Search high, not low, to elevate Eagles' wide-receiver corps

Search high, not low, to elevate Eagles' wide-receiver corps
February 11
Philadelphia Daily News columnist Rich Hofmann


"T.J., I LOVE YOU.There is a part of me that really hopes the Eagles sign you, the part of me where I desperately need a column on a Wednesday afternoon in November and have no great ideas and then you show up at your locker and we all say "hello" and then you fill up our notebooks for the next 10 minutes, pretty much without taking a breath. You possess a great skill, that notebook-filling skill. It would be well worth the burden of having to type "Houshmandzadeh" on deadline for the next few years.But, T.J., I don't know. Maybe the next time you call Mike Missanelli, maybe you could stand on a box. Maybe then.They need somebody bigger than 6-1, which is 1 inch taller than Kevin Curtis, which is what they peg Houshmandzadeh's height as on all of the lists. He is the best guy out there, but he isn't big enough.It was said here last year and it will be said again here this year: Your quarterback needs a big target in the red zone, and if he thinks he needs it, you have to do what you can to give it to him.You need a unique piece. You need a situational piece. They scored a lot of points last year but lost a lot of the situations in games.Situations. That should be the philosophy you carry into this offseason, a willingness to build your roster around situations. It is why you need the second running back, a big running back. It is why you need a fullback and a tight end who know how to block above all else. And it is why you need this big receiver whose main asset is his size, not necessarily his speed.Names, you ask?Two unrestricted free agents are Reggie Williams (6-4, Jacksonville) and Bryant Johnson (6-3, San Francisco). Two restricted free agents are Demetrius Williams (6-2, Baltimore) and Malcolm Floyd (6-5, San Diego). There are a half-dozen other names, too. To pretend to know who is better than who is to pretend that you are more qualified than NFL personnel people, which is a fallacy. So there is no reason to pretend.But a big target is what Donovan McNabb needs. This whole offseason has to be about the Eagles doing what they can to remove the valleys from McNabb's game. The first thing they need to do is bolster the running game, to give Brian Westbrook a helper, to give the offense another significant option if McNabb is struggling. But the other thing they need to do is give McNabb another red-zone option, the proverbial big target.When you look back on it, McNabb's midseason falloff was his problem most of all. It led to his benching and to the discord that exists today, discord that theoretically will be aired in a meeting with the front office (and coach Andy Reid) in the next week or so."
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