At first, after the shock that the Eagles had actually brought back Jeremiah Trotter, the curiosity factor was greater than the level of expectation. I wondered, honestly, if the Eagles were reaching in signing Trotter. How could he, after missing all of last season and the entire training camp and preseason, contribute to a team with Super Bowl aspirations?
Trotter was, after all, well past his peak when the Eagles made the decision to release him during the 2007 preseason. Trotter had shown a reduction in his mobility during the '06 campaign, and the Eagles wanted to become more agile and make more plays at linebacker in 2007. They had traded for Takeo Spikes, had used draft picks on Omar Gaither and Stewart Bradley and Chris Gocong, and, well, Trotter looked like the odd man out.
He was, and after he was released and spent '07 in Tampa Bay, Trotter did what most players do when they are finished their careers: He moved on. And we thought we would never again see Trotter in an Eagles uniform, except during the many highlights of a career that included four trips to the Pro Bowl.
So there he was on Wednesday coming off the practice field, all smiles and sweat and exhilaration. He is trying, really trying, to keep his emotions reeled in during this week. The routine of the NFL week quickly becomes monotony, but for the first time in two full seasons and then some, a Sunday means something very, very special for Trotter.
"It's the hardest part, keeping everything at an even keel until Sunday," said Trotter. "I'm so excited about being here, being part of things again and I know that it can be wasted energy if you don't channel it the right way. So I'm keeping things cool until Sunday."
It won't be cool on Sunday. Not for Trotter. He hasn't played in an Eagles uniform since the playoff loss to end the 2006 season, and Trotter that day just wasn't the Trotter who had become one of the best in franchise history. New Orleans threw the football at Trotter all game and the Saints had great success as Trotter was a step slow to make a stop.
Now, well, Trotter thinks he is a better player. And, generally, when a guy says that, I take it with a grain of salt. Players, from the time they put on a uniform, have over-inflated opinions of themselves. They are not realistic about themselves. So when Trotter signed and said he had better mobility and that his knee felt better now than it had in years, well, how could you take that statement seriously?
The proof comes when the games begin and Trotter's knee is subject to a weekly pounding, but there are reasons to think he has a chance to be right. I've talked to enough coaches to know they genuinely believe Trotter can help the football team. Andy Reid made sure to give Trotter punishing workouts to test his knee, to measure the swelling, to push the Axeman to the absolute limit during the team's bye week. And Reid came away convinced that Trotter health is up to the challenge.
The rest of it? The instincts, and the rest of his body and the return to the pounding ways of the position ... all of that is subject to more review. Trotter's play is going to dictate how we evaluate his performance, and the coaches are going to have to make sure they put him in the right position to make plays.
It is all a story that deserves a script. See one of the greatest players in team history make his mark, and then watch as he ages and is released. Cheer for him to play well in another city, a farewell contract for a season, and then hope he returns to the area and connects with the community for years to come. Maybe said player will come by on game days and wave to the crowd and receive standing ovations and the fans will remember the good, old days.
What makes the story great is Trotter's return to the playing field. What could take it over the top is how well Trotter plays. Reid said he doesn't expect a "Pro Bowl" player on Sunday. Trotter has so much rust to knock off, having not played since the 2007 season. His emotional energy is going to be a battle to overcome. The tempo of the game has only gotten faster in the two years Trotter has aged and the players have become younger.
I trust that Reid wouldn't sign Trotter unless he firmly believed that the Eagles would benefit. The arthroscopic surgery Trotter had on his knee cleaned out an area that lacked ranked of motion and, thus, limited Trotter's explosiveness and ability to go side to side. Maybe that surgery, Trotter's faith and a year to get his body fresh made enough of a difference that Trotter can help the Eagles for 13 regular-season games and a run through the playoffs.
"I go right to his knee. I wanted that looked at, observed by our doctors. He had it cleaned out and before he left here he had a lot of swelling," said Reid. "He couldn't straighten his leg and therefore his quads went, his glutes went and he wasn't able to explode like he had been in the past. He had told me that the swelling had gone down; he had been working on it and the swelling hadn't come back.
"But again, he wasn't doing football. I thought it was important to bring him in here and see where he was at. We hammered him pretty good and the swelling stayed out of the knee, his change of direction was better where he couldn't do that before, to where I thought he could help us. It looked like it was back and throughout the whole week the swelling stayed out of there and there were no signs of him not being able to fire his quad and extend his knee. We'll see. We'll take it week by week here and see how he does."
Maybe this story has a Super happy ending. What once seemed absurd -- J*eremiah Trotter is playing for the Eagles again?!? *-- is starting to come together in a plausible manner. Trotter is here to play, and to help. We're going to begin to find out on Sunday just how much of a Hollywood ending Trotter's return to the Eagles truly is realistic.
How good is Trotter, after all this time? Fascinating question, isn't it? Who would have thought we would ever ask the questions about a certain No. 54. The answers are coming, week after week after week between now and the end of this Eagles season.
