- Asante Samuel reported to training camp on Monday morning. He didn't practice, but he is here and everything is fine and, well, that is one concern for fans to file into the background. Samuel missed the first handful of days due to personal reasons.
- The experimenting continues at right guard. Fifth-round draft pick Julian Vandervelde took reps with the first team on Monday morning. The Eagles are still waiting for first-round draft pick Danny Watkins to sign his contract and report. Watkins is falling deeper into the depth chart with every practice that he misses. Howard Mudd isn't a coach who is going to go with reputation. He wants to see Watkins on the field, and Watkins needs to be here to earn playing time.
- I haven't checked this out, but maybe you can to verify what a long-time Eagles employee told me: The last time the Eagles went with rookies and punter and kicker was in 1980 with Max Runager (punter) and Tony Franklin (kicker). That team went to the Super Bowl.
- Alex Henery, by the way, was money in the special teams portion of drills on Monday. He looks better and better to me. Chas Henry has a huge leg at punter. He needs to be more consistent, which is going to come with the more technique he perfects.
- I'm still trying to figure out what Juan Castillo is running as far as a scheme, but the defense sure looks fast to me, especially up front. The "get off" of the defensive linemen is much faster than in years past.
- Rookie Jaiquawn Jarrett took reps as the starter at strong safety, with Nate Allen at free safety. Allen looks really, really good.
- There are several names on this roster that are hard to spell, in case you care about the peculiar difficulties of this job.
- Rookie free agent Craig Cooper looks pretty good to me at running back. He seems to be getting a lot of reps.
- There is a long way to go before the regular season, but remember when I said that it's going to be tough for rookies to earn playing time? Well, Henry and Henery are the specialists, Casey Matthews is starting at middle linebacker and Jarrett is making his move at strong safety. Also, Vandervelde is stating his case for playing time at guard.
- Quiet on the DeSean Jackson front, although speculation suggests he will get to camp later this week.
- Still no word on Jeremy Maclin's personal issues.
- Mike Patterson is responding well to Jim Washburn's demands. I think Patterson is going to be quicker and lighter off the ball this year.
- The Eagles have some serious depth at cornerback. I like Brandon Hughes and Jorrick Calvin had a good morning on Monday. Curtis Marsh shows some big-time talent, but he has some rough moments, too. He has work to do. Trevard Lindley has made some plays throughout camp.
News, Notes And This And That
Aug 01, 2011 at 02:56 AM
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