There are only three players on the Eagles roster who are now over the age of 30 after Donovan McNabb was traded Sunday night to the Washington Redskins.
Two of them - David Akers and Sav Rocca - are specialists. The final piece of that triangle is defensive end Juqua Parker, who is 31.
With McNabb headed for Washington, there are only three players who were in the organization when the Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2005. One of them was already named - Akers. The other two are strong safety Quintin Mikell and center Jamaal Jackson, who was the injured reserve list.
It's no surprise that head coach Andy Reid was asked Sunday night who would assume the leadership role with McNabb no longer in town. It was just a few weeks ago that Reid claimed that the leadership position would be fine with McNabb after the team parted ways with Brian Westbrook.
"That's a good question because Kevin (Kolb) becomes one of them," Reid said. "One of the things I've mentioned is that I think he's a good leader. I think we have some tremendous leaders up front. DeSean Jackson has turned into a kid that has shown leadership ability. Brent Celek is one of our primary leaders."
Celek had a chance to offer his take on the blockbuster move on NBC 10's "Sports Final" and he believes that Kolb "can be one of the best quarterbacks in the league."
"There wasn't a guy that was better than him on the field wanting us to win, doing everything in his power to help us figure out what coverages we were going against, what routes we should run. He was a quarterback on the sideline for us," Celek said. "I think that will carry over on the field."
Of course, Celek was a draft classmate of Kolb in 2007. In Kolb's two starts in 2009, he and Celek had impeccable chemistry connecting 16 times for 208 yards and a touchdown. Celek had back-to-back 100-yard receiving games for the first time in his career.
Celek did admit, however, that he was "a little bit stunned" to see McNabb stay in the NFC East.
"I'm OK with it if Coach Reid's OK with it and our front office is OK with it, I'm all right with it," he said. "We get to play him twice a year. It'll be fun and exciting. Don was a great teammate of ours. We'll love to compete against him."
Ultimately, no matter who it is, the Eagles need some of their young playmakers to step up and take command of this team.
"There's a lot of young guys who need to step up and become leaders on this team," Celek said. "I think they will and we're all excited for the opportunity."
-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 3:00 a.m., April 5
