Eagles trade Greg Lewis to Patriots

And the roster makeover continues: the Eagles have traded wide receiver Greg Lewis to the Patriots for a 5th round pick. The Pats recently lost Jabar Gaffney and could be looking to use Lewis as a 3rd wideout behind Randy Moss and Wes Welker, although that's a tall order for a mediocre wideout like Lewis.

Lewis spent 6 years with the Eagles and rarely put up big numbers but he had a knack for making the big catches. He only caught 19 passes last season and was more valuable to the Eagles on special teams in recent years.

The moving of Lewis could be a presursor to the Eagles bringing in another wide receiver. Of course, it could also just be done to shed a player with little use to them.

Cowboys release T.O., move along Eagles fans

There's a new number one receiver on the market for Eagles fans to drool over. Unfortunately, it's one that we are all too familiar with.

The Cowboys finally came to their senses and realized Terrell Owens is a cancer to their team and released the controversial wideout. The release will cost the Cowboys 9 million dollars against the cap, so you can be sure they really wanted T.O. out. He spent three years with the Cowboys and had at least 1000 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns in each season. He is coming off his worst full season since 1999 in terms of on-field production and the Cowboys must have realized it wasn't worth the aggravation of putting up with the mouthy, over-rated wide receiver.

The Eagles have been linked to every possibly available number one receiver in the league, so you can bet speculation has already begun that this very available receiver is coming back to Philly. Don't count on that happening, however. Even though T.O. has seemingly mended his relationship with Donovan McNabb, the Eagles have numerous reasons why they won't even think about bringing him back. From a locker room perspective, the Birds have already lived through the disruptions this guy causes. From a P.R. perspective, the Eagles just let their most beloved player go so you can bet there is no way they would bring in a player that every fan hates. Finally, from an on-the-field perspective, T.O. just doesn't have it anymore and wouldn't be much of an upgrade over what the Eagles already have.

In conclusion, don't worry about our receivers anymore, Eagles fans, it could be worse. We could have Roy Williams as our number one wideout.

Flyers trade Upshall, get worse at the Deadline

Most contending teams in the NHL use the Trade Deadline as a time to improve their team by adding players that can help them make a run at the Stanley Cup. The Flyers are usually one of the more aggressive teams at the Deadline but this season they were hindered because they were right up against the salary cap. Philly still made a couple of moves, unfortunately, it leaves the team worse than they were a day before.

The Flyers made a pair of trades today: they acquired winger Dan Carcillo from the Phoenix Coyotes for Scottie Upshall and a 2nd round pick and they also acquired defenseman Kyle McLaren from the Sharks for a 6th round pick. Both moves are head scratchers and make it seem like the Flyers had another deal in the works that didn't pan out.

The Upshall trade is especially frustrating. While not a top line player, Scottie Upshall is a ball of energy on the ice and he's a perfect third line player. Carcillo is also a hard-nosed player, but he is much slower than Upshall and is pretty much just a hockey goon who leads the NHL in penalty minutes with 174. At first glance, this trade is ridiculous because the Flyers essentially traded a 3rd line player for a 4th line player, and threw in a 2nd round pick on top of that.

However, there was more behind this move than that. By moving Upshall, who makes 1.2 million, and getting Carcillo, who makes 900,000, the Flyers freed up some cap space so they can have some wiggle room to move players up and down when injuries occur. This move keeps the Flyers from having to send Claude Giroux down again if they need another defenseman.

On top of creating more cap space, the Flyers were also happy to get anything for Upshall, who is a restricted free agent at the end of the year and was likely to sign elsewhere. The Flyers wouldn't have had enough cap space to give Upshall a decent contract offer.

The second move of the day for the Flyers also raises more questions. McLaren is a big, strong defenseman who was a good player in his prime. Unfortunately, he has spent the entire season in the AHL and has a 2.5 million dollar contract. The Flyers will have McLaren report to the Phantoms and it's very likely that he will never play a game with the big club. If the Flyers do choose to call up McLaren at some point, he would have to pass through waivers and then the team would have to figure out a way to shed some salary. McLaren could be on the Flyers playoff roster, but he is essentially emergency depth should one of the top 6 defenseman go down.

There were rumors after the deadline that the Flyers had another trade in the works, but it looks like those talks fell through. It seems like GM Paul Holmgren took a step to clear away some salary for another trade but couldn't quite pull it off. There was plenty of speculation about Jay Bouwmeester coming to Philly, but it never materialized.

The sad fact now is that the Flyers team that takes the ice for the next game isn't as good as the Flyers team that played against Boston on Tuesday. Philly was forced to make a move to give the team more flexibility, it's just too bad that it had to take losing a solid player. While you can't fault Holmgren for making these moves today, you can blame Homer for getting the Flyers in this salary mess in the first place. He tried to play a game with the salary cap and he failed. That's especially clear when you look at the list of Flyers that have been jettisoned since the return of Daniel Briere: Glen Metropolit, Ossi Vaananen and Scottie Upshall. Essentially, those three players were traded for Dan Carcillo, and that's depressing. While none of those guys are top line players, you need some of those bit players to help the team when you make a Stanley Cup run.

The Flyers were fortunate to be able to keep their core of young players on the team but only time will tell if they will get enough support from the few remaining role players to make another run deep into the playoffs.

Giroux back up with the suddenly healthy Flyers

Much to the delight of Flyers fans, Claude Giroux's trip to the minors was short-lived. With Kimmo Timonen returning to the ice tonight, the Flyers were able to send down defenseman Nate Guenin, along with forward Jared Ross, and re-call Giroux from the Phantoms. Giroux was sent down just a few days ago because the team needed to clear cap space to call up Guenin to replace Timonen in the lineup.

These moves show just how close the Flyers are to the cap and how this whole cap situation has robbed them of having any depth. GM Paul Holmgren has done a masterful job assembling the key pieces to this Flyers team but he has made some mistakes in terms of handling the cap. Losing Glen Metropolit for nothing was one of the first real blunders that Homer has made.

On the bright side, the Flyers will now take the ice with a fully healthy roster for the first time in months. With Danny Briere back in the lineup, the team will finally be able to roll out 3 quality scoring lines. The defense isn't too shabby, either, although the Flyers are still looking to upgrade the blueline at the trade deadline.

Here are the Flyers lines for tonight:

Gagne - Richards - Knuble
Hartnell - Carter - Lupul
Upshall - Briere - Giroux
Cote - Powe - Asham

Timonen - Parent
Coburn - Carle
Alberts - Jones

It will be interesting to see if the Flyers keep Briere on the 3rd line or if they bump him up to be a winger on the 1st or 2nd line. The 3rd line listed above appears to be a little undersized, although it will have a ton of speed and playmaking ability.

The team that we hoped to see from the beginning of the season is finally taking the ice tonight. Depending on what happens at the trade deadline tomorrow, though, this could be the only time you get to see it.

With Houshmandzadeh and Ward signed, Eagles continue to be free agency spectators

As two more players the Eagles were rumored to be interested in get signed, you begin to wonder what exactly the Birds plan to spend their money on. All the reports out there say the Eagles have over 40 million dollars to work with under the cap, yet the Eagles continue to sit on their hands as all the quality free agents get snatched up.

Not that the Eagles should necessarily pursue some of these players given the prices some teams are paying. T.J. Houshmandzadeh, a receiver who would have looked nice in an Eagles uniform but wouldn't have been the playmaker Donovan McNabb wanted, signed with the Seahawks for 5 years and 40 million dollars. Derrick Ward, who the Eagles could have used as a backup to Brian Westbrook, signed with the Bucs for 4 years and 17 million dollars. Both teams overpayed, especially the Seahawks. Housh is a quality recevier but he is already 32 years old and never had much speed to begin with. Ward would have been a solid backup with the Eagles, but not at that price. He will get a chance to start in Tampa and could excel.

So, what does that leave for the Eagles, who were never really all that interested in Housh or Ward? With the departure of Brian Dawkins, the Eagles could look at bringing in another safety, like former Raven Jim Leonhard. The rest of the defense appears set, so the Eagles could also look to upgrade their offensive line and get a backup running back. Then again, they may just look to get those players in the draft and save their money. Of course, there is always that pipe dream that the Eagles can bring in a top wide receiver, but that will have to happen in a trade and there has been little talk about Anquan Boldin recently. Marvin Harrison is probably the best available free agent wideout but if the Eagles really wanted him they would have signed him already.

So what will the Eagles do with their extra money? Probably nothing, which makes the idea that they couldn't find the money to pay Brian Dawkins that much more frustrating. As Eagles fans, though, we should be used to all of this by now.

Good riddance: Adam Eaton is an Oriole

Philadelphia has lost another beloved sports figure! No, wait, it's just Adam Eaton.

Lost in all the news about the Eagles was a move the Phillies made on Friday when they finally got rid of Adam Eaton. Despite owing him another 9 million dollars, the Phils chose to eat salary and waived Eaton, ending his illustrious Philadelphia career. Eaton spent two years with the Phils and finished 14-18 with an ERA in the high 5's. He played absolutely no role in the Phillies championship run.

Shockingly, another major league club was willing to pick up Eaton. The Baltimore Orioles, obviously desperate for pitching help, signed Eaton to a minor league deal. The Orioles invited him to Spring Training and even expect Eaton to compete for a spot in the starting rotation. If he makes the team at all, the Orioles will officially be the worst team in baseball.

The Phillies will still be on the hook to pay Eaton for this season but they have to look at it as addition by subtraction. Eaton may go down as one of the worst free agent signings in not only Phillies history but also in the entire history of baseball. I guess 24 million doesn't buy what it used to.