A.M. Odds and Ends

Igglesblog has a nice breakdown today of Sav Rocca vs. Dirk Johnson. In case you're too lazy to click, what I took from it is that Rocca was a little better at dropping balls inside the 20 last season, and the biggest difference between '06 and '07 was that the Bird covered punts better in '06.

Elsewhere, Dave Spadaro is sizing up potential roster battles, and getting plenty of comments from the populace on which backup offensive linemen might be more likely to stick around. This might be the only city in the league where people get fired up about such things in May, not that we're complaining, it keeps us employed, bless your little obsessive-compulsive hearts.

Shockingly, given that he is employed by the team, Dave isn't venturing too far from terra firma. He makes no mention whatsoever of the wide receiver position, probably because it's a well-known fact that people around here could care less about who's catching the passes. (No, to be fair, I guess he doesn't see any big logjam there, which might indirectly make the point of front-office critics.)

Another reason is that it's really, really hard to project September's roster in May. People actually start competing for jobs in late July. But if I had to pick a pair of veterans who face a stiff challenge this summer, I'd go for tight end Matt Schobel and defensive end/tackle Darren Howard. In fact, you put Howard's $3.2 million '08 cap figure together with the fact that he pretty much projects only as a DT these days -- there's almost no way he makes it in a crowded DE field -- you might have the answer for the riddle of why unsigned DT Kimo von Oelhoffen still has a locker stall at NovaCare.

By the way, Bryce Johnston does an excellent job of tracking the Eagles' salary cap situation.