Eagles put the franchise tag on L.J. Smith

February 11 , 2008

By Khristian Peel

L.J. Smith wasn't healthy at all this past season and there were doubts on whether he would be back for the 2008 season. He said so himself that he wasn't sure if we was going to be catching passes from Donovan McNabb next season. Well, then again, we weren't sure if McNabb would be here next year so they both will be, and still are question marks for this upcoming season.

L.J. Smith says he wants a long-term deal but he says he wants to be here. With this franchise tag, Smith has a chance to meet with other teams and if he sees a offer he likes, the Eagles have a chance to match the other team's offer, but if they feel that they don't want to pay big bucks for him (like they always do) they can just let him go and receive two draft picks.

Personally, I think the Eagles should keep L.J. Their second string tight end is Matt Schobel which would make another problem for this team, and face it, they already have enough problems on both sides of the ball and they don't need to add another one because this city desperately to win a championship.

While I admit, L.J. has not been the most consistent player during his tenure here, he has been productive at times. I feel that he still has potential to be one of the elite tight ends in this league and if the Birds let him go, I guarantee that he'll be one of those players that turns into a superstar for another team. It's like a curse for this city, so now Philly has two curses to deal with, the "Player that leaves this city and turns into a Superstar" curse and the "No championsip in 25 years" curse.

In Smith's career, he has a total of 194 receptions for 2,227 yards and 15 touchdowns. But in the 2007 season, he only played in 10 games, started in 9, and had only 1 touchdown to go along with just 22 receptions.

Those numbers are almost indentical to his rookie season when he caught 27 passes for 321 yards for just one touchdown.

But if he can stay healthy this year, he will have a great season because he will be hungry for that long-term deal.