Cullen Jenkins

MIKE PATTERSON. Cullen Jenkins. And there will be more. Roster carnage is the only certainty when an NFL team fires an underperforming coach. Andy Reid goes, Chip Kelly arrives, the vision of the entire Eagles organization changes and the world is again reminded that those 8-year contracts signed by NFL players are really a series of eight, 1-year contracts. And don't forget to write. With that, a word here about cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha: He needs to go - for his sake, and Kelly's sake, and everyone's.

To no great surprise, the Eagles released defensive tackles Mike Patterson and Cullen Jenkins on Monday. Age, high-priced contracts, and the expected changes in the Eagles defense made their releases a foregone conclusion. Patterson will turn 30 before next season. Jenkins turned 32 last month. Patterson was slated to earn slightly more than $4 million, while Jenkins had a $5.5 million salary, $1 million of which was to be paid in a roster bonus on March 12. Approximately $1.5 million of Jenkins' salary is guaranteed, but there is offsetting language in his contract.

MIKE PATTERSON and Cullen Jenkins were loyal soldiers who worked hard and never caused problems, but their general was exiled to Kansas City, and his replacement envisions a different type of army. The Eagles still haven't confirmed they are moving to a 3-4 front under new coach Chip Kelly. Nonetheless, Monday they began retooling for just that, releasing Patterson and Jenkins, two veteran defensive tackles who aren't hefty enough to be great 3-4 nose tackles and would seem to lack the height and power to be great 3-4 ends.

Michael Vick sat alone at his locker stall, as accessible as he was for most of the last four years. A reporter wanted to know why he agreed to start in Sunday's season finale when the quarterback had little to gain in playing. "I'll tell you the truth," Vick said Wednesday. "Because I was asked. " Love him or hate him - and there was certainly plenty of middle ground, too - Vick did everything that was asked of him by the Eagles. Wildcat? Sure. Dutifully sit behind the heir apparent?

THIS IS MY 11th year covering the Eagles, and through about 10 1/2 of those years, I could not envision a day when reporters would matter-of-factly ask Andy Reid about coaching his final home game, while asking Reid's players how the fans should mark the final trip to the sideline for the franchise's longest-tenured and winningest coach. But then, I thought the Eagles would make the playoffs this season, barring catastrophic injury. Injuries did indeed reach catastrophic levels, well after the Birds had exposed themselves as overhyped failures.

No player on the Eagles knows for certain whether Sunday will be Andy Reid's final home game in Philadelphia. If it is, the players want fans to understand that they support him - and that the fans should appreciate Reid's 14 years in Philadelphia. "If you sat here and tried to name five to eight coaches that are better than Coach Reid, I would like to hear them," running back LeSean McCoy said. "I guess people have their own opinions, and their minds are made up. I think the thing about the team is, we know how good of a coach he really is. " McCoy said that Reid "gets blamed for everything" - the coach also takes responsibility for everything - but that an examination of the team's shortcomings this year will reveal mistakes that are the faults of the players, not the coach.

Brandon Graham's locker is next to Fletcher Cox's locker. Cox said the two never discuss the link that defines the way both are viewed in Philadelphia, as former first-round picks so coveted that the Eagles traded up in the draft to get them. But it's an inescapable label. And it's one both have lived up to in recent games. A defensive end, Graham was the No. 13 overall selection in 2010. Cox, a defensive tackle, went 12th in 2012. They are the two highest picks the Eagles have made since 2000.

Andy Reid said Friday it was "hindsight" to suggest he could have fixed his defense earlier, and maybe saved the Eagles' season, by firing defensive-line coach Jim Washburn and scuttling the wide-nine before he eventually did so, on Dec. 3. Reid didn't say it was "wrong. " He just said it was "hindsight. " Then Reid talked about how, with the defensive line in a normal formation, and the linemen not blindly making a beeline for the quarterback, life is much easier for the safeties and even the corners.

THE EAGLES are only a laugh track short of a situation comedy right now. At one point on Thursday night, they lost fumbles on three consecutive plays and four plays out of five - and I, for one, can never forgive myself for having typed the words "Bryce Brown" and "Steve Van Buren" in the same sentence a couple of weeks ago. Besides the fumbles, they also managed to draw a penalty for something no one had ever heard of - calling disconcerting signals...