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The Philadelphia Eagles were in the NFC Championship game this past season. Under normal circumstances, finishing the season in that position signifies that your team is moving in the right direction. Generally, once your team hits that mark, it is assumed that only a few adjustments need to be made in order to get your team over the hump to become a legitimate Super Bowl contender. However, since free agency began on February 27, the Eagles have given the impression that they are now in a rebuilding mode, despite what they are saying.

Experts say that the way a message comes across mainly depends on the contents of the message. But research shows that at least half (and according to some studies even more) of the effect depends on body language. In this case, the Eagles seem to be shrugging off their free agent departures and despite their verbal reassurance; their body language is screaming that they are rebuilding the core of the team.

The Eagles have allowed long time Eagles Tra Thomas, Jon Runyan, Brian Dawkins, Correll Buckhalter, and LJ Smith to walk away. Former two-time Pro Bowler, Lito Sheppard, was traded to the Jets. Thomas, 34, Runyan, 35, and Dawkins, 35, were all starters and played significant roles on the Eagles for the past nine seasons. LJ Smith, despite his injuries and the fact that he played himself out of a job, was the Eagles starting tight end at the beginning of last season. Buckhalter was a situational player, the “change of pace” back, who was expected to contribute and actually began to be utilized during the Birds run to and through the playoffs. Despite his disappearance after Asante Samuels signed with the Eagles last year, Sheppard has shown that he is a top tier defensive back when healthy. In all, six players have been lost, all of whom the Eagles believed would play significant roles on the 2008-09 team.

I am not disagreeing with the decision to allow some of these players to move on, but these moves do make it appear that the Eagles are entering a rebuilding phase, at least on offense and certainly when it comes to leadership in the locker room. The Eagles identity is slowly changing and although the thought of rebuilding an offense, while keeping the 32 year old quarterback and 30 year old running back, seems questionable, it does appear to be the case.

Would it really be all that surprising to learn that the Eagles have their own long term plan that extends past next season and into the 2010-11 season? The Eagles may be making these changes now with the thought of making more significant changes in the near future. Will we be witnessing the beginning of the Kevin Kolb era in the near future? It is possible, despite how horrid he looked in his brief cameo this past season. Keep in mind, that all of the players who have left the team were synonymous with the success Andy Reid has had in his decade with the Eagles, the “gold standard” era as the Birds front office has termed it. However, those teams are also synonymous with losing the big game: 1-5 in NFC Championship games, 0-1 in the Super Bowl. Is Big Red slowly making the changes it will take to give this franchise a fresh start, out with the old, in with the new?

In all likelihood, Brian Westbrook only has a couple of years left as a top back. The Eagles have no heir apparent for Westbrook, they have no answer for the tight end problem, no quality full back and will need to supply a supporting role if DeSean Jackson is going to flourish. Are Andy Reid and Joe Banner cleaning house before they start to remodel?

I want to win now. For all my criticism of Reid, McNabb, Dawkins, etc., our best opportunity to win a Super Bowl now is by giving McNabb and Westbrook the supporting cast they need. Both have peaked and Jackson is on the verge of breaking out, after a good rookie season. However, it looks like Andy and Joe may already be looking at a changing of the guard of sorts on the offensive side of the ball. Hopefully they have a good plan laid out and hopefully someone on the squad can step up and take over in the locker room. Let’s see what they say, better yet, let’s wait and see what they do.