Trying to improve, if only in the short term

The rest of the world, every neighbor on their Pattison Ave. block, every one of them, they can do as they please. The Eagles will do it their way, and they won’t apologize.

If there has been no other message from an offseason that already has rolled past a draft, a rookie camp and some formal-if-voluntary workouts and is closer to the next season than the last one, it is that the Eagles will leave patience, processes and asset-collection to others. They will try to build short-term rotisserie

football teams with real players and real money.

That’s a good idea, even if the results have started to grow a little familiar since last Chuck Bednarik was caught sitting on Jim Taylor. That’s what puts the professional in professional sports. It’s a refusal to accept mediocrity, at least not when there are interesting players to drag before TV cameras and fit with officially licensed merchandise.

While Jeffrey Lurie did take a moment earlier in the offseason to appease what has become a sickeningly timid portion of the Philadelphia sports fan base, suggesting that it may take a while for his team to become whole under Carson Wentz, some habits are too difficult to cold-turkey away. For the Eagles, that includes signing players with recognizable names. And for added value, it’s helpful to do that when some other team on the street is enjoying a moment of attention. Sign Nnamdi Asomugha on the day the Phillies trade for Hunter Pence; pick up LeGarrette Blount on the morning after the 76ers win the No. 3 pick in the NBA Draft. That sort of thing.

Not to say it won’t eventually work — the laws of average exist for a reason — but the Eagles were at their impatient best this offseason. Though they spread it out over several weeks, they could have accomplished it the same way any fantasy draft is operated, in one room with a six-foot hoagie and a couple of would-be know-it-alls doing most of the talking. Aware that they needed to fit Wentz, for whom they’d already invested a substantial percentage of their future, with teammates unlikely to drop passes or collapse while trying to squeeze through a hole to the end zone, they would do so in a virtual panic. Sure, they would spend money; but at least their new players wouldn’t be around long enough to require substantial relocation fees.

There was Blount, 30, who signed a deal to run the football, but for only one year. That, he can do. He scored 18 touchdowns last season for New England. Of course, if the Eagles were to receive an entire year from him, it would be its own bonus. That’s because Blount was suspended in college — Chip Kelly doing the honors — and by the Pittsburgh Steelers, that for essentially quitting on the team before a game was over.

There was Alshon Jeffery, a receiver, 27 years old and once caught in the NFL’s performanceenhancing drugs net. He’s signed all the way through February.

There was Torrey Smith, 28, recently cut by the 49ers. He has a — quick, take a guess — one-year deal. But there are Eagles options for two more. Just an estimate, but he probably won’t be hanging around the joint as long as, say, Harold Carmichael.

There was Chris Long, 32, a defensive end signed for the long term: Two years. The Eagles needed a cornerback, and so arrived Patrick Robinson, injured last season in Indianapolis and signed for every one of the next 365 days. Help for the offensive line? Fine. There’s Chance Warmack. Sign him up until Groundhog Day and not a single punt more.

So maybe that’s the market. Quick contracts could be good business. Blount, in particular, is risky enough for one year; no need to keep him around long enough to quit on the Eagles, too. And of course, the Birds made other offseason moves, improving in the draft and trading for Timmy Jernigan, a 24-year-old pass-rusher who has sparkled at times in Baltimore.

The Eagles have tried dream-team before. At least that’s what Vince Young called them in 2011, just before they plodded to an 8-8 season. Nor is anyone implying that Blount, Jeffery and Smith will give Wentz anything more than a slight upgrade over what he had to work with last year. At least, though, the Eagles tried something. There’s a value in that. But do they have time to make it work with so many new players?

“It’s just a matter of getting out there and getting it done,” Smith said, after an OTA workout this week at the NewsControl Compound. “That’s what we have been out there working on. That’s our job, and we will get it done this offseason.” It did seem odd that, with the obvious commitment to Wentz, they spent the Birds’ more valuable draft picks on defensive players and not on pointscorers young enough to grow with their new quarterback. More, they are trusting a second-year head coach, who never had much experience when he started, to successfully mesh so many new players on offense.

“I think we’ll come up with creative and unique ways,” Doug Pederson said, “to get guys the ball.”

It could happen. Besides, trying things is what the Eagles do best. And that will always beat the alternative, on their block and everywhere else, too.