I took a few days off from Eagles free agency coverage to mourn the loss of Brian Dawkins.  I’ve always thought, even in an era where it’s uncommon for any given player to play for a single team his entire career, that Brian Dawkins would retire an Eagle.  It was extremely depressing when I heard the news that Dawkins had signed with another team.  Although Brian Dawkins will always be an Eagle, it was a tough pill to swallow to realize that he’ll be wearing another team’s colors when it is his time to retire.  What are the stages to recovery: anger, denial, regret, anger, acceptance?

I can’t believe the front office would just let him go like that: like a bad piece of meat that’s been spoiled.  I have a hard time believing that the front office couldn’t come up with a two-year, $9 million contract to make Dawkins happy.  The Eagles are thin at safety.  They let Sean Considine go to the Jaguars to plague another team with his awfulness.  The Eagles are clearly trying to get younger, but Dawkins, in my mind, should be an exception to the “Eagles youth movement.”  Although I may have to admit that his skills in coverage aren’t what they were in previous years, he can still play at an extremely high level, and he is the leader of the defense, team, and locker room.  I don’t see how the Eagles front office can say with a straight face that Quintin Demps will be a better option than Brian Dawkins over the next two years.  Right now they only have two safeties on their roster and have several needs to address in the draft before they even add another safety.

I just don’t see the logic in the move.  I can understand from a disinterested GM’s standpoint that it doesn’t hurt to make a team younger, but how can you make such a bold move when you have a player like Brian Dawkins — the greatest Eagle of all time, are already thin at safety, and risk pissing off the entire fan base.  I just don’t get it.