No Terrell Owens for Philadelphia Eagles. Wide Receiver Problems Remain.

It seems that when Eagles coach Andy Reid says that he's satisfied with his wide receivers, he's serious. When it appeared that Terrell Owens was headed for free agency the team that he first mentioned as wanting to join was the Philadelphia Eagles. When Owens' free agency status never materialized, the 49ers advised him to seek out a trade. Once again, the buzz was that the Eagles were interested in signing him.

Terrell Owens will not be coming to Philadelphia. The 49ers have agreed to trade Owens to the Baltimore Ravens for a second round pick in the upcoming NFL draft.

Are you kidding me? Are the Eagles telling us that they did not try to snag Owens, one of the top receivers in football, in exchange for their first round pick - the 28th pick out of 32?

Owens had three years remaining on his contract and was scheduled to make about $5.5 million in 2004 - far less than the Eagles would be paying for any one of the few quality receivers available through free agency. While it is assumed that he is interested in renegotiating the contract, it's hard to imagine that the highly cap-savy Joe Banner could not figure a way to get that done for about the same cap hit in 2004.

As excited as Eagles fans were yesterday at the news of the signing of Jevon Kearse, they are distraught today by news that Terrell Owens will not be coming to Philadelphia. Meanwhile the Eagles' free agents Duce Staley, Bobby Taylor and Duce Staley are making the rounds of NFL cities and it seems that all three will likely be gone within the week.

So, now all eyes are back on the Eagles to show some signs that they're willing to make this team better on offense as they did yesterday on defense. The Eagles' needs are many - wide receiver, backup running back, outside linebacker, and cornerback.

You guys still have lots of room left under the cap, so let's go Mr. Banner and Mr. Reed - show us the money or, rather, show us that you'll spend the money.

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday morning that the Eagles did indeed have interest in Terrell Owens to the extent that they had worked out the terms of a new contract with him and his agent. When they then contacted San Francisco in order to work out a deal, they were advised that he had already been traded to the Baltimore Ravens, an AFC team.

The question then becomes, is this a case of the Eagles putting the chicken before the horse, or were they, Owens and his agent all misled by the 49ers who apparently had no intention of trading Owens to another NFC team?