Trotter's decision to stay put right for everybody

Let's hear it for Jeremiah Trotter.

The Philadelphia linebacker made the right move when he re-signed with the Eagles on Friday, agreeing to a five-year deal after visiting with Kansas City the day before.

Jeremiah Trotter's 69 tackles helped lead the Eagles to an NFC title. (Getty Images)

He could have moved on to Kansas City, where, insiders said, the Chiefs offered more money, but he chose to stay where he was comfortable, successful and satisfied. Apparently, he didn't consult Lawyer Milloy, and hallelujah.

There are rewards for choosing happiness over a fatter paycheck, and there is no better example than Jeremiah Trotter.

Three years ago, he took the money and ran from Philadelphia to Washington. The Eagles wanted to keep the guy, designating him as their franchise player, but Trotter believed he deserved more, complaining so loud and so long that the Eagles gave him his wish -- releasing him so he could sign a big contract with the Redskins.

I think we all know what happened. He did nothing. The Redskins did nothing. And, eventually, Washington decided it could live without the former star, releasing him last summer as it streamlined its salary structure.

Trotter returned to Philadelphia for the veteran's minimum and pledged to do what it took to fit in. By midseason, he reclaimed his job as the team's starting middle linebacker, and by season's end, he was in the Pro Bowl again. More than that, he was in the Super Bowl.

There is a lesson there, and it was hammered home when Trotter chose to stay with the Eagles.

"I believe everything happens for a reason," Trotter said at the Super Bowl. "Even thought it was a bad experience in Washington, I learned a lot. I grew from the whole situation. Plus, who's to say if I didn't go to Washington that I would've grown and come out better than when I went in?"

That experience must've played a role in Trotter's decision to remain with the Eagles. He would've started in Kansas City, and he probably would've been a featured linebacker on a team short of defensive stars. But there was no guarantee of success, and no guarantee that at 28, Trotter's knees would hold up chasing offenses that ran over, around and through the league's 31st-ranked defense.

So he stayed where he was, choosing comfort over big money, and bully for Jeremiah Trotter.

The move is as good for Trotter as it is the Eagles. He remains with a club that is inordinately successful, having gone to the past four NFC championship games, and that makes the most of his abilities in Jim Johnson's defense. Plus, he stays with a team that looks to him as a leader and stays in a city where he is extremely popular.

From the Eagles' point of view, keeping Trotter means maintaining continuity in a defense that improved after he joined the starting lineup in the ninth game last year. Before Trotter's return, opponents averaged 4.73 yards per rushing attempt, with Pittsburgh puncturing the Eagles for a season-high 252 yards; after Trotter's return, opponents dropped to 3.88 yards per carry.

Oh, yeah, they also won their first NFC Championship Game in four tries, and it was Trotter who led the team in tackles that afternoon.

"Sometimes you make bad decisions," Washington coach Joe Gibbs said before playing Philadelphia in November last year. "In this case, we made a bad one."

In this case, Jeremiah Trotter did not. Good for him. Good for Philadelphia.