Aug 8, 2011 | Kareem Copeland | greenbaypressgazette.com
The Philadelphia Eagles have been anointed the clear-cut winners of the 2011 free agency period with the additions of CB Nnamdi Asomouga, DE Cullen Jenkins, RB Ronnie Brown and DE Jason Babin and a trade for CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
Many have them as the NFC favorites to reach the Super Bowl.
All the while, the Packers sat back as defending champs and declined to sign a single free agent outside of their own.
The contrast in philosophies couldn’t be more different. Packers general manager Ted Thompson lives and dies by “draft and develop.” Eagles coach Andy Reid and GM Howie Roseman, obviously, went the “hired gun” route.
“On paper I guess they’re a dream team,” Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop said. “You definitely have to go out on the field and make it happen. We’ll see. At the end of the day … it’s a total team thing.
“You watch and we want to know where guys are going and who got who. We watch ESPN. It’s interesting to see how everything unfolds. But I think I can speak for everybody in here, the guys we have in here, we wouldn’t trade them for anybody. It is what it is.”
Bishop was asked if all the Eagles and free agency talk lessened some of the pressure on the Packers, who would normally get a larger share of national attention as they try to repeat.
“That’s a good observation, I didn’t really think of it like that,” Bishop said. “Anyway you can eliminate distractions … could be a good thing.”
