FoxSports.com's Adam Caplan recently took a comprehensive look at the offseason outlook for each team in the NFC East. While the exact nature of the offseason is still a little bit uncertain at the moment, the fact remains that the Eagles have 16 players, including the recently tagged Michael Vick and David Akers, slated to hit free agency which means there will be holes to plug on the roster.
According to Caplan, the Eagles' biggest needs heading into the offseason are right guard, strongside linebacker, weakside linebacker, cornerback and safety. Right guard makes sense because both Max Jean-Gilles and Nick Cole are slated to be free agents. The linebacker position faces a bit of a cloudy future because Stewart Bradley, Ernie Sims, Omar Gaither and Akeem Jordan are all scheduled to be free agents, though Caplan expects Bradley, for one, to be back.
"It's believed the team wants to re-sign the talented linebacker, but he has missed 20 regular-season games because of injury during the past two seasons," Caplan said. Bradley missed all of 2009 with a torn ACL and the final four games of 2010 with a dislocated elbow. Full recovery from a torn ACL is widely considered to take two years. "If he returns for another season, it remains to be seen where he would line up - (strongside linebacker or middle linebacker)."
In the secondary, the Eagles also face some potential departures via free agency as Ellis Hobbs and Dimitri Patterson, the two players who manned the right cornerback position in 2010, are free-agents-to-be. At safety, rookie Nate Allen suffered a late-season torn patella tendon, though he recently said he'd be ready to go by Organized Team Activites. Allen's position-mate, Pro Bowl safety Quintin Mikell, is scheduled to be a free agent however.
"He's one of the team's most respected leaders," Caplan writes, "but there's much less than a 50-50 chance he returns."
One other potential free agent of note is punter Sav Rocca.
"Rocca, who turns 38 in November, is coming off the best season statistically in his four-year career," wrote Caplan. "The former Australian Rules football player should get an offer from the Eagles to come back for his fifth season with the team."
Caplan added that he expects the Eagles and Vick, who was given the exclusive franchise tag, to work out a long-term deal in the future.
Finally, Caplan floats one potential outside free agent who could be a potential fit in Philadelphia.
"Sources believe the Eagles will strongly consider signing cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha assuming he doesn't re-sign with the Oakland Raiders (and that seems remote)," writes Caplan.
Asomugha, 29, has made the last four Pro Bowls.
Click here to check out what Caplan thinks about the rest of the division.
-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 5:22 p.m., February 17
