The Philadelphia Eagles head into a historic crossroads in 2012 as the team make decisions about its coach, defense, big-play receiver and quarterback.

The guessing has already started about head coach Andy Reid’s fate, but owner Jeff Lurie and president Joe Banner also must make big personnel decisions on other coaches and key players.

Fox 29 spoke with Garry Cobb aka “Gcobb” on Good Day and the former Eagles linebacker thinks the coaching staff will be back in its entirety in 2012. But here is our look into the Eagles’ future.

1. Andy Reid.

The veteran coach has been with the Eagles since 1999 but hasn’t won a Super Bowl. The Eagles came close in 2005, but haven’t been to the big game since Jacksonville.

The popular thought is that Reid returns for one more season. He actually has two years left on his deal at approximately $4 million a year.

The Eagles wouldn’t let Reid go and then watch him sign with another club after collecting $8 million.

But if a team like San Diego asked for permission to speak with Reid, it could be a different issue.

Forecast: Reid stays.

2. The Eagles defense.

Juan Castillo’s first year as defensive coordinator ended better than it started, but the horrible start sunk the Eagles’ playoff chances.

Two former Eagles assistants who coached under Jim Johnson could be looking for jobs: Leslie Frazier and Steve Spagnuolo. Another name that could surface is former local high school coach Mike Pettine, Jr., who is with the New York Jets.

If Spagnuolo is let go by the Rams, he also could get another head coaching offer. But if Reid is in place as the Eagles’ coach in January, the team could sign Spagnuolo as its defensive coordinator and move Castillo to another position.

Forecast: Eagles get Spagnuolo, Castillo moves back to offense.

3. DeSean vs. LeSean.

The Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson is a free agent and the team must decide about a contract extension for LeSean McCoy.

Jackson picked a bad time to have a bad season. Not only is the free agent pool deep for wide receivers, Jeremy Maclin will also be looking for extension, too.

Forecast: DeSean leaves, Eagles pay LeSean McCoy.

4. The 2012 NFL Draft

The Eagles’ last two drafts have been busts under Reid and Howie Roseman. The impact players have been offensive linemen Jason Kelce and Danny Watkins and tight end Clay Harbor.

On defense, Nate Allen is been inconsistent, while Brandon Graham can’t get on the field.

The big question is if the current staff can evaluate young talent enough to pick defensive players in the draft.

The 2012 draft isn’t deep at linebacker and safety, where the Eagles need the most help. But if Asante Samuel is traded, cornerback is another need.

But the biggest question is the decision to go after an impact player at the top of the draft, since the Eagles will have a top 13 pick.

Forecast: The Eagles pick a defense playmaker and move up in the draft.

5. The Quarterback Situation.

Michael Vick was inconsistent and hurt in the first year of his big deal with the Eagles. After the 2012 season, the Eagles could move Vick to another team and not take a big salary cap hit.

If the Eagles decide to start planning beyond Vick, a quarterback could be a draft option. It won’t be Robert Griffin III, with Dan Snyder picking ahead of the Eagles. But the team could look for an upgrade over Mike Kafka.

With Vince Young also likely leaving, the Eagles could look for a veteran backup who knows Andy Reid’s offense. It’s unknown yet if Donovan McNabb will play another season in the NFL, but the Eagles are one of the few teams who fit his skill set.

Prediction: Vick starts but the Eagles draft a quarterback early in the draft. McNabb retires after signing with the Eagles for one day.
 

Jason Peters is a go.

Trent Cole is a go.

Brandon Graham may be a go.

The Philadelphia Eagles will be getting some welcome reinforcements coming into Sunday night’s nationally-televised clash with the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field.

“Trent is good to go. Jason Peters is good to go,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said.

Peters had been sidelined with a hamstring injury and Cole a calf injury.

Peters’ return gives the Eagles the offensive line they had projected several weeks ago with himself and Todd Herremans at left and right tackles, Danny Watkins and Evan Mathis at guards and Jason Kelce at center.

Winston Justice, who started for the Eagles in the win over Washington before the bye week, returns to a reserve role.

“I thought Winston did a nice job the last game, but again, I made the decision to go with Todd at the right tackle spot,” Reid said. “I think they have a chance to be a very good offensive line.”

The line will be challenged by a Cowboy defense ranked No. 8 in the league in sacks with 17 and coached by Rob Ryan, who inherited his father Buddy’s passion for blitzing and harassing quarterbacks.

“We’ve actually had pretty good success versus the blitz,” Reid said. “You know you’re not going to hit every one of them, no quarterback does that, no offense does that. But again, we’ve had some pretty good plays against the blitz.”

Mathis said the offensive line will benefit from continued work together.

“Moving forward and taking big steps are what we’re all about,” he said. “We’ll go out there, give our best, and there will still be things to learn from and to improve as we move forward. You can’t be content. You can always strive to get better because there is always room for improvement. If you keep that frame of mind and play like that going forward, good things will happen for us.”

Getting Graham, sidelined since December 2010 because of knee surgery, back would be a good thing, too, to boost the Birds’ pass rush and allow more rotation of the defensive line.

“I’m feeling good, no soreness, no nothing, you know I feel regular,” Graham said. “The only thing is my feet hurt just from not using them for a little bit but that’s about it. I feel good. I know that I have to get my wind up a little bit and as I play in the games it will get better. But right now I’m just focusing on what I need to do, and that’s getting off the ball, and then everything else will come later.”

Graham has entered the 21-day period when players on the physically-unable-to-perform list can practice with the team without counting towards the 53-man roster. If Graham was not to be activated in that span — and of course the Birds would have to make a roster move to do so — he would be unable to play for the remainder of the season.

That would seem exceedingly unlikely, though Reid hedged about whether Graham would return for the Cowboys.

“He’s been working out like crazy, so it’s a matter of getting into football shape, and banging around a little bit, and catching up with that part of it,” Reid said. “I’m not going to tell you he’s all the way back. We’ll see how it goes. I kind of have an open agenda with this one. We’ll see how he does and we’ll kind of progress from this point.”

Graham can’t wait.

“It’s been hard because you want to be a part of wins or losses, you know however it goes, and be a part of the team,” Graham said. “And I haven’t felt like that because I haven’t been able to be out there to help. But now I’m feeling a lot better.”

Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham practiced Monday for the first time this season. Defensive end Trent Cole and left tackle Jason Peters also practiced.

Coach Andy Reid rewarded his players and coaches with a week off. That’s typical for him during the bye and it’s paid off throughout his tenure. The Eagles are 12-0 after a bye under Reid.

“I want them to get away, and you can’t help it,” Reid said Monday. “You’re in the season and there are games going on around you. You’re not going to forget about that, and I’m not even sure you can do that in the offseason. I want them to get away and take a deep breath, and get their bodies and minds back where they’re able to relax. Then, get them back here and get them to work again. I think the bye comes at a good time.

“It’s close enough to the middle of the season where I think it’s a good thing.”

A loss to the Redskins, who came in at 3-1 and off a bye, would’ve all but finished Philadelphia’s season. No team has opened a season 1-5 and reached the playoffs since Cincinnati did it in 1970. The Bengals started 1-6 that year before winning their last seven games.

Michael Vick made sure the Eagles wouldn’t have to try to climb out of a similar, seemingly insurmountable hole. Vick led a turnover-prone offense to 20 first-half points, and the defense had its best all-around effort in holding off the Redskins. The Eagles blew fourth-quarter leads in three of their four losses.

“It was just one win,” Vick said. “I think if we get the next one, we’ll get that confidence. But we definitely feel good about where we are right now. Obviously, there’s a lot of work to be done. We’re committed to getting that done. I’m excited for the guys. I’m proud of the defense, offense, special teams, my offensive line guys, the receivers made great plays when they needed to. I felt like I made the plays that I needed to make minus a couple.”

This season hasn’t gone the way the Eagles expected. They entered with a Super Bowl-or-bust mentality. Instead, they’re sitting in last place with November approaching. The consolation is the fact they’re only two games behind the New York Giants, and have a favorable schedule coming up.

The Eagles play their next three games at home, starting with a Sunday night matchup against Dallas (2-3) on Oct. 30. They host Chicago and Arizona before playing their next road game at the Giants on Nov. 20. Considering the trips to Washington and New York are by train, the Eagles will go seven weeks without a plane ride for a game. Many players will be flying somewhere during their week off, however.

Wherever they go, they’ll be a little happier after a tension-filled week in which fans were calling for Reid to be fired and players were left to defend their coach.

“I still think we can win this division,” center Jason Kelce said. “I don’t think the division is out of reach by any stretch of the imagination. We have been getting better each and every week and more consistent each and every week and striving to be consistent.”

____

Notes: DE Brandon Graham, a first-round pick last season, could return to practice next week. Graham had knee surgery last December and has been on the physically unable to perform list since training camp. “He’s coming off major surgery, so you want to bring him back in and let him get back into football here, and that normally takes a little bit of time,” Reid said. “You have to be realistic about it and then go from there. I can tell you, his last play was his best play. It was a phenomenal move on his last play when he hurt his knee. So we’re looking for him just to get back in the swing and get in that groove of playing football. He hasn’t had contact with anybody yet. You can’t do that when you’re on the PUP list.” … The four teams the Eagles have lost to, have won a total of 16 games.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PHILADELPHIA – Eagles wide receivers Jeremy Maclin and Steve
Smith practiced on Saturday for the first time this year.

Maclin was cleared by doctors earlier this month after being
stricken by an unknown illness during the offseason. Smith, signed
away from the New York Giants, underwent microfracture surgery in
December. Both were placed on the Eagles’ active roster.

Coach Andy Reid said Maclin and Smith were both limited at
practice Saturday, and will be evaluated on a daily basis to
determine how far they can go.

“If they make it through the evening fine, without any problems
or setbacks, then we’ll add some more onto it (on Sunday),” Reid
said. “And then we’ll just keep on going from there and see what
happens. But really, I can’t tell you the date right now on either
one when they’ll be ready to play.”

Maclin and Smith both said they expect to be in uniform when the
Eagles open the regular season Sept. 11 in St. Louis.

“It felt good,” Maclin said. “I was kind of getting my feet back
under me a little bit. Over the next few days, we’re going to
manage my reps and let me get used to it. I feel alright,
conditioning wise. It’s just being out there, running routes. I
haven’t done that in a while, so there’s definitely some work I
need to do.

“Like I said, I think I’ll get back to my normal self pretty
soon.”

Maclin, 23, caught 70 passes for 964 yards and 10 touchdowns
last year and has 125 receptions for 1,726 yards and 14 scores in
two NFL seasons. He has missed only one game as a pro. A sore foot
kept him out of a game vs. San Francisco his rookie year.

“I think this week, they’re going to ease me into it and monitor
my reps and then they’ll let me loose next week,” he said. “I don’t
know what that entails, but I think I’m going to back to being the
same guy I was before this.”

Smith, 26, caught 220 passes for 2,386 yards and 11 touchdowns
in four seasons with the Giants, including 107 receptions for 1,220
yards in his 2009 Pro Bowl season. He’s one of six former Pro Bowl
players the Eagles added during the offseason.

Saturday’s practice was Smith’s first as an Eagle.

“It was great just to be back out there with my teammates and
hearing the calls from (quarterback Michael) Vick,” he said. “It
was really fun.”

Smith said he’s still not 100 percent, but is getting close.

“It’ll take me a few weeks, but I feel really good right now,”
he said. “I don’t feel like I’m laboring or I can’t cut. I’m doing
good so far.”

The Eagles finish the preseason Thursday night against the New
York Jets in East Rutherford. Reid wouldn’t speculate whether
Maclin or Smith will play in that game.

“It all comes with time,” Vick said. “We just have to continue
to get reps. Jeremy and Steve have to shake the rust off and get
back into football shape. It’ll take about a week or two.

“But, they’ll be alright.”

With Maclin and Smith both back, only offensive lineman Winston
Justice and defensive end Brandon Graham haven’t practiced yet.
Both are recovering from knee surgery.

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson missed the first day of training camp Thursday at Lehigh University, signaling the start of a holdout.

Jackson, a two-time Pro Bowl player, is slated to make $565,000 in base salary this season, the last on his four-year rookie deal. But he has expressed discontent about his contract on his Twitter feed. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, did not respond to an email, and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said the team is going to “focus on the guys that are here.”

When asked how disappointed he was that Jackson did not report, Roseman said, “We’re going to keep that internal, and all conversations with DeSean we’re going to keep private.”

Jackson had 47 catches for 1,056 yards and six touchdowns last season, and his 22.5 yard-per-catch average led the league. He also averaged 11.6 yards on 20 punt returns, the most memorable a 65-yard scoring return on the final play of a come-from-behind 38-31 victory over the Giants on Dec. 19.

The win all but secured the NFC East title for Philadelphia, as New York was left out of the postseason.

The Eagles also announced that offensive tackle Winston Justice and defensive end Brandon Graham were placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list while recovering from knee injuries, and that wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and cornerback Asante Samuel had been excused from drills to attend to personal matters.

Philadelphia also signed seventh-round draft pick Greg Lloyd, a linebacker from Connecticut. Their lone unsigned draftee is first-rounder Danny Watkins, a guard from Baylor. The Eagles also signed rookie free agent Gerald Jones, a wide receiver from Tennessee.

But the theme of Day 1 at Lehigh was more about the players who were not there: Jackson and Kevin Kolb, the backup quarterback who was finally dealt to Arizona in a long-awaited deal.

Jackson’s absence wasn’t much of a surprise, either. Especially not after Michael Vick hinted this might be the case, when he first met the media in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

“DeSean just has some things to think about,” Vick said at the time, “and some decisions to make that only himself can make.”

Coach Andy Reid did not seem concerned over Jackson’s status during his first news conference Wednesday, and simply ran through his Thursday morning practice as a walkthrough. It was not open to the media or public.

Jackson was a key cog in the Eagles’ offensive resurgence last season, as the team went 10-6 and formed a new identity around Vick.

“I’m just being realistic about the situation,” Vick said. “It’s all in what DeSean wants.”

“He was a big part of the process,” Babin told The Associated Press on Thursday. “What he did for me was two-fold. He believed in me and gave me an opportunity to play and he allowed me to play the way I wanted. He saw the potential in me.”

Babin played for the Eagles in 2009, and recorded 2.5 sacks in 12 games. He signed with the Titans in free agency and had a career-best 12.5 sacks while earning his first trip to Hawaii. Washburn joined the Eagles in January, replacing Rory Segrest as the defensive line coach.

“He has unwavering principle,” Babin said of Washburn. “He wants the best guy to play. That defensive line room is a selfless room. Everybody wants everybody to do their absolute best.”

The Eagles won’t be able to officially announce an agreement with Babin until Friday. He can join the team and take part in meetings, but won’t be able to practice until Aug. 4.

“I guess I’ll take notes,” Babin said. “I like to work out and I’ll keep doing that.”

A first-round pick by Houston in 2004, the 31-year-old Babin never had more than five sacks in a season until last year. He has 30 career sacks in seven seasons playing for five different teams.

Babin will play opposite two-time Pro Bowl end Trent Cole. He joins a crowded line that includes 2010 first-round pick Brandon Graham, Juqua Parker, Ricky Sapp, Darryl Tapp, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and Philip Hunt. Graham isn’t expected to be ready for the start of the season after having surgery for a torn knee ligament late last year.

The Eagles prefer to rotate their linemen, keeping guys fresh late in games against weary blockers. Babin has no problem being part of a rotation.

“If you truly go as hard as you possibly can on every single play, you can’t play every down,” he said. “You would be lying to yourself, the coaches and the fans. A rotation gives guys a chance to play and it keeps everyone happy.”

Babin chose the defending NFC East-champion Eagles for another reason besides reuniting with Washburn.

“This is my last contract and I wanted to go to a team with a high-powered offense,” he said. “With Mike Vick, (LeSean) ‘Shady’ McCoy, DeSean Jackson and the receiving corps, we’re going to score a lot of points and that means we get to rush the passer.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Eagles have reached agreement on a five-year contract with Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Babin, who had a breakout season with Tennessee last year.

Babin played for the Eagles in 2009. He signed with the Titans in free agency and had a career-best 12.5 sacks playing under defensive line coach Jim Washburn. He’s now reunited with Washburn, who joined the Eagles in the same role during the offseason.

The Eagles won’t be able to officially announce an agreement with Babin until Friday, but his publicist Amanda Mitchell confirmed the deal to The Associated Press on Thursday.

Babin wrote: “Back to Philadelphia, Back with Washburn….” on his Twitter site.

A first-round pick by Houston in 2004, the 31-year-old Babin never had more than five sacks in a season until last year. He has 30 career sacks in seven seasons playing for five different teams.

Babin will play opposite two-time Pro Bowl end Trent Cole. He joins a crowded line that includes 2010 first-round pick Brandon Graham, Juqua Parker, Ricky Sapp, Darryl Tapp, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and Philip Hunt. Graham isn’t expected to be ready for the start of the season after having surgery for a torn knee ligament late last year.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Category: football, Sport Author : Joshua Lobdell Posted: April 7, 2011
Tags : nfl, NFL draft, Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles were coming off a playoff berth one year ago, and they did not have many glaring needs so they used a slew of draft day trades to wind up with 13 picks. They moved up and down, and for the most part delivered a very strong draft class. Even with injuries, which happen to all, this class kept most of its shine.

Here is a quick look at the 2010 Eagles draft class:

• Round One- DE  Brandon Graham
• Round Two- S Nate Allen
• Round Three- DE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim
• Round Four- DB Trevard Lindley
• Round Four- LB Keenan Clayton
• Round Four- QB Mike Kafka
• Round Four- TE Clay Harbor
• Round Five- DE Ricky Sapp
• Round Five- WR Riley Cooper
• Round Six- RB Charles Scott
• Round Seven- LB Jamar Chaney
• Round Seven- DT Jeff Owens
• Round Seven- FS Kurt Coleman

So I year ago I was very high on this drat class especially their first two selections. Both Graham and Allen were starters when they went down with injuries and both look to be mainstays on the Eagle defense. Neisham saw limited action, and Lindley did well when called upon. Even though this was a quantity over quality draft the Eagles seemed to have picked up a ton of legit NFL talent. They might not all be starters, but they all seem to have quality roles even as backups or special teams players.

Allen still stands out as the best pick made by this team, but the fact that 12 of these men still are on the Eagles roster says a lot. This team went out and found a ton of guys that may not be big time names, but were guys who fit the roles that needed to be filled on a pretty good football team. However since they moved up 11 spots to pick Graham they are essentially drafting in the same position they did a year ago. That is great consistency, but they need a guy who can get them over the hump.

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