Takeo Spikes, Latest Tease or Newest LB?

Eagles | Team showing interest in Spikes
Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:17:42 -0700

John Murphy, of Yahoo! Sports, reports the Philadelphia Eagles are showing interest in possibly obtaining Buffalo Bills LB Takeo Spikes, according to a league source. Spikes would need to pass a physical and negotiate a new deal. The source believes the Bills could receive a mid-to-late round choice in the 2007 NFL Draft if both conditions are met. The Eagles would likely move Spikes to the outside if they acquire him. The team could also move him inside and make LB Jeremiah Trotter more of a two-down linebacker.

Now, before you get too excited Eagles fans, here’s a dash of cold water: KFFL has the exact same update a few slots below on the same page saying pretty much the exact same thing about the Giants’ interest in Spikes. That being said, I think I like this deal more than any of the other rumored deals sending an LB to the Eagles.

Spikes is good, but there is a little bit of baggage. He’s coming off a torn achilles in ‘05, and only played 12 games last year. This is probably driving Buffalo’s asking price down, and should also drive down the price of extending Spikes’ contract. The good news is that the games he missed in ‘06 came early in the year, and he’d be a perfect fit if he moved outside on running downs, and inside on passing downs.

It’s hard to tell if all of these LB-related rumors are coming from the Eagles’ front office, because they realize it’s a weak spot on the roster. Or, they’re being generated organically by reporters who automatically associate the Eagles with any LB who’s rumored to be available because it’s obviously an area of need for the Eagles. If the latter is the case, the Eagles brass could be satisfied with the LB corps at this point, and that would be greatly disappointing.