Thursday, March 11th, 2010

NORMALLY, TRACY Leinen arranges travel for the Eagles. Yesterday, she was trying to prevent it. Leinen, the Birds’ director of travel operations, was dispatched to chase down Marlin Jackson as the free-agent defensive back was walking out the NovaCare front door yesterday afternoon, headed for a planned visit with the Jets

The Eagles’ newest free safety is coming off a knee injury and will switch positions to accommodate their defensive scheme. Sounds a lot like last season’s experiment at free safety, and how did that work out? But the Eagles must believe that defensive back Marlin Jackson, he of the two knee surgeries in a 12-month span, can transition from cornerback to safety better than Sean Jones, last year’s free-agent acquisition who was also coming off a knee injury when he signed a one-year deal to compete for Brian Dawkins’ old job

Michael Vick is unsure of his future with the Eagles. Wherever the quarterback lands next season, he’s likely to face protests similar to the one he confronted yesterday. On the day the Eagles officially picked up his $1.5 million roster bonus, Vick was here to receive the Ed Block Courage Award

Finally, a free-agent visit. The Eagles apparently see Marlin Jackson as a free safety, and there seems to be a pretty good chance that Jackson will be signed by the time he is scheduled to meet with reporters today at 11 a.m

As suitors for wide receiver Antonio Bryant began to gather Monday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took their first step toward replacing the dispatched playmaker. In their first move of the free-agency signing period, the Bucs traded a sixth-round draft pick in 2011 to the Philadelphia Eagles for former starting receiver Reggie Brown

The Eagles continue to make modest moves in free agency, improving their roster by re-signing valuable role players instead of doling out big money.

Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens are getting the band back together. Instead of teaming up on the football field, however, the quarterback and wide receiver are joining forces on the basketball court.

While several NFL teams have methodically gone about signing top-tier free agents, the Eagles instead have addressed some in-house bookkeeping in the last week. Yesterday, the Eagles negotiated a restructuring of guard Stacy Andrews’ contract not long after they signed wide receiver Jason Avant to a five-year deal worth up to $18 million, with $8 million guaranteed