Though running back Brian Westbrook says he has no animosity toward the Eagles, he told Dan Patrick earlier today that he thought he’d have a chance to take less money in order to stay in Philly.
“I was a little bit surprised, thinking they maybe would give me an opportunity to renegotiate things,” Westbrook said. “For [the Eagles], it’s always business, it’s always money.”
It wouldn’t have been unprecedented for an aging back to take a backseat and a haircut. Several years ago, Jerome Bettis dramatically cut his pay over multiple years in order to stay in Pittsburgh in a reduced role. It paid off with a Super Bowl win in his final NFL game.
As we hear it, however, there are real questions regarding the condition of Westbrook’s knee. Though he possibly could play again, the Eagles aren’t sure that he could make it through a full season. (Then again, he never has.)
Besides, the repeated concussions creates a very real stigma. All things equal, the Eagles are better off having a guy on the depth chart who has not become a poster child for a cause in which the league is now acutely interested.
So it doesn’t surprise us that the Eagles wanted to move on, and it won’t surprise us if he’s on no active roster when the final cuts are made in September.