Mawae or Bently?
 

Both are out there, which do you go after? Can we sign either?

RE: Mawae or Bently?
 

Bentley is younger and better, he also hasn't had major surgery in the last 12 months. But can we retain him? I doubt it, I think the Eagles will aggresively go after him, and our FO is too cheap to pony up. Mawae would do as a replacement, but not my first choice.

RE: Mawae or Bently?
 

I would prefer Kevin Mawae come back home and play out his career. (I believe he still has a couple of solid years left in the tank) Bentley shouldn't let the door hit him on the way out....

I would prefer NOT to have to be forced into Mawae. He is 35 and missed 10 game slast year with a triceps injury. If he is dirt cheap, then yes i'd take him for a year, and that's it. But It hink we coudl survive with Jacox at center for a season. Looks like no way we keep Bentley, so really it's do we want Mawae or Jacox. Neither IMO is a very exciting prospect, like Is aid, unless Mawae is dirt cheap. I hope there is some way we could end up with Mangold in the draft,

Bentley's the best choice. Not only is he the best available, but he's on our team already and the rest of the team has chemistry with him already. I think those of you that think he can be "easily replaced" haven't had an opportunity to play organized team sports on at least the high school level. It's not just a plug and go system.

You look at any good offensive line and tell me if they give up their best players. Denver? Seattle? New England? We could keep Bentley and move him back to guard and STILL get Manigold. I thought we were trying to get better, not stagnate or regress.

Bentley may be the best choice, but if you think logically, dishing out large dollars for a center does not make sense. You talk about chemisty and I'm sitting here laughing. What chemistry... did you see something I didn't see last season? Hell Aaron Brooks has 5 years of "chemistry" with the team and it's not getting us anywhere. Joe Johnson has tons of chemistry with the team and he was let go... and easily replaced. I didn't play high school football, but I played varsity baseball, tennis, and also ran track. There is no "I' in team and anyone is replaceable.

You shouldn't have brought up N.E. Look at the OL that they've lost in free agency the past couple of seasons and see who they plugged in... rookies and inexperienced players. And didn't Denver let their LT go a couple of years ago and plugged in their rookie George Foster or something like that?

I agree with the dirt cheap statement Whodi. I think we could get both Mawae for 1 year dirt cheap and still draft Mangold at #34. Let him learn from someone with alot of experience and Mangold will be better than Bentley in a year.

(sigh)

OK but you're missing the point. Bentley is/was our best player on the line. You don't get rid of the best player by far on the line and expect to get better. Now we're bringing in a rookie QB and anchoring our line is a second year RT with false start issues. O-line relies more on chemistry than any other part of the football team, and you build from the inside out. You don't get better unless you more or less keep the same group together for a while. We should be letting people like Stinchcomb go before Bentley. Furthermore, Bentley was regarded as a good teammate, which is not the norm with this organization. It's completely backwards with this team.

The only reason they can't keep him is because the team royaly fudged this whole thing with Bentley up last year, not because they don't think he's worth the money he's asking. He should've been signed before Horn and probably Deuce too. D. Howard getting that franchise tag didn't help either.

How can you compare AB and Joe Johnson to Bentley?? I don't get how it relates to this.

And my point was that N.E. and Denver don't get rid of their best players and get better.

Neither. It doesn't seem like LeCharles or the organization is worried about him staying here... from what we've heard. I think he's looking to cash in, and unless we put up some serious dollars he'll be heading off, ann that might not even keep him here for all we know. Isn't this draft supposed to be deep at the G position?

It amazes me that people want to use a 2nd round pick on a center. I know we will eventually have a hole there with Bentley leaving but a 2nd? I say we sign a veteran like Jeff Hartings from the Steelers if they let him go or draft a center with our 4th round pick. To echo the sentiments of another post on the site, it has been proven that you can find good linemen in the later rounds. We can't keep using our top draft choices on offensive players and ignore a defense, that will getting better, still lacks playmakers at the LB and DT position.

Bledsoe was better than Brady when he was let go. Damien Woody was let go and replaced with a rookie. Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy was both let go and replaced with 4th round and undrafted rookies. I forgot who Koppen replaced but I surely know what round he came out of. Bertrand Berry was let go after recording 10 plus sacks. Delta O'Neil was let go as was Ian Gold. Mike Anderson was cut and they're putting Tatum Bell on the market. Everyone on that Denver D-line was replaced with Clevelands front line and they got better.

Trust me I'm not missing your point at all... I don't think you're getting my point.

Ross out of BC in the 4th round would be a nice replacement for Bentley. I'm in favor of taking Mangold in the second but if we chose to go another route, that's my choice for a center in this draft.

Yet through all of these examples you failed to name a single instance in which an OFFENSIVE LINE lost their best player and got better. O-line is a totally different animal than the secondary, D-line or any individual position spot. O-line relies on continuity and chemistry more than any other group, and that's no secret. Our line has been crap because we've had at least 2 different starters each year for the past 4 years or so. No team ever got a great O-line by piecing it together in free agency. That's my point. Why go out and get a less talented player when we had one of the better ones in the league on our team already?? Would we have overpaid for him??? Probably. We overpaid for Horn and Howard last year. At least Bentley would have been more worth it.

We have too many other pressing issues that should be addressed in the draft. We didn't need to create another one by letting Bentley go. Instead of building up we are plugging holes. Now we will miss out on a good LB in round 2 because we didn't take care of Bentley. I am the only one who realizes that the team really fudged this one up????

What's done is done and we can't go back in the past, but we just let our best option go.

I agree that Management really messed this one up, but it is a foregone conclusion that Bentley is out the door. We have to move forward with the franchise and attempt to fill his roster spot. Also, there are three real good, young LB available right now. Will Witherspoon seems like the most viable option, but you have to mention both Julian Peterson and Lavar Arrington. The latter two carry some injury concerns but both are tops at there position when healthy.

Papz is right about Patrick Ross being there in the 4th and think he could come in a do a good job. I just think we have some more needs at the present time.

Yeah...i'm done with it because I realize i sound like a whiney cry baby about the whole thing. We gotta do what we gotta do, but there's no way we are better off or as good as we were before letting Bentley go.

I think my point was well made already.

I guess we'll have to wait and see on who we bring in.

The Eagles are pulling a fast one, they're not really interested in Bentley or are they:

Eagles | Team interested in Mawae
Mon, 6 Mar 2006 18:42:09 -0800

Ken Berger, of Newsday, reports agent Mark Bartelstein said several teams called him Monday, March 6, with interest in free agent OC Kevin Mawae (Jets), and one is believed to be the Philadelphia Eagles.