While Howie Roseman and company were putting in work at the Jefferson Training Complex trying to secure the best possible free agency deals for the Philadelphia Eagles, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was at a special event to honor former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil.

Catching up with the legendary defensive coordinator as he helped to toast another Philly hero, NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark asked Fangio how it felt to lose so many quality players in free agency and still find ways to field great defenses. While Fangio admitted that he doesn't love being the farm system for the rest of the NFL, he knows Roseman will have a good team ready to play in time for Week 1.

“Yeah, it's like we're the farm system defensively for the 31 other teams in the league. But, you know, we'll do a good job,” noted. “Howie does a great job putting together the roster. The assistant coaches will do a great job getting the new guys ready. And we'll be ready.”

Asked specifically about the free agents the Eagles lost over the first few days of free agency, Fangio gave flowers to his now-former players, even if he'd appreciate a fiver or two for the work he played in securing their paydays.

“Yeah, you'd think they'd at least send me a $5 bill or something, you know. But we'll miss them. You know, Nakobe had a great two years for us. You know, we're going to miss him. I really enjoyed the guy,” Fangio said with a laugh.

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“We lost Reed. Reed was a great story coming from an undrafted free agent to being a starter, winning a Super Bowl, being an elected captain. You know, he's got a lot of intangibles besides his good play that we'll miss.

“You know, Jaelen's a h*ll of a player, as you saw Carolina thought so too with the amount of money they paid him. We were trying hard to keep him, but it got a bit too expensive. And I wish him nothing but the best of luck.”

Because the Eagles are so darn good at drafting and developing their own players, they do routinely have to let really good players leave in free agency in order to hand out top-of-the-market contracts to their truly elite players. As a result, Fangio and company have to keep plugging holes with draft picks and short-term veterans, which, admittedly, hasn't hurt the team's defensive play one big thanks to the incredible schematic brilliance of their Hall of Fame-caliber coordinator.