First Post Up at the New Blog

Below is the link to the new site for this blog, where I just entered my first post. Please bookmark it or change your RSS settings.

New blog site here.

Moving Up

After toiling away in relative obscurity for the last several months on this blog, I have accepted a gig as the main Eagles blogger for the Most Valuable Network Web site. So I won't be posting anymore on this site besides providing the link when my first post goes up over there. I hope you follow along for what should be a crazy ride through the Birds' upcoming season, and thank you for finding your way to this blog.

No Wright

After the smoke cleared, Manuel Wright, the defensive tackle prospect from USC in whom the Eagles were rumored to have interest, was the only player picked in today's supplemental draft--by the Dolphins in the fifth round (more here). While some sources said the Eagles were interested in using a second-round pick from 2006 on the raw Wright, most people believed he would be picked in the third or fourth round. That he slipped to the fifth round may have been the result of a mixed workout for scouts where he ran a quick 40 but benched fewer reps than the average DT.

Drop back later, as I have a big announcement (for me, at least) about the future of this blog.

Training Camp Schedule Unveiled

Via the Phillyburbs.com Web site, I found out that the Eagles have announced the schedule of practice sessions for the update training camp. Rookies and early-arriving vets will have two-a-days on July 30th and 31st before the full squad reports for a morning session on August 1 and a closed session on August 2. Two-a-days resume from the 3rd to the 13th, though certain afternoon sessions are soley for special teams. On the 14th, the team plays a mock game, but, sadly, that is closed to the public. Lehigh camp breaks after that and the team travels to Pittsburgh for its first preseason game on the 15th. I do hope to finally get to camp this year and report on the goings-on for those of you out-of-towners or others who can't attend any sessions. The full schedule is on the Eagles' Web site here.

Training Camp Schedule Unveiled

Via the Phillyburbs.com Web site, I found out that the Eagles have announced the schedule of practice sessions for the update training camp. Rookies and early-arriving vets will have two-a-days on July 30th and 31st before the full squad reports for a morning session on August 1 and a closed session on August 2. Two-a-days resume from the 3rd to the 13th, though certain afternoon sessions are soley for special teams. On the 14th, the team plays a mock game, but, sadly, that is closed to the public. Lehigh camp breaks after that and the team travels to Pittsburgh for its first preseason game on the 15th. I do hope to finally get to camp this year and report on the goings-on for those of you out-of-towners or others who can't attend any sessions. The full schedule is on the Eagles' Web site here.

Right on Wright?

According to Sunday's Miami Herald (here; registration required, but I think it's the same login and password as a Philly.com registration), the Eagles still have serious interest in picking USC defensive tackle Manuel Wright in Thursday's NFL supplemental draft:

"There is a strong sense around the NFL that Philadelphia will use a late second-round pick on Wright, who could eventually succeed high-priced starting defensive tackle Corey Simon.

'You're basically talking about what's almost a third-round pick if you're the Eagles,'' one NFL executive said. ``I could easily see them doing that.'"

There's been little word from the Birds as to their interest in the Trojan who mostly backed up starters Shawn Cody and Eagles first-round pick Mike Patterson, but if the team were to select Wright, there'd be even more of a logjam at the DT position than there is already. Corey Simon and Hollis Thomas are likely to be gone at the end of the season, but they should be on the opening roster, along with Patterson, Sam Rayburn, and Darwin Walker. Depending on how well he plays, seventh-round pick Keyonta Marshall could be in the mix, or relegated to the practice squad.

Paul Grasmanis would seem to be the first guy to go, and the team could move Walker to end full time, since most of their ends are undersized. With three fourth-round picks next year, the Eagles have the flexibility to risk a high pick on Wright, who is raw and has had questionable work habits in the past. The Dolphins, Bengals, and Jaguars have also shown interest in Wright, and this is the first I've seen anyone mention the Eagles being interested enough to use a second rounder on him. But he has first-round athletic potential and the Birds like to plot their position-succession strategy far in advance, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out on Thursday.

The Not-So-Silent Treatment

Obviously Terrell Owens didn't take his buddy Stephen A. Smith's advice he delivered in a column yesterday in the Philadelphia Inquirer (here) that T.O. should now stay silent about his contract situation--as well as try to keep his agent Drew Rosenhaus quiet. Les Bowen writes in the Philadelphia Daily News today (here) that the receiver had a few things to say at an appearance at a Rosemont College-based football camp yesterday. None of it was particularly incendiary, though he did say about attending training camp that "If we can be grownups about it and get everything resolved, then that's what I'll do." Of course, it's debatable as to who is not being the grownup in this situation.

Showing up and getting some nice media coverage being surrounded by a bunch of adoring kids couldn't hurt T.O., since he's lost a lot of fan support taking a risk to go public with his contract dispute. I'm still convinced the best way to resolve the situation is to guarantee more of the 2006 roster bonus that was no doubt implemented to allow the team to cut itself loose from Owens if he became exactly the sort of problem he's become. Had Owens and Rosenhaus worked in silence to begin with, the team may have been slightly more amenable to his concerns--especially if he puts up another monster season. Call me a pessimist, but I'd be surprised if either can hold his tongue for long as training camp approaches.

Camp Countdown

Ok, I haven't figured out exactly how to put one of those stupid countdown clocks on the page to tell you down to the second how much time is left before training camp begins, but let's just say it's three weeks before rookies report. (Veterans have until August 1 to show up; don't look for anyone on the practice field wearing a #81 jersey.) I'll admit I've never been to a single Eagles training-camp session in my life, but now that I have the blog, I'll try to correct that this year.

I'm feeling especially inspired after Sports Illustrated's Peter King listed the Lehigh site as one of his five favorite training-camp spots in his latest column (here). If you aren't interested in reading the whole thing, here's the part about the Eagles' camp, which came in at #4:

"4. Eagles (Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.): Two things you need if you come to this picturesque place an hour north of Philly: Sunscreen (the early August sun in eastern Pennsylvania is relentless, and there is no shade anywhere near the practice fields), and good walking shoes (the tree-lined Lehigh campus is a red-bricked beauty, but it's nothing but hills). Don't let either deter you, because players are around. I've seen Donovan McNabb strolling the campus where the players and coaches live for three weeks each summer. McNabb, Terrell Owens and Dhani Jones shared a cramped on-campus apartment last summer. (I'm betting McNabb and T.O. won't be roomies this August.) Just off-campus, in struggling Bethlehem, is the best place I eat at any training camp (except for the quasi-gourmet dining halls of the Browns and Giants): Deja Brew, an artsy, down-home sandwich shop with superb lattes. Get the Kaiser Soze (Cajun turkey, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, bacon on a Kaiser roll). And finish it off with the best sweet thing I've ever had: a 29-cent peanut-butter ball, made by the owner's mom. Bet you can't eat just one."

Oops, Drew Did It Again

With Grady Jackson leaving Brett Favre's agent for Drew Rosenhaus (here) and threatening to hold out (surprise, surprise), the Packers now move to neck-and-neck with the Eagles as the team most pissed off at the noxious agent. (Packers wideout Javon Walker signed on with Rosenhaus in the spring and has subsequently held out.) Rosenhaus has the temerity to call the 340-pound defensive tackle a "premier player" for the Packers' D, a dubious distinction given how awful that team's defense is. As ESPN.com's Len Pasquerelli points out, Jackson--who is a good run-stuffer--has missed five games in each of the last two seasons due to injury, after signing a two-year, $2.3-million contract during the 2003 season.

Jackson's stats from last season are only slightly better than Hollis Thomas', the Birds injury-prone plugger who is also disgruntled about his contract, but who would never be called a "premier player" and came to his senses after threatening not to show up to the team's spring minicamps.

Meanwhile, if you want to find a premier defensive player who is ridiculously underpaid, check out Jeffri Chadiha's latest piece about Ravens safety Ed Reed on Sports Illustrated's site. The best defensive back in the league, if not the best defensive player, Reed's base salary for the upcoming season is $550,000, over $100,000 less than Jackson's. Reed threatens to do nothing but terrorize opposing team's offenses while he waits for a new contract extension: "It would be a shame if I had to hold out to get a new contract. And I don't plan to."

And don't get me started on what Hines Ward makes compared to Terrell Owens ...