Well, that didn't take very long. In only their second day of 2014 training camp practice, the Philadelphia Eagles witnessed a fight breakout between two key players. It was unclear who was involved as first but it was later realized that veteran outside linebacker Trent Cole and star running back LeSean McCoy were the combatants.
It all started when the Eagles were running a 7 on 7 drill. Everyone's attention was on the right side of the field because that's where quarterback Nick Foles threw, but apparently Trent Cole laid a hit on LeSean McCoy on the left side of the field near the sideline. The two got tangled up and things got heated fast. A number of players and coaches were trying to separate Cole and McCoy (no easy task). But even when the two finally got separated McCoy tried to take a second attempt at Cole by jumping into a group of players separating the combatants. Shortly after the two were finally separated for good. No one appeared to be injured.
As things went back to normal, McCoy went to line up in the first team offense but Chip Kelly pulled him out and made him take some time off to the side. Eagles running back coach Duce Staley walked up to McCoy and seemingly tried to cool him down. No further issues were apparent after that.
The Eagles weren't wearing pads today so it was easy to see why McCoy was upset. It was also very hot and humid. McCoy explained his side of the fight after practice: "The whole camp so far, it’s been touching a little too much. I’m trying to let them know, it’s OK if you can’t cover me." McCoy went on to say that Cole is his "good friend" and the two are like "brothers." "We’ll go in the locker room talk it out, joke it out. It’s nothing." McCoy added.
Trent Cole wasn't too eager to talk about the incident during his post-practice interview. Whenever a media member brought up the question he tended to walk away and say "I don't know what you're talking about, man. That's my brother, man. We're competitive."
The Eagles went through the entire 2013 training camp without any kind of major scrum. The only noteworthy event was when Cary Williams got into a fight with a New England Patriots receiver, but obviously those two weren't teammates.
Ultimately, it's not a huge deal. Players fight in training camp around the league all the time. If anything is to be taken from this scrum, however, it's that the players are probably looking forward to when the pads come on tomorrow at the Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field practice on Monday.