The Eagles roster has been set.  A.J. Feeley was released this morning.  Fenuki Tupou has been placed on IR.

The loss of Stewart Bradley now becomes glaring on the depth chart with a few new names at the LB position.   Here’s a good read on rookie LB Moise Fokuo, Fokou who? Word is also going around that Macho Harris may have the starting FS role over Quintin Demps.

It’s also good to know that Danny Amendola and Jack Ikegwuonu have been added to the practice squad.  The practice squad also includes guards Paul Fanaika and Mike Gibson.

Quarterbacks (3) – Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick

Running Backs (3) – Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, Eldra Buckley

Fullback (1) – Leonard Weaver

Wide Receivers (7) – DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, Jeremy Maclin, Reggie Brown, Hank Baskett, Brandon Gibson

Tight Ends (2) - Brent Celek, Tony Curtis

Offensive Lineman (10) - Jason Peters, Todd Herremans, Jamaal Jackson, Stacy Andrews, Shawn Andrews, Nick Cole, Max Jean-Gilles, Winston Justice, Mike McGlynn, King Dunlap

Defensive Lineman (9) – Trent Cole, Brodrick Bunkley, Mike Patterson, Victor Abiamiri, Chris Clemons, Juqau Parker, Jason Babin, Darren Howard, Trevor Laws

Linebackers (6) – Chris Gocong, Omar Gaither, Akeem Jordan, Joe Mays, Moise Fokou, Tracy White

Safeties (4) – Quintin Mikell, Quintin Demps, Sean Jones, Macho Harris

Cornerbacks (5) – Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, Joselio Hanson, Ellis Hobbs, Dimitri Patterson

Specialists (3) – David Akers, Sav Rocca, Jon Dorenbos

The Eagles axed 4 players from the 2008 draft: Bryan Smith (DE), Jack Ikegqwuono (CB),  Lorenzo Booker (RB), and Mike Gibson (OG).  Jason Babin, who is a former 1st-round pick, is essentially replacing Bryan Smith.  You can say that Jack was bumped by the acquisition of Ellis Hobbs.  Lorenzo Booker has been replaced by Eldra Buckley.  I hate to see 3 draft picks wasted, especially the 3rd-rounder used on Bryan Smith, but the players the Eagles kept are much better than the players cut.

Danny Amendola (WR) was unfortunately cut, but he might stand a chance to make the practice squad if he can make it through waivers.  The Eagles have thus far kept 7 wide receivers and Brandon Gibson has not been cut, which indicates he’ll likely make the final roster, which means that Hank Baskett or Reggie Brown will be the odd man out since the Eagles will need to get down to 6 WRs.  Neither Baskett or Brown has been formally cut as of yet.  The Eagles have DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Kevin Curtis, Jason Avant, Brandon Gibson, Hank Basket, and Reggie Brown on the roster.  Not so thin at receiver anymore, right?

Matt Schobel (TE), Dan Klecko (DT), and Kyle Eckel (FB) are other mentionable cuts.

As of now, A.J. Feeley is still on the Eagles roster since Michael Vick is exempted from the 53 man roster until he is eligible to play in week 3.  It’s safe to assume that the Eagles are likely talking to the Patriots about sending Feeley to the Patriots for draft considerations.  Since Matt Cassel was traded to the Chiefs, the Patriots are without a quality backup for Brady.

We’ll post the full 53 man roster once it’s finalized.

– Michael Vick is now able to play for the Eagles beginning in week 3. Vick was originally supposed to sit out of action until week 7, but after meeting with the commish and being a “model citizen” according to Joe Banner, his return date was adjusted.

– Eagles have to cut their roster down to 53 guys by today’s 6:00 p.m. deadline.  WR is an interesting debate.  Do they cut Reggie Brown and/or Hank Baskett to keep Brandon Gibson and Danny Amendola?  I would prefer to keep the latter and cut the former based on their performance thus far.

– Eagles have reworked Jason Babin’s contract and he will make the 53 man roster.  What an impressive preseason this guy had.  He could easily be the Eagles best defensive lineman other than Trent Cole.  So who is the odd man out?

– Eugene Bright, Willie Williams and Curtis Gatewood have been cut.

– Winston Justice was injured during the Jets game with a pectoral strain and he’ll have an MRI on it. This offensive line needs to get healthy in a hurry. It’s the one concern going into the season.

You know the story. The Eagles dominated the Rams for over 500 yards of offense and won 38-3. DeSean Jackson was incredible (107 receiving yards, 96 punt return yards). That could go down as one of the best rookie debut performances… ever. The highlight of the game for me (other than all 522 yards of offense and the 90 yard TD reception by Hank Baskett, which supports my position that he’s the best #4 receiver in the league) was this hit by Sheldon Brown on Steven Jackson. Steven Jackson: YOU GOT JACKED UP!

The Eagles played preseason game #2 and here are some game notes.  I missed the 1st half, but what a game it turned out to be in the 2nd half: a come from behind win — 24 unanswered points — 24-13.  From what I saw from the 1st half highlights, it was uneventful, except for a botched field goal attempt by the Eagles that ended up in 7 for the Panthers.  Carolina was up at halftime 10-0.  The Eagles made a 2nd half comeback with Kolb leading the way to a 17-13 lead.  The Eagles then tipped a QB pass in the final minute of the game and it was picked it off by Justin Roland for a TD.  Here are some notes from the 2nd half:

– Kevin Kolb: I love the guy.  His stats don’t really “woo” you, but here’s what I saw.  Scratch that, he ended up with 155 yards and a TD in one half.  The guy throws darts on the field.  He has a great command of the offense, he plays fired up, he plays with passion — he’s a winner.  He has great awareness in the pocket, he steps up at the right time, and he makes the right throw — on a bullet.  He had an INT, but it wasn’t his fault: he threw a bullet to DeSean Jackson and it went through his hands, and ended up in the hands of the defender behind him.  More on DeSean Jackson next.  To reaffirm what I said about Kolb: he just threw a beautiful deep pass to Greg Lewis in the left corner of the end zone — touchdown, 7-13 — just text book.

– DeSean Jackson: He was definitely the #1 target with the second team.  2 mistakes from the rookie: he had a fumble and gave up and INT by not getting his hands on the ball.  Hopefully,  we get those mistakes out of the way early.  He has the great ability of catching short passes and turning them up field for big yards: he just caught a short ball and turned it into 9 and he ended up with 4 catches for 32 yards the last time I saw the stat tracker.  He looks good out there, except for giving up the INT, but as mentioned before, that pass was a bullet.  As I write this, another short pass to DeSean for a first down: 7 catches 70 yards — that’s 3 catches and 28 more yards in a matter of about 3 minutes: this guys is going to be good.  He will have to put on weight though, and that will come.

– Jerome McDougle: McDougle started out with a sick sack in the 3rd quarter: the first and only (as of now).  The guy has his motor back.  He is clearly playing for his job and it shows.  If he keeps playing at this pace, I wouldn’t be surprised if he overtakes Juqua Parker for the starting job.

– Lorenzo Booker: Booker got a few touches.  He got gobbled up a couple times, but he was able to break a really nice run for 17 yards.

– Hank Baskett: Baskett had a chance to convert on a deep ball from Kolb but he was forced out of bounds by a defender and couldn’t secure the ball before being run out of bounds.  I’m a big Baskett fan: I think he’s the best #4 receiver in the NFL.  Baskett and Kolb hooked up deep later towards the end of the 4th quarter to make a push to win the game.

– Sav Rocca: Beautiful punts from the Aussie.  I want see him start hitting some people.

– Lito Sheppard: He got a pick.  Is a healthy season too much to ask?

– Tony Hunt: I love the way he runs: he’s straight down hill.  3:00 minutes left in the game and he takes it 50+ yards to the house for the 17-13 lead!!!

– Andy Studebaker: After the Eagles scored 24 unanswered points (led by Kevin Kolb), I saw Studebaker with a beastly tackle on special teams at the end of the game.  Great draft pick by the Eagles.  Great draft pick.

– Bryan Smith: The “smallish” small school DE that the Eagles drafted in the 3rd round seems to be worthy of the selection.  He had 4 tackles in the game and looked good on certain plays.  He doesn’t look incredibly small on the field.  He reminds me of Trent Cole.  Another brilliant draft pick by the Eagles.

– Tackle Leaders: Bradley (5), Arrington (5), Mikell (4), Demps (4), Bryan Smith (4)

Let’s Go Birds!  Is it September 7th yet?  At home against St. Louis — I expect at least 35.

From the Desk of Jay Vaidya

I purposely arrived late at camp today (around 8:30am) so that  I could go through the trials and tribulations of parking far away and making the long walk with other Eagle fans to the Lehigh practice field.  Today, Saturday July 26th, marked the first day that the entire Eagle team (including RB Brian Westbrook and CB Lito Sheppard) practiced in full contact drills in front of more than 15,000 passionate and die hard Eagle fans.  As I sauntered through the crowds making my way to the main practice field where the offense was going through some drills, I stopped and talked to some of the Philly faithful about their thoughts on this glorious day.  “I’m here with my boys to finally see some hitting.  We have all waited long enough to see some football,” said Dave of Wilmington, DE.  The nest was surely a buzz. Angela from Philadelphia added, “This is my first year ever coming to camp.  It reminds me of a Woodstock-like concert.  There are so many people here.  My boys and husband are happy that they are able to see some of the new players on the team.  This Eagles camp is probably the best professional training camp in the country.  Don’t you think?”

Angela could not have been more right in her assessment of Eagle camp.  Eagles training camp is not probably, but definitively the best NFL camp in the nation.  Where else can you find passionate fans in the tens of thousands, driving up to 5 hours from their homes in places such as Virginia Beach (VA), Wilmington (DE), Lancaster (PA), Harrisburg PA), etc. just to see some guys they cheer for on weekends practice?  I mean…we’re talking about practice.  Not the game, not the game….but practice.  (Thanks again for those words A.I., you are truly missed)

The first thing I saw as I reached the stands to watch the actual practice was Donovan McNabb throwing a dart across the middle to a cutting Hank Baskett in stride for a 15 yard gain.  McNabb looked great and poised, and so did this year’s probable receiving corps of Kevin Curtis, Reggie Brown, Greg Lewis, Jason Avant, Hank Baskett, as well as new comers DeSean Jackson, Shaheer McBride, and Bam Childress.  Not only that, but our secondary looked great as well.  Led by Brian Dawkins, the corners and safeties also put in great work picking off and deflecting numerous passes from our QBs (this is not to say that the QBs played poorly).  For example J.R. Reed made a great read on a McNabb to Curtis route and jumped the route to pick of Donovan and take the ball back 20 yards.  This play was then immediately followed up by a delayed handoff to Brian Westbrook, who received a clamorous cheer from the gallery as soon as he touched the ball.  B-West was cutting and weaving past the linebackers and headed directly for the secondary before he decided to get out of bounds on many of his touches.  What followed was truly amazing.  Fans began to stand and yell comments from the gallery such as “Don’t worry Brian, we will pay you”, “Don’t hold out on us Brian”, “We need you Brian”, and “We love you Brian” for about 3 minutes after his 7 second run.  This got me thinking.  Should the media saturate the airwaves with talk of holdouts by Lito Sheppard and Brian Westbrook (as once reported here by me) along with contract disputes, rather than talk about other more pressing issues (i.e. what to make of an offense who struggled to score touchdowns in the red zone) surrounding the team and the players who are content with their roles on the 2008 Eagle squad.  So, to get an idea of what Eagle nation thought about this issue I decided to ask some fans for their thoughts on the subject and then relay their thoughts to you the reader.  What I found was that there were two schools of thought regarding this matter.  On one hand we had Eagle fans that were fed up and disgusted with the media who at times made more of these distracting contract issues then the players themselves did.  Conversely, on the other hand we had fans that were adamant that contract “hoopla” is important for fans to know about and discuss as part of Eagle nation.   “I’m tired of all this contract stuff,” complained Joe of Malvern, Pa, “If I hear that garbage on TV or the radio, I simply switch the station.  Fans shouldn’t have to worry about that stuff.”  When asked specifically about the B-West and Lito contract disputes Will of Lancaster, PA replied, “The media makes more of it than they do.  It’s all infuriating.”  Rob of Bethlehem, PA agreed with Joe and Will but also added, “All these NFL guys are way overpaid.  I honestly don’t think any of them are worth even a million dollars.  I mean, it’s a million dollars we are talking about here!”  Not all fans, however, saw the media’s role as “distracting” to the real issue at hand; getting to the Super Bowl.  “The players and the media are only as noticeable as the fans want them to be,” explained lifelong Eagle fan Nate L. of Sicklerville, NJ, “Take a look around.  How many #5, #20, and #36 jerseys do you see walking around?  We (the fans) all pay upwards of a $100 for tickets and jerseys and most other Eagle paraphernalia, and take more than 3 hours plus a week cheering on the team during the regular season.  Don’t you think, especially in today’s economy, that that money could be spent in other places?  But no, we the loyal Eagle fans see ‘being a fan’ in a different light.  In a way, through spending our hard earned money on the Eagles franchise, we become shareholders of this company called the Philadelphia Eagles.  When they win, we win.  When they lose, we lose.  It’s a mindset and a lifestyle each one of us has chosen.  Therefore, when asked should the fans care about contract ‘stuff’ and the media’s role in telling us about that ‘stuff’, I think we the fans must have a say, and be fully briefed on what is happening.  In a way, these players are being paid with our money.”

It was now 10:15am, and I turned away from the practice field to take a minute in the shade to reflect on what I had heard from you, the Eagle fans, and also gather my thoughts and then jot them down in a notepad.  My attention was then suddenly taking away by the joyous yelping of young Bird fans playing in the designated play section located about 100 yards away from the practice field.  Every little kid’s face I observed playing on the moon walk, participating in kick, pass and punt competitions, or simply eating Italian ice was one of delight and happiness.  This is what it should all be about I thought, Happiness.   These kids probably cheer our team, the Eagles, just as hard as you and I.  When we (adults) concern ourselves with contract disputes, what player said what, and who is hurt or not, we take away the element of happiness from our lives.  Rather than concern ourselves with the above mentioned distractions, we should all learn from the children and just enjoy.  We have a great team and a great fan base, and that alone should make us all happy.

– Jay Vaidya

(Thanks to every fan and person that took time out of their day to stop and talk to me.  I learned a lot from you guys and appreciate it.)

QUICK EAGLE NOTES:

– Shawn Andrews is still a no show at practice, citing personal reasons.  There is no word on when he will arrive at Lehigh.

– Asante Samuel’s practice was cut short when he re-aggravated his hamstring.  This injury has plagued the $10mil a year Pro-Bowl cornerback ever since his arrival in Philadelphia.  No further information was given about this injury.