[rubecube]

And for those who were making noise about the Eagles needing to trade one of their CBs for cap space, I hate to say I told you so but:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...sct=nfl_t11_a0

Question I've gotten from tweeters, e-mailers and even one general manager I respect a lot in the last few days, in the wake of Philadelphia signing so many top free agents: How is it possible the Eagles are under the salary cap? Or, as the GM put it to me: "The cap for the rest of us is $120 million. It feels like it's $220 million for them. I really don't know how they did it, but I'm very curious.''

Be curious no more. Be stunned, though. The Eagles, as of this morning, still have $7.79 million of cap room available, easily enough to extend dissatisfied wide receiver DeSean Jackson and to turn the one-year franchise tender of Mike Vick into a long-term deal without severe cap ramifications.

Understand this principle to start: The Eagles were not in bad cap shape to begin with. When free agency opened they were at $99 million in commitments to veterans and draft choices. (More about those later.) They had shed big veteran salaries over the last couple of years -- including quarterback Donovan McNabb's -- and by opening day 2010 had the third-youngest 53-man roster in football. Young means salary manageable.

As of Sunday morning, the Eagles' projected roster (there's some guesswork here, but it's close) consisted of 35 players with cap numbers of $1.5 million or less. And only six players -- quarterback Mike Vick ($16.1 million cap number), cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha ($10 million), cornerback Asante Samuel ($9.34 million), tackle Jason Peters ($6.54 million), and defensive ends Jason Babin ($5.3 million) and Trent Cole ($5 million) -- had cap figures of $5 million or more.