation recently and was non-c0mmital, per Zach Berman of the Philly Daily News:

Roseman declined to discuss whether cornerback Asante Samuel will return to the Eagles, providing the stock answer that the phone always rings when a team has a surplus at a position. But Roseman believes that the trio of Pro Bowl cornerbacks can still work in the Eagles' secondary.

“"Last year was a unique situation in terms of practice time and preparation time," Roseman said. "So I think that it gives us an opportunity with this offseason, with a normal offseason to kind of gel together and you saw that towards the end of the year, the team was gelling and so that's what we look forward to in 2012."

The Eagles talked all last offseason and during the season about being okay with having the three cornerbacks. But the fact was that they couldn't really get Rodgers-Cromartie on the field except when Asomugha was injured, and they have needs at linebacker, defensive tackle, safety and maybe wide receiver that must be addressed. If Samuel can bring back a nice draft pick or two, it's something the Eagles must and almost certainly will consider. It's a shame for our Cowboys fans that they play in the same division, since he'd be a great answer to Dallas' biggest problem.

New Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie isn’t wasting much time shaping his roster and his first move was to cut cornerback Stanford Routt, one of the team’s better defensive players. It might have been necessary as McKenzie reshapes the team’s salary cap.

The Raiders signed Routt to a three-year, $31.5 million deal, with $20 million in guaranteed money, last February, essentially choosing Routt over Nnamdi Asomugha, who is considered one of the NFL's best cornerbacks. Asomugha walked to the Eagles as a free agent.

Routt’s deal was later restructured to five years and $54.5 million, with the $20 million in guarantees — of which $10 million was reportedly to kick in this year.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that this move will cost Oakland $2.2 million in salary-cap space in 2012. The exact cap figure has yet to be figured, but the Raiders will have to make other moves.

This move might be an indication that Oakland is going to be aggressive in making cuts. It will have to go get help in several years in free agency – beginning with possibly two cornerbacks — and it has free-agent priorities in running back Michael Bush and safety Tyvon Branch. One of those two will likely be given the franchise tag.

You have to wonder what other high-dollar Raiders could be on the chopping block. Among those who have signed big recent contracts are defensive lineman Richard Seymour, linebacker Kamerion Wimbley and defensive back Michael Huff. Other players who could be candidates for restructuring or to be cut to save cap room include defensive tackle John Henderson, linebacker Aaron Curry and guard Cooper Carlisle.

Many around the NFL scoffed at Routt's big contract — and it is clear McKenzie is in that camp.

Routt is a decent player, but he is probably best suited to be a No. 2 cornerback. He was better playing alongside Asomugha than he was as the team's No. 1 corner. Routt was solid in coverage, but was penalized 17 times and gave up eight touchdowns, tied for the second-highest total in the NFL last season.

Still, the release of Routt is risky because the Raiders now don’t have any reliable cornerbacks on the roster. They hope to develop young players DeMarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa; perhaps Huff will be moved to cornerback. The Raiders have a small draft class, so most of their additions at the position will probably come through free agency.

Among the top cornerbacks available in free agency (depending on who is given the franchise tag) will be Atlanta’s Brent Grimes, Tennessee’s Cortland Finnegan and Kansas City’s Brandon Carr. A name to keep an eye on is New Orleans’ Tracy Porter, who played under new coach Dennis Allen in New Orleans.

This move doesn’t hurt Routt, 28, much. He was paid an enormous amount last season and now becomes one of the better cornerbacks available. Plus he gets jump on free agency, free to sign with a team at any time.

He could help all three of the other teams in the AFC West as a No. 2 cornerback, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Denver, Kansas City and San Diego all look at him.

Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Philadelphia Eagles will hire Todd Bowles as their defensive backs coach and keep Juan Castillo as defensive coordinator for 2012. The decision was a long time coming, and it's widely believed the Eagles were interested in replacing Castillo with Steve Spagnuolo before Spagnuolo took the defensive coordinator's job in New Orleans. But in the end, keeping Castillo for another year was the right thing for the Eagles to do.

Part of the Eagles' problem in 2011 was coping with all of the changes they made on defense -- new coaches, new personnel and new schemes all thrown together in a short period of time in a year that didn't have a real offseason in which to install all of it. To overhaul the defense again would have invited the same kind of early-season chaos that doomed the 2011 Eagles before they got their act together late and finished eighth in the league in total defense.

And yes, there were times when Castillo looked overmatched as a playcaller. He was, after all, the offensive line coach for the previous 13 years. But if you believe, as the Eagles and head coach Andy Reid do, that Castillo is a good coach, you can make the assumption that he'll be better in Year 2 than he was in Year 1 at the parts of the job that challenged him. Eagles ownership is basically giving Reid and his staff a mulligan for this past season on the condition that they make up for it with a deep playoff run next season. If Reid truly believes that the circumstances and not the people were the problem, he should stick with what he believed all along was the right way to go.

Bringing in Spagnuolo or another established defensive coordinator would have required the Eagles to either tell that person he needed to accept the "Wide 9" scheme implemented this past year by first-year defensive line coach Jim Washburn or tell Washburn he needed to scrap it. Either would have created an uncomfortable situation for coaches and players alike, and that would have been yet another thing to overcome at a time when the Eagles need to steer as clear as possible of upheaval. And firing Castillo would have been patently unfair, considering the nearly impossible position in which Reid put him.

The only potential issue with keeping Castillo is if the players don't buy in. The defensive backs in particular chafed last year at the amount of zone coverage they were asked to play. But perhaps the addition of Bowles, a longtime defensive backs coach who most recently was the interim head coach of the Miami Dolphins, will help sell the move to Nnamdi Asomugha & Co. if that in fact needs to be done.

The Eagles believe their plan will work, given a full offseason of work and continued dedication to the schemes that were new last year but won't be new this time around. They may be right and they may be wrong. But a plan's no good unless you're willing to stick with it, and a leader's no good if he's not willing to believe in his people. To overreact to the disappointment of 2011 and make major changes again just to appease those on the outside who are upset about it would have been a mistake. The Eagles are staying the course, and this offseason that's the right thing for them to do.

It was around this time last year that Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy made the perplexing decision to take his offensive line coach, Juan Castillo, and make him his defensive coordinator. The results were ... well, they were mixed, in the end, and ultimately the Eagles' 8-8 season rendered pretty much all of their offseason moves unsuccessful by definition. The question on Castillo, though, is what if anything Reid plans to do about it. And if he's got an answer, he's not sharing it. With anybody. From Geoff Mosher of delawareonline.com:

Received the following text message the other day from a former Eagles defensive player, which I edited only to include punctuation and make slightly more legible:

[+] Enlarge
James Lang/US PresswireThe status of Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo seems uncertain this offseason.

"What's the word on Juan. Is he still DC or what? One of my buddies... said he ask(ed) him about it at Senior Bowl and he said he's not sure of what his title is."

Well, there you have it.

The Castillo situation feels like the next thing the Eagles have to decide, now that they've announced that Reid will return as head coach and before they can delve into free agency and the draft. Firing Castillo feels too harsh, in part because Reid put him in a very difficult situation and in part because the Eagles did finish the season ranked eighth in the league in total defense. (And there was their mistake right there, by the way. Turns out defense was overrated this year. The two teams in the Super Bowl ranked 27th and 31st.)

But the fact that the players don't know got me wondering: What role might the players and their opinions have on Reid's ultimate decision about whether to keep Castillo in the same role, fire him or reassign him somewhere else on the staff? Castillo's impossible not to like personally, and he's therefore well liked by his players. And many of them knew him for years while he was coaching on the other side of the ball. But not everybody in the Eagles' locker room was happy with the schemes implemented in Castillo's first season as coordinator. There was talk, for instance, in the locker room that cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha wasn't thrilled with all of the zone coverage he was asked to play when his strength is in man-to-man coverage.

Asomugha is clearly a player around whom the Eagles plan to structure their defense in the coming years, or else they wouldn't have signed him to a long-term contract. Might Reid be factoring in the way his prominent defensive players feel about Castillo when making his decision?

Ultimately, it might not matter. Reports indicating that the personality and/or presence of defensive line coach Jim Washburn was one of the reasons Steve Spagnuolo didn't want the Eagles' defensive coordinator job are completely believable and legitimate. If the Eagles are committed to Washburn and his "Wide 9" defensive line formation, it's going to be hard to find an established defensive coordinator who's willing to come in and have something that significant dictated to him instead of deciding for himself how the linemen should line up.

Castillo already buys in, and the improvement the defense showed as it grew more comfortable during the season should buy him an extra season in the coordinator's spot. But so far it seems as though Reid hasn't told Castillo, his players or anyone else whether that's what's going to happen.

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Arrow indicates direction team is trending.

Final Power Ranking: 17
Preseason Power Ranking: 22

Biggest surprise: The Raiders’ young receivers emerged. The group is a bright spot of the team and will be a strong building block for the future. Quarterback Carson Palmer, 32, may have his flaws, but he still has a big arm and the Raiders can make some plays in the passing game. Darrius Heyward-Bey, the No. 7 overall pick in 2009, is one of the most improved players in the NFL. He had 64 catches for 975 yards this season. He had 35 catches in his first 26 NFL games. Add fabulous rookie Denarius Moore, Jacoby Ford and Louis Murphy, and this is one of the best young receiving crews in the league.

Biggest disappointment: Poor defensive play. The Raiders have one of the more perplexing defenses in the NFL. The unit has plenty of talent, but they didn’t play well together. Oakland gave up way too many big plays on defense. It ranked near the bottom of the league in several defensive statistics and faltered down the stretch, including Sunday in a home loss to San Diego in a game in which the Raiders could have clinched the division title. It will not be a shock if defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan is sent packing. Oakland also could consider becoming a 3-4 defense.

Biggest need: There is a lot of talent on this team. There are areas where improvement is needed, including cornerback, linebacker and on the offensive line. I’d say a top cornerback would be the Raiders’ biggest need, although safety Michael Huff is reportedly moving to cornerback. They missed Nnamdi Asomugha, who signed with Philadelphia as a free agent. Stanford Routt is a nice player, but he’s not a top-flight No. 1 cornerback. If Huff does move, safety becomes a big need. The Raiders will likely have to address most of their needs through free agency, since they don’t have many draft picks.

Team MVP: Kicker Sebastian Janikowski. There were some nice performances by many Raiders this season, but Janikowski was dominant. He has the strongest leg in the league and he has become deadly accurate. He is a true weapon. Janikowski tied an NFL record with a 63-yard field goal in Week 1. He made 31 of 35 field goal attempts and made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his 12-year career.

What will the future leadership look like?: Much of the offseason will be dedicated to regrouping the front office after the death of owner Al Davis. He died at the age of 82 on Oct. 8. Now that the season is over, Oakland can move on. There have been plenty of reports linking the Raiders to general manager candidates, including Reggie McKenzie and Eliot Wolf of Green Bay. Sunday, in an angry postgame press conference, Oakland coach Hue Jackson vowed to take a bigger role in the organization. That could turn off potential general managers. Jackson is expected to have his share of power, but some of the top front-office candidates may not be interested in sharing power with a young coach.