Wishful Thinking?

The restructuring of the Eagles defense continued yesterday, as the Birds TKO’d starting weakside linebacker Takeo Spikes, ending his 14-game tenure in midnight green. In his entire nine-year NFL career, Spikes has played in as many playoff games as I have.

The move means your projected starting linebackers in 2008 are Omar Gaither at Will, Stewart Bradley at Mike, and Chris Gocong at Sam. Akeem Jordan will also get a look in training camp.

It also saves the Eagles about $5 million against the salary cap.

Allow me play connect the dots for a minute. The Eagles signed Asante Samuel as a free agent, making Lito Sheppard expandable. They made a play for Randy Moss only to watch him re-sign with the Patriots, and expressed a mild interest in Javon Walker, who got a ridiculous contract from Oakland. Then, out of the blue, they release Spikes.

Translation: We need a number one receiver and were unable to land one through free agency, but we have a trading chip and significant cap space, thus we have the means to acquire one via trade.

At the same time, the Arizona Cardinals are trying to rework wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s contract to fit him in under their cap. If they can’t come to some kind of accord, they may be forced to trade him (perhaps to a team with a surplus of defensive backs and, as of yesterday, an extra $5 million to work with).

Maybe it’s foolish optimism on my part, but the moves the Eagles have made this off-season all point to them making one final serious run at a Super Bowl before they exile Donovan McNabb.

Hopefully that run will include Fitzgerald.