Read More: Nnamdi Asomugha (CB – PHI), Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles unveiled their biggest free agent signing in years (maybe ever) this morning at Lehigh University. Nnamdi Asomugha met the Philadelphia media for the first time and revealed that he had his sights set on coming to the Eagles since his contract expired in March.

“When I spoke to the owner and the president here”, Asomugha said, “quite honestly, once March came around and we started thinking that there might be a chance that I’m not going to be back in Oakland, we never knew what could happen or if there was going to be a process of trying to re-sign me or anything like that. When we said there was a possibility that I won’t come back, then obviously my team and myself, we had to start looking at other teams. To a man, and woman, everybody that was on my team, they knew that the number one team was the Eagles from March when we were looking at teams. There were a handful of teams at that point. When the Eagles became a possibility, we knew it was a match.

However, he didn’t really know the Eagles were interested in him until almost the last minute. But when they did jump in the race, things came together quick.

“The Eagles never really seemed to be in it. Even for me, you guys were surprised, but even for me. In the offseason, you’re dealing with specific teams and the funny thing about it is you don’t have time to take visits because it’s not a true four month or so free agency. Anybody who knows me knows that I like to take my time with decisions. I’m on the phone and it’s like, ‘Yes or no, what do you want to do, we need to know,’ and I’m like, ‘Give me five minutes,’ ‘We don’t have five minutes, you have to make a decision.’ Everything came really quickly and then when the Eagles expressed interest and became so aggressive and said, ‘We have a chance, we want this, let’s do it.’ It didn’t have to go much further than there.”

He said that in the end, it’s tough as a player to miss the playoffs year after year and that the biggest attraction to Philadelphia was the chance to win.

“It was depressing. Like I told you before, there’s one main reason why you’re playing. You want to win. Obviously, it would be a little depressing. I wouldn’t watch when the playoffs would come around. Maybe I would see some highlights. If I had to go on television and speak about the playoffs, than I would watch a couple things, some highlights here and there. It’s depressing as a player. So you always want to put yourself in position to win games, and that’s what I’m doing now.”

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — The Philadelphia Eagles signed free agent defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins to a five-year contract on Saturday and traded former defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley to the Cleveland Browns for a fifth-round pick in next year’s draft.

Jenkins is the fifth major acquisition for the Eagles, who signed free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha on Friday.

“This is a guy who we didn’t think we’d have the opportunity to acquire,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “The way things have worked out here in the past few days, when the opportunity came at us, we jumped on it.”

Jenkins started 66 games in seven seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He had a career-high seven sacks in 11 games with the Super Bowl-champion Packers last year.

Roseman said Jenkins will fill a variety of roles in the Eagles’ newly structured defense under first-year coordinator Juan Castillo. But his main role will be as an inside pass rusher.

“On third-down, he rushes from inside,” Roseman said. “We think he makes a difference in that role. In this defense and in this scheme, it really utilizes all his talents.”

Bunkley was picked 14th overall in the first round of the 2006 draft.

The Eagles also re-signed unrestricted free agent linebacker Akeem Jordan.

Since Thursday the Eagles have added four likely defensive starters in Jenkins, Asomugha, defensive end Jason Babin and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. They also signed quarterback Vince Young.

“It’s exciting,” Roseman said. “It’s really exciting to put it all together, and we want to see them out here out on the field and get going.”

Roseman said he’s hearing from agents that their players want to be Eagles.

“People want to come to Philadelphia because of the organization, having Coach (Andy) Reid and having a quarterback like Michael (Vick) and the players we have here,” he said. “I think they’re all great selling points. When you talk to agents, people want to come to Philly.”

There are absences, and there are absences.

The Philadelphia Eagles went through their first practice of training camp at Lehigh University on Thursday without wide receiver DeSean Jackson,wideout Jeremy Maclin, cornerback Asante Samuel, defensive end Brandon Graham and offensive tackle Winston Justice taking part.

Jackson, now officially a holdout, is the only absence without an excuse.The wide receiver is not happy with a contract that pays him only $565,000 this season (the final year of his four-year deal he signed as a rookie), far
below scale for a top-shelf wideout (47 catches for 1,056 yards and 6 touchdowns in
2010).

As a coach you want everybody here,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “You want as many reps  with your ones as you can possibly get. That would be one side of it. The second side of it is we’re going to coach like crazy on the guys that are here.”

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman refused to answer questions on Jackson’s situation, saying “we’re going to keep all the contract stuff in-house.” Maclin and Samuel are missing from Lehigh for what the Eagles said in an email were “personal reasons.”

“The Eagles have been and will continue to be in constant communication with both players and look forward to having both players back in camp as soon as possible,” the email read.

Tight end Brent Celek said the team will be fine despite the absences.

“Yeah, I mean, DeSean, all the guys who aren’t here, it’s a little bit different,” he said. “But we’ll welcome them when they come back and while we’re out here by ourselves we’ll keep working. We’ll get this team better for when they come back.”

Graham (microfractures in knee) and Justice (recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery) were placed on the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list Wednesday.

Reid said there was no timetable for their return.

Getting it right for the media

The first practice open to the media came Thursday afternoon. The practice went at a brisk tempo, and there was no evidence of mass confusion or players unfamiliar with demands of the staff, despite it being the first practice since January. Celek said getting back on the field felt a little strange.

“A little bit awkward, you know, getting back out there, running routes
against a defense that you haven’t seen in six months and seeing everybody move,” Celek said. “So it was a little bit different, but I’m sure in the next few days that will start to slow down and it will be back to normal.”

The Eagles will have morning and afternoon sessions at Lehigh today but both are closed to the public. Fans will be welcome at Saturday’s 8:05 a.m. practice.

Comings and goings

The Eagles signed rookie free agent wide receiver Gerald Jones on Thursday. The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Jones amassed 142 receptions, 1,710 yards and 13 touchdowns in his four-year career at Tennessee.

The Eagles released defensive tackle Jeremy Clark, cornerback Gerard Lawson, defensive tackle Jeff Owens, wide receiver Jeremy Williams and fullback Leonard Weaver; the latter three all failed physicals.

Weaver, a Pro Bowler after the 2009 season, suffered a gruesome knee injury in the 2010 opener against Green Bay and never returned.

“To see a guy like Leonard Weaver play in the Pro Bowl one year and suffer a devastating injury in the first game of the following year is especially tough,” Roseman said in a written statement.

Glad to be back

Oft-injured center Jamaal Jackson said he felt just fine to be back on the field after a nightmare 2010 that saw him go down in the opener with torn triceps and miss the whole season.

“Of course (it was tough last season), man, but last season was last season, I’ve forgotten about it already,” Jackson said. “It felt great just getting out here and moving around with the guys, going through a little bit; didn’t have any problems with my knee, arm, nothing like that. So I’m just trying to ease my way back into it.”

From extra special to extra baggage.

Kevin Kolb’s strange career as a Philadelphia Eagle came to its inevitable end Thursday when the heir to Donovan McNabb was shipped out to Arizona for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2012 second-round draft pick.

There was never much doubt Kolb would never make it to Lehigh University for training camp — he was too valuable a commodity and the Eagles have too many other holes to fill. It was just a matter of finding the right deal.

“Quite a few teams were interested in the beginning,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “When you want to get a quarterback into camp you want to get him in fast so I knew this would happen quickly.”

There can be little doubt Reid and Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman made a terrific deal. Getting a Pro Bowl-caliber cornerback and a second-round pick (likely to be an early choice in the round) for a player who wasn’t going to start for the Eagles represents tremendous value.

Kolb probably deserved better. Always classy, always team-oriented and always ready for whatever he was called on to do, Kolb never had much of a chance. Reid and Roseman more or less said so.

“We think the world of Kevin Kolb,” Roseman said. “This trade was a win-win situation for both teams.”

“I can’t tell you I won’t miss Kevin as a person and a player,” said Reid with genuine sincerity. “He deserves the opportunity to start. He’s got a great head coach (Ken Whisenhunt) and a great offensive lineman and one of the best wide receivers there is (Larry Fitzgerald). It’s a good, positive situation for Kevin and I am pulling for him.”

Reid may be pulling for Kolb now but didn’t hesitate to ruthlessly dump him last season. Was that fair? Probably not, and deep down one suspects Reid knows that.

Is dealing Kolb now the best move Andy Reid could make? Yes, as long as Vick doesn’t get hurt.

Having Kolb around came in handy last season when Vick went down. Kolb won two of three games in October during Vick’s recovery from a rib injury. Given that Vick’s style of running and taking hits isn’t likely to change, the Eagles’ backup quarterback almost will surely take key snaps this fall.

Right now, that’s second-year man Mike Kafka, who has never thrown a pass in an NFL regular-season game.

“I think the trade is great for Kevin,” Kafka said Wednesday. “But my focus is on my play and preparing the best way I can for games.”

The Eagles may think the best way for Kafka to prepare is to still carry the clipboard as the No. 3 quarterback.

“We’d never have (traded Kolb) if we didn’t have faith in Kafka,” Reid said. “He could be the backup. Mike has a bright future. But we have to have three guys and we’ll see how things go.”

Translation: we’ll get the first veteran backup we can.

If Reid and Roseman struggle to find a backup for Vick and he goes down, the Eagles will be in a deep, deep hole. While very few NFL teams could lose a starting quarterback and not suffer a drop-off, the Eagles are especially vulnerable because so much of their offense springs from Vick’s improvisations.

Watching Vick, and then Kafka, run the offense is like watching a Kia replace a Ferrari at a Formula One race.

Also, of course, Rodgers-Cromartie had better be good as he fills the hole at right cornerback, but that seems safe. His 13 interceptions in three seasons ranks him fourth among NFL cornerbacks during that period behind the Eagles’ Asante Samuel (22) and Green Bay’s Tramon Williams (18) and Charles Woodson (18).

“He’s an explosive guy, can match up with bigger receivers, can press or play off, and can play all the defenses we want,” Roseman said. “And being here with Asante will help him.”

The knock on Rodgers-Cromartie should sound familiar: he, like Samuel, doesn’t tackle brilliantly. Roseman didn’t necessarily deny that but added, “tackling is a little far down the list of what you’re looking for in a cornerback.” Remember that when Rodgers-Cromartie is trampled by Brandon Jacobs en route to the end zone.

The Kolb deal shores up the Eagles’ secondary and allows other needs to be pursued in free agency. The absolute safe play would have been to keep Kolb to back up Vick.

The Eagles may pay the price for that; they may not. Reid obviously is willing to take the chance they won’t — and that meant the departure of the quarterback he chose, he nurtured and he developed to replace McNabb. But once Kolb became extra baggage, Reid got rid of him.

An unsentimental business, pro football.

Brad Wilson can be reached at 800-360-3601 or bwilson@express-times.com. Talk about sports at lehighvalleylive.com/forums.

Multiple sources reported late Thursday night that the Philadelphia Eagles have signed quarterback Vince Young to a one-year-deal.

Young, 28, was released after five often-controversial seasons with the Tennessee Titans.

Young, a two-time Pro Bowler, has a career quarterback rating of 76.2 and has 42 touchdown passes and 42 interceptions on his career, but has also win 30 of his 47 career starts. Young has rushed for 1,380 yards and 12 TDs on his career and his mobility makes him a good fit in the Eagles’ offense designed for Michael Vick.

Young, who led Texas to a national championship in college, could be at the Eagles’ training camp at Lehigh University as early as Friday.