Early this morning, Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer shocked the Philadelphia Eagles fan base by reporting that after serving as Eagles president for the last 17 years, Joe Banner would be relinquishing that role.

Chief operating officer Don Smolenski will replace Banner as president and run the day-to-day operations.  Howie Roseman will assume Joe Banner's role of contract negotiating and managing the teams salary cap.

Banner,59, will move into a strategic advisory role.

Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie, labeled Banner as "a free agent."

The two had been childhood friends, and Banner first got the Eagles presidency job in 1994 after Lurie purchased the Eagles from then-owner, Norman Braman.

A press conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and will be on 97.3 ESPN FM and 973espn.com.

In the mean time, Joe banner called into Pro Football Talk Live and shared some of his memories with Mike Florio.

Among his two favorite memories: opening the Eagles new stadium Lincoln Financial Field and standing on the podium after winning the NFC Championship game in 2004.

Listen to Joe Banner on Pro Football Talk Live:

 

 

 

Thanks again to Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk and Pro Football Talk Live for the audio

 

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