Look at the Patriots in Free Agency

One of the Eagles favorite tactics at deflecting criticism of their conservative nature in free agency is to point to the similar philosophy followed by the New England Patriots. New England, much like Philadelphia, is usually reluctant to throw huge signing bonuses and big dollars at players in free agency. Rather, the Patriots have built their dynasty through the draft and by retaining their own players. Of course, the Eagles shouldn't compare themselves to the Patriots in any capacity given that, you know, they haven't won a Super Bowl.

With that said, the Eagles' favorite device for exuding their smarter-than-thou arrogance has just been destroyed. The Patriots have went wild in this free agency, throwing huge dollars at LB Adalius Thomas and bringing in RB Sammy Morris, and TE Kyle Brady. They also shipped second-round and seventh-round draft picks to the Miami for the services of WR Wes Welker and subsequently signed him to a lucrative deal. All of this action from the Patriots has to evoke a collective "what the hell?" around the league, particularly in Philadelphia where the Eagles are wondering what in the world has gotten into the NFL's true gold standard/

To throw a twist of irony into this, the Eagles also point out that the wide receiver position is not that important, a belief they believed the Patriots shared. The Eagles often reference New England's Super Bowl teams lacked the services of playmaking wide receivers. That may have very well been the case, but now there are reports that the Patriots have offered Eagles free-agent WR Donte Stallworth a six-year deal worth $32 million. Seems like a pretty decent contract offer for a team that doesn't value wide receivers, especially for a guy the Eagles consider expendable.

So what has gotten into the Patriots all of the sudden? It's rather simple, actually. New England was in the midst of building a dynasty so there was never any need to change their philosophy. Now that they have come up short the past two seasons in a loaded AFC, they see a need to add big time talent in order to get back to the top.

It is exactly the philosophy that the Eagles should have adopted when they were so close so many times. It is exactly the approach they should have had entering this period of free agency. Instead, they missed out then and appear to be missing out now, foolishly believing that they were/are on par with the Patriots. It must be a tough free agency period for the Eagles brain trust as they not only learn that the team they turned to as a reference for so many years no longer has the same philosophy, but that their own team remains idle with its success depending on a first-round pick that couldn't get on the field last year and a superstar quarterback that has missed significant time three of the past five seasons. They can no longer fall back and point to the success of the Patriots' philosophy. To throw salt on the wound, they are reportedly on the brink of taking one of the Eagles biggest offensive threats right out from underneath of them.

The Eagles may want to rethink that philosophy. Maybe they will, now that their safety net is gone.