Howie Roseman

Although they made a 600-mile trek to and from Morgantown, and brought owner Jeffrey Lurie along for the ride, Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman did not have much to say about their private workout of West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith. "Obviously, he's an impressive guy," Roseman said Wednesday, two days after the Eagles brass checked out the top-rated draft prospect. Impressive enough to be a top-10 pick? "You're going through the process, you're trying to get as much information as possible," Roseman said.

EAGLES GENERAL manager Howie Roseman plans to travel to Arizona for the NFL Meetings this weekend. Roseman said he will then turn the page from free agency, to start preparing for his team's most important draft in more than a decade. Something could unexpectedly crop up Friday, but it's quite possible Roseman and the Birds are done with free agency after signing eight players in two hectic flurries - five of them on Tuesday when the market opened, three more Thursday. Roseman has added seven bodies to his team's rebuilding defense, and on offense, he has given new head coach Chip Kelly a Swiss Army knife-type weapon to play with in former Texans tight end-fullback James Casey.

After they added five cost-efficient free agents Tuesday evening, the Eagles were content to sit out as another wave of players was signed to hefty contracts on the second day of NFL free agency. The Birds hosted Ricky Jean-Francois for a visit Wednesday, but the San Francisco defensive lineman left for his next stop - Indianapolis - without a deal. Rumors linked the Eagles to cornerbacks, pass-rushing outside linebackers, and tackles, but nothing materialized. Coach Chip Kelly and general manager Howie Roseman took a break from the activity to introduce two of their new players - tight end/fullback James Casey and defensive lineman Isaac Sopoaga - and to update the Eagles' free-agency plan.

THE TWO GUYS the Eagles introduced Wednesday at NovaCare, James Casey and Isaac Sopoaga, might not be huge pieces of the puzzle Howie Roseman and Chip Kelly are assembling. But they, and the three other free agents the Birds have signed so far, offer clues about the new regime, what it values and where things might go from here. "I think with the guys that we just acquired, probably the common theme is not only are they outstanding football players, but they're outstanding off the field, too," Kelly, the new coach, said.

Eagles free-agent signees James Casey and Isaac Sopoaga made decisions to leave playoff contenders with established coaches to come to Philadelphia, where they've staked their foreseeable futures on a rookie head coach and a team that won only four games last season. Lucrative contracts are always a powerful persuader, but both players would have been attractive elsewhere, too. Their decisions to sign with the Eagles were also built on a confidence in what coach Chip Kelly is putting together - and Kelly's plans for both of them.

It was exciting to see the Eagles make a big splash on the first day of NFL free agency, especially since it was Nnamdi Asomugha being thrown overboard. Hey, at least he made contact. The Eagles will pay Asomugha $4 million not to play for them in 2013 and that is the best bargain general manager Howie Roseman could have made. There are two ways to make your team better, and subtraction is the easy one. It is the addition part that gets tricky, as Asomugha's two-year display of ineffectiveness demonstrated.

JUST AS FANS started to get good and worked up about the Eagles' inactivity in the early hours of free agency, the team dropped a load of signings on the reeling Twitterverse. Five new Eagles joined the roster, though they weren't the splashy, top-of-the-market guys some fans always seem to want, in the face of solid evidence that trying to build a winner that way doesn't work. The signings reflected what general manager Howie Roseman and new coach Chip Kelly said in the weeks leading up to the opening of the market: The Eagles need players, as they transition from the Andy Reid era to new systems.

ON THE DAY before the official start of NFL free agency, the Eagles took care of a couple of housekeeping issues, signing long snapper Jon Dorenbos to a 4-year contract and special-teams ace Colt Anderson to a 1-year deal. Maybe Tuesday will bring more exciting news. Dorenbos would have become an unrestricted free agent Tuesday at 4 p.m., and Anderson would have been a restricted free agent. They are the only impending free agents the Birds are expected to retain. Tackle King Dunlap, linebacker Akeem Jordan, defensive tackle Derek Landri, defensive end Darryl Tapp, guard Jake Scott and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents.

NOBODY REALLY knew what would happen in the NFL's first official "pre-free-agency" negotiating period. Turned out, not much did. Everyone was clear that deals couldn't be announced before the official start of free agency, Tuesday at 4 p.m. But agents had hoped to get some numbers from teams, starting at midnight Friday, and they'd figured they might even strike unofficial bargains. The NFL put an abrupt end to those hopes Friday with a memo warning about investigations for "tampering," should anyone enter into even agreements in principle.

Free agency begins this week, but the top player the Eagles should target won't technically be on the open market when the clock strikes 4 p.m. Tuesday. But he will be available, and he will make more of a difference than any of the hundreds of free agents looking for jobs in two days. Darrelle Revis is on the trading block, and the Eagles should do whatever is takes to acquire the New York Jets cornerback. They have the draft picks; the salary-cap space; and, most important, a glaring hole in the secondary that makes dealing for the all-pro a no-brainer.