I just listened to Adam Caplan’s show on WCHE. He covered a lot of NFL ground and had a couple of Eagles nuggets. One was an update on free agent G Evan Mathis. Caplan said the two sides aren’t close to a deal. Mathis can’t sign right now, but he and agent Drew Rosenhaus (yikes) can negotiate with the team.

Caplan made it sound as though Mathis and Rosenhaus are looking for big dollars. I certainly don’t blame Mathis for trying to strike while the iron is hot. He has played well in the past, but timing has never worked out for him. It did this year, as he played well for a big name team in an explosive offense. Mathis isn’t under the radar anymore. He’s a legit FA target.

That said, I hope he and Rosenhaus appreciate that playing well in the Howard Mudd system has to be factored into the equation. Jason Babin knows that he needs to be in the Wide 9 to be at his best. The same is essentially true for Mathis, although he can certainly be a starter in other systems. It isn’t Howard Mudd or bust for him.

Players have a short shelf life so I never blame a guy for trying to get what he can, within reason. Mathis has been well compensated in his career by normal standards, but not by NFL standards. He will turn 31 in November so this is his one chance to cash in. I hope he is able to do that and get a good deal.

From the Eagles perspective, you don’t want to hand Mathis a huge deal. You found him on the street last summer. He is 30 years old. Mathis started 15 games in 2011. He had 22 starts in the previous 7 years combined. G is a de-valued position anyway so you can’t justify handing him top dollar.

I hope the two sides are able to work something out. Mathis was terrific last year and seems like a hell of a guy. I want him around in 2012 and the next few years. Rosenhaus needs to be careful with how he plays this. There won’t be a huge market for Mathis so he can’t strong arm the Eagles too much. We don’t have big money invested at C or RG so hopefully that will help with getting fair money to Mathis.

Should things go south and Mathis leave…what then? I doubt we put Julian Vandervelde into the lineup right away. That would be a very, very young interior OL. We could move Todd back to LG and then draft Jonathan Martin or Mike Adams to play RT. We could draft G David DeCastro to fill the spot, if he lasts that long. There could be other FA options.

I guess we could look at moving Todd and then having Winston Justice or King Dunlap take over as RT.

Ideally, we re-sign Mathis and keep him off the Allen Wranglers, one team he’s made it clear that he wants to play for.

Those who follow him on Twitter will know about that joke.

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Update — Additional Eagles nuggets from Caplan:

* Team will extend Laws or re-sign Landri, but not likely to do both.

* Says the team wants an athletic FB – like Stanley Havili. Thinks a veteran could be brought in to compete with Havili. Named some guys that I don’t think would come here to compete (Snelling, Tolbert). Plus, I’m not sure if those guys can block. They’re hybrid RB/FB types.

* Does not think the Eagles will have interest in LaRon Landry. Too early to give up on Ja-Jar. Does think team will sign mid-level vet to compete for job. Threw out some names…Chris Hope, Jim Leonard…as wild guesses. Not inside info. Just names.

* Thinks the Eagles must add a good backup RB. Doesn’t think Lewis is ready to be the backup. Don’t recall any names.

* Said he didn’t anticipate the Eagles making a serious run at Curtis Lofton. Figured Lofton would want huge bucks and Eagles wouldn’t want to pay that for him.

* Said he had a sit down interview with Howie Roseman. Needs to write it out and post online. Will do that early this week.

* Caplan will be on Eagles Live on Monday. Lots of FA topics to be covered.

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As far as the Saints scandal…or SaintTaint as someone on Twitter called it…we do need to be careful about having a double standard.

Eagles fans love the Bounty Bowl and Body Bag Game. The House of Pain Game was the Super Bowl for the 1991 team. We also miss the days of The Vet, which was worst playing surface in the history of athletics. That’s right…cavemen in 10,000 BC preferred getting slammed into frozen, rocky ground while playing Mammoth Ball to the thought of running a pass route on the Vet’s slightly less than perfect surface.

The game has changed since the 1980s and I think fans have adapted to a certain extent. We know longer expect the kind of “killshots” that Gang Green delivered in their heyday. Wes Hopkins would be paying the NFL more fine money than James Harrison. Heck, he’d have been thrown out of the House of Pain game.

I do not condone what Gregg Williams and the Saints did. Systematically using bounties to take out opposing players over a 3-year span is much different than what Buddy did. Buddy wanted revenge on a specific player. That isn’t “right” per se, but it is far different than every week targeting players and trying to injure them.

The funny thing about all of this is that Williams has had a pair of Top 10 defenses in the last 6 years. That’s it. Whatever he is doing isn’t working. He did win a SB with the Saints, but I think that had more to do with Drew Brees and an onside kick than Williams D. Tracy Porter sealed the game, but it was hardly a defensive struggle.

I’m all for ripping the guy, but as Eagles fans we have to be careful about balancing our hatred and our history. Nobody likes a hypocrite.

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Caplan’s take on the Saints scandal…

* lose 4 draft picks – 2 1sts and 2 2nds

* huge fines (in the millions)

* 4 game suspension for Loomis & Payton

* 8 game suspension for Gregg Williams