We'll see if Akers move is right one

It is a risky business, this discarding of players before their expiration dates hit. The Eagles pride themselves in being ahead of the curve in evaluating the endgame of a player's usefulness. Many times, they have been right.

But when they have been wrong, boy, have they been wrong.

Andy Reid this time is banking on being right when it comes to the placekicker position. By selecting Nebraska's Alex Henery in the fourth round on Saturday, Reid essentially signaled the end of David Akers' 12-year career here. The Eagles will not keep two kickers on their 2011 roster, if there is a 2011 roster, and they certainly will not be willing to scratch Henery a check for the $450,000 roster bonus he would be due in the event they cut him.

So Akers is out, Henery is in. Era over. Thanks for playing.

Akers got the news right before he was to coach one of his son's flag football games on Saturday. He was not as blindsided as Donovan McNabb was in 2007 when the Eagles, without warning, used their first pick to select Kevin Kolb, but the message to Akers nonetheless was clear. Akers did not want to talk about it on Sunday, but he knows that whenever next season begins, if it begins, he will be playing elsewhere.

It is a reality that those who have come before Akers have had to accept. The Eagles make no exceptions. Ask McNabb, or Brian Westbrook, or Troy Vincent, or Brian Dawkins, or countless others. It does not matter how many Pro Bowls or NFC championship games you've been to or how much the fans love you, when the franchise determines that it is time, you must go.

Akers is simply the latest in a long line. Some players, like Jeremiah Trotter, have left in tears. Others, like McNabb, have left in defiance. All undoubtedly have wanted to make the Eagles regret their decision, not that Reid or Joe Banner would ever admit to being wrong.

But they have been wrong, both about the player they were showing the door and the one they had named as successor.

Dawkins is one example. The Eagles let him walk via free agency in 2009, even though there was not a proven player available to take Dawkins' place. Quintin Demps took the first-team reps through minicamps and training camp, but he lost the job to rookie Macho Harris, a fifth-round pick from Virginia Tech, by Week 1 of the season. Harris was underwhelming in eight starts, and Sean Jones was not much better. Neither made the roster in 2010.