Yeah he was definitely forced out. Everything I have heard is that he wanted Ried gone, supposedly even a lot of what he said before last year about the Eagles having the most talent was to put pressure on Ried. This offseason Lurie decided to put Roseman in charge of players signing and the draft and that left Banner with nothing to do. Banner even talked about how he no long had any responsibilities with the team starting this offseason. I can see how having less cooks involved could be a good thing, but Banner is by far the best guy at managing the cap in the NFL. I think this will be a big loss.
Best guy managing the cap but does that really matter nowadays? We have won salary cap champions numerous times but still come up short. We claim to have to the ability to sign anyone and everyone but only once aggressively approached FA. And the Eagles are not the only team that manages the cap well. A lot of team do. And even team that don't, like the Skins, still wheel and deal and sign who they want. Yes its better to be run like the Eagles than the Skins, but what Banner has done is not some miraculous achievement not mirrored by other managers.
In fact some other teams both manage the cap, draft better, and win championships!
There have also been numerous reports over the years that he is incredibly difficult to deal with when it comes to negotiations and that he has too much power for a number cruncher with no real football knowledge. Now like I said before I don't know how much of the blame for past failures falls on his shoulders. I blame Reid a lot more than you do for the mistakes that been made. But some people speculate Banner has had a bigger hand.
I don't know. At this point I don't even know if I care. I know Reid is back so the offense will still be zany as hell. Castillo, unfortunately, is still masquerading around a s D-Coordinator. And despite the owner publicly calling the last four wins useless, both Reid and Eagles PR has been selling those wins as a sign of what is to come.
I guess to me some change, any at this point, is welcomed. They tweak and change the roster every year but largely the FO and power structure has remained untouched. Reid better be next if he doesn't win a SB this season.
Of course it could also mean that since Banner is gone now, Reid has another 5 years before he is even considered for termination.
