[Salaam, Demps Cut] Preparing for the Superbowl (more great moves by Smithiak!)

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Roy P

Chester has played T in the NFL before and many people on this board wanted him to play LT after Spencer went down. He is also a Veteran on this football team, so I would expect him to become more of a leader and mentor.

Yes, but he only did it for one year. He doesn't have the same level of familiarity with the position as Salaam. I don't doubt Pitts ability as leader on that line one bit.

Salaam provided some invaluable service to this team in the lockerroom. I will not deny that. However, his play on the field will not be missed terribly. It was time to let him go for the good of the franchise.

Don't disagree at all.

If the Eagles can let a leader like Brian Dawkins walk out the door, we should be able to get by without Ephraim. I realize that there's a difference in salary, but the point is that leadership only has so much value.

True, although I was referring more to Salaam as a type of player/coach than as a locker room leader. Truthfully, Salaam might not even be very good as a teacher. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think it's a pretty good guess. Either way he served a valuable role on this team. It was definitely time to for him to go and let the younger guys develop. I'm just not going to start doing cartwheels because he's gone. I think he did a good job of doing what we asked of him the last few years, back-up both T spots and fill in when needed.