Eagles Training Camp 2007

[SunMo]

aka Barksdale makes his bones


post all pics, articles, etc here


it's finally here, not a moment too soon.


http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20070726_Frying_pan_to_the_fire.html

[MDS]

I'll be there at some point between the 6th and 10th. You all care. I want igy to show so I can give him that hug he's been axing for.

[Munson]

I'm coming at LEAST once, I'll be in plenty of facial hair and wife beaters.

[Diomedes]

I want igy to show so I can give him that hug he's been axing for.

funny.

[Quasimoto]

Did Buckhalter blow out his knees yet?

[Feva]

Here's a training camp article, but the most interesting part of the whole thing pointed to the strength of the NFC East over the years the Eagles have been winning it.  Kind of surprising.

The NFC East, almost any way you look at it, has been the best division in the NFC -- even as the Eagles were running roughshod through it every year.

Since realignment in 2002, when the Cardinals were exiled to Arizona and the NFC West, the East piled up 164 wins in the NFC -- more than the South (161), the North (145) or the West (144).

Outside the division, the East was 69-51 in the NFC -- the best mark in the conference. Only the South (62-58) had a winning record; the North is 56-64 and the West is 53-67.

The East has had 10 playoff teams since 2002; the South and West each had seven and the North had six (Minnesota was the only wild card).

That's a pretty good argument -- the NFC East has been the strongest division top to bottom. Even when the other NFC East teams have been bad they've rarely been pushovers like the Lions or Cardinals.

[ice grillin you]

does anyone else get annoyed by kevin kolbs jibb?

definitely doesnt pass the look test

[SunMo]

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20070727_Lets_see_what_weve_got_here.html

Let's see what we've got here
GM eager to see newcomers and players returning from injury
By LES BOWEN
bowenl@phillynews.com





The draft picks all are signed. Some key players are coming off serious injury - most notably, quarterback Donovan McNabb, who tore his right ACL last November - but the Eagles say those players are ready to go.

Even taking into account the fact that training camps tend to start optimistically, as rookies and select veterans head for Lehigh this afternoon for tomorrow's first practice sessions, the braintrust's brows seem remarkably unforrowed.

"No contracts, no controversy, no disputes - you start it out about as clean as you can go," mused team president Joe Banner, whose pronouncements tend toward caution.

General manager Tom Heckert said the injury recoveries of McNabb, tight end L.J. Smith (sports hernia surgery) and defensive end Jevon Kearse (knee) are the biggest potential problem areas, and that the news right now on all three fronts is good. Only Smith will be at all limited when drills begin, Heckert said, and Smith probably will just take a few reps off here and there to be safe.

"Through this offseason, and even up to this week, we feel really confident about all those guys - Donovan and L.J. and Jevon, they look great," Heckert said. "It looks like there are going to be very few things to be pessimistic [about]."

One of the main things Heckert said he will be looking at in the early going is the linebacking corps. Neither weakside starter Takeo Spikes nor strongside starter Chris Gocong has ever played a down in an Eagles game - Spikes came this offseason in a trade with Buffalo, and Gocong spent his rookie season on injured reserve. Also, the Birds apparently are looking to get middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter off the field on passing downs in favor of second-year player Omar Gaither. So getting all that synched up might be training camp's biggest project, aside from returning McNabb to form.

"Gocong and Spikes," Heckert said. "We're anxious to see how Spikes fits in. We think he's a heckuva football player, but it's always different when you're watching a guy on tape . . . the rookies are like that, too - you see all the stuff on tape, but until they're here with you and doing your things, it's kind of, I don't know if you'd say it's a mystery, but we look forward to seeing if this guy is what we thought he was . . . Gocong, he's a starter right now, but [third-round rookie] Stewart Bradley and [former practice-squadder] Tank Daniels, we'll see how those guys do in camp."

The same question applies to wideout Kevin Curtis, a major offseason acquisition as a Rams free agent, who is being penciled in as a starter opposite Reggie Brown.

"Like Spikes, we know he's a good football player, but he hasn't been in our system," Heckert said. "We're anxious to see him. We've been really impressed with [2006 draftees] Jason Avant and Jeremy Bloom. Bloom [on IR as a rookie], we didn't really get to see him out there. In minicamps, he's looked great."

The Eagles drafted Bloom in the fifth round last year from Colorado as a returner; his sporadic football career, which he had abandoned 2 years earlier to pursue an Olympic skiing medal, didn't seem to portend much of a future as a wideout. It seemed the learning curve would be too steep. But what the Birds saw this spring certainly got their attention.

"Last season, even before he was injured, he didn't look like the same guy we'd seen on tape. On tape, he was fast fast. Now, he looks like the same guy we'd seen," Heckert said. "I think he's surprised even a couple of our DBs . . . I think he has a chance to help us there."

Heckert said McNabb, who will report today (as will all the QBs), won't be held out of anything as long as his repaired knee feels OK.

"Right off the bat, I think we're going to let him go and see how he feels," Heckert said.


Unfinished business

Technically, Darwin Walker could still be an Eagle this season - the Bills have the right to return Walker in exchange for a sixth-round draft choice if he hasn't reported by Aug. 5. Realistically, that seems unlikely. Walker hasn't reported in Buffalo because he is unhappy with his contract, which the Eagles weren't inclined to revise last winter; that was a big part of why they traded him. So it's hard to envision Walker getting a new contract from the Birds. Also, the team went out and signed free agents Montae Reagor and Ian Scott, and another defensive tackle, Brodrick Bunkley requested and was given Walker's jersey number, 97.

The most likely outcome is that Walker gets a new deal with the Bills, after all, as the deadline nears. If that doesn't happen, he probably will be moving on to a team that is inclined to do a new contract.

The Eagles still have not resolved the matter of their $2 million accidental overpayment to Brian Westbrook last year. The team declined comment on the matter yesterday. When the mistake came to light in February, Eagles sources and Westbrook's agent, Fletcher Smith, said there was no dispute about whether Westbrook would pay the money, but the fact that it had been invested and couldn't simply be withdrawn without penalty complicated the repayment, as did the fact that Westbrook had paid taxes on it.

Westbrook's profile on the team is higher than it has ever been, and his sometimes prickly relationship with the front office is mended for now; management wants to proceed gingerly. But the longer this goes without being resolved, the greater the chance for unpleasantness.


QB blog

As part of Donovan McNabb's continuing effort to seem more accessible to fans, the Eagles quarterback announced that he will be blogging one or two times a week at yardbarker.com/users/DonovanMcNabb.

McNabb's inaugural entry includes video of his workouts with receivers earlier this month in Arizona.

"I'm interested in hearing what the fans have to say, and I hope that they are interested in what I have to say, as well," McNabb said in a release accompanying the announcement of the blog. McNabb spokesman Rich Burg said the entries would tend to focus on McNabb's life off the field. *

This is a pretty good article and I think it pretty much sums up how everybody feels going into most training camps. 

However, I highlighted the Trotter part because I thought that was something they tried to do last year as well with poor results. 

[Seabiscuit36]

The Eagles still have not resolved the matter of their $2 million accidental overpayment to Brian Westbrook last year. The team declined comment on the matter yesterday. When the mistake came to light in February, Eagles sources and Westbrook's agent, Fletcher Smith, said there was no dispute about whether Westbrook would pay the money, but the fact that it had been invested and couldn't simply be withdrawn without penalty complicated the repayment, as did the fact that Westbrook had paid taxes on it. 

Thats kind of crazy it hasnt been resolved with Banner trying to collect his money

[SunMo]

couldn't they just not pay him that amount this year?

that way he doesn't lose the taxes?  it's basically like they gave him an advancement on this year's salary, last year.

[Geowhizzer]

couldn't they just not pay him that amount this year?

that way he doesn't lose the taxes?  it's basically like they gave him an advancement on this year's salary, last year.

There's probably some strange actuarial/accounting things that have to happen to make sure things are as close to balanced as possible.

And I agree - take it out in equal amounts from his paychecks this year.  Sounds simple.

[Wingspan]

couldn't they just not pay him that amount this year?

that way he doesn't lose the taxes?  it's basically like they gave him an advancement on this year's salary, last year.

I think they would retroactively go over last years cap. And which could lead to a loss of draft pick.

[SunMo]

probably right

[Geowhizzer]

Damned beancounters.  They ruin everything.

[SunMo]

except beans