The Eagles practiced for about an hour on Friday, one of those get-loose kind of workouts. The tempo was high and while there was no hitting and the players wore shells and shorts, the 10-10-10 session was lively. Spirited. Fun to watch. A good appetizer for the action of the weekend. Here are some of the things I saw ...
- Reggie Brown caught a handful of passes, including a nice, leaping grab on a throw from Donovan McNabb that went for about 15 yards. It makes me wonder if the Eagles are going to make a concentrated effort to get the ball to Brown eary and relatively often this year to kick start his production. He has a lot of talent, but started way too slowly last year. He needs to be good right away.
- Matt Schobel remains ahead of Kris Wilson on the depth chart at tight end behind starter L.J. Smith and Brent Celek. I'm going to look intently at this battle in camp. Schobel just seems to be playing faster right now.
- Scott Young, who nobody has really talked to about his decision to bypass the spring camps, was a third-team center on Friday. I guess he has to work his way up from the bottom of the depth chart.
- Max Jean-Gilles is the starting right guard with Shawn Andrews out. The backup offensive line looks like this: King Dunlap at left tackle, Mike McGlynn at left guard, Nick Cole at center, Franklin Dunbar at right guard and Winston Justice at right tackle.
- I saw a lot of Darren Howard buzzing the quarterback as the second-string right defensive end. I know it's a tease, but he looks good. Bryan Smith is up to about 248 pounds, by the way. Both he (hamstring) and Trever Laws (foot) were described by head coach Andy Reid as "day to day."
- Donovan McNabb looks great. Absolutely terrific.
- Quintin Demps sure has had his hands on the football a lot from his safety position.
- The starting cornerbacks looked like this: Asante Samuel-Sheldon Brown, Samuel-Lito Sheppard and Sheppard and Brown. They all played an even number of snaps.
- Nick Graham appears to be the leader for the fifth cornerback job.
- Pago Togafau is the backup middle linebacker after what I understand was a really good spring performance. Rocky Boiman is the backup SAM and Akeem Jordan is the backup WILL. Omar Gaither, by the way, had a fine interception and return on Friday.
- Lorenzo Booker ... I can't wait to see him in pads to see if what I'm seeing now is what I'm really seeing. Understand?
- Kimo von Oelhoffen jumped right into the rotation as a second-team defensive tackle.
