The Philadelphia Eagles recently cut two rather expensive free agent acquisitions from their roster: Wide receiver Kevin Curtis and defensive end Darren Howard.
Kurtis was expected to be a big part of Philly's offense, but the drafting and ascension of DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin (along with the re-signing for Hank Baskett) made Curtis and his rash of injury problems expendable. With the Colts possibly sporting the best wide receiving corps in football next season (yes, I said it), I see no point in going after Curtis. Where or when will he play? He isn't better than anyone else on the roster. Hell, I don't know how they are going to get Anthony Gonzalez on the field next year unless someone gets hurt.
Darren Howard, however, is another story.
Howard was a big free agent splash for the Eagles in 2006, and by 2008 the move was looking like a good one. Howard had 10 sacks in '08, but only 6.5 in 2009. At 32 years old, the Eagles decided to part ways with the former Saints DE.
The system the Eagles use optimizes the type of players the Colts use in their Tampa-2. This is why you often see so many players jump from Philly to Indy (or vise-versa). One of the big needs for the Colts is a back-up pass rush. Blitzing more is all fine and good, but right now our team's entire pass rush is still VERY reliant on Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. With Raheem Brock now gone, a player like Howard could fill a need. He's a bit faster and has better pass rushing moves than Brock, but lack versatility. At 6'3, 260, I doubt we'd be see him at DT.
Still, even though Howard is 32, he's worth looking into. A veteran DE in this system is very valuable, and since there is no salary cap, the Colts should be able to take some of the tens of millions of dollars they squared away from last seasons playoff run and offer Howard a two-year deal.