The weight on the seesaw - and we'll leave alone the observation of what it takes to offset Reid's side - was redistributed when general manager Tom Heckert Jr. decamped for Cleveland and was replaced by Howie Roseman, a Joe Banner protege who began his career here as a salary cap wonk.
We will never know if Heckert read the shifting sands and decided his future was rosier elsewhere or whether, as advertised, it was merely a case of going to a better opportunity. On the face of it, the opportunity is almost the same. He has the same title, but will operate essentially as a player personnel director working under a boss with all the power, in this case Mike Holmgren.
In Philadelphia, Reid has held all the real power, but as the seasons without championships pile one upon the other, there is room for other voices in the front office to be heard. With an alignment of team president Banner and Roseman, the critical mass needed to influence decisions has probably been reached.
Even the parties involved don't know how it will play out yet, and won't until the stove gets hot with the opening of the free agent season March 5 and just before the March 10 deadline when the Eagles either extend Michael Vick a $1.5 million roster bonus or cut him loose.
By then, we will know more. Until then, getting real information from the organization is like getting soup in a hardware store. You have to work at it.
The Eagles put a series of interviews with Banner on their Web site this week. They are promotional vehicles, of course, and easy targets because the "anything goes" promise of the host is quickly broken by the thin answers given by Banner, who is the one who decides what goes and what does not.
