The Philadelphia Eagles' offseason workout schedule began earlier this week on Monday. The good news is that 69 out of 71 players currently under contract showed up for voluntary workouts. Nice. The "bad" news is that two players didn't. According to Howard Eskin, both Jason Peters and Fletcher Cox did not show up this week.
Two players who did not show for #Eagles voluntary camp, DE Fletcher Cox and LT Jason Peters. Coaches do like players to show @FOX29philly
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) April 7, 2016
This is hardly the biggest deal in the world, which is why I used quotes around the "bad" in bad news. These workouts are not mandatory so the players are doing nothing wrong by not showing up. It's not like they're missing critical practice time, either. The Eagles are in Phase One of the offseason workout schedule, which is mostly limited to strength and conditioning stuff.
It's worth noting that the Eagles' workout program began earlier than usual this offseason. The new head coaching hire of Doug Pederson allows Philadelphia to get a two week head start before other teams open workouts. Last year when the Eagles still had Chip Kelly the program began on April 20. It's possible the early start is related to the absence of these two players.
The next date of interest for the Eagles this offseason is when their pre-draft voluntary minicamp begins on April 19. It'll be interesting to see if Cox and Peters are back by then. If they're not, it still won't be a big deal, but it's at least worth keeping an eye on.
UPDATE: Make it three players who didn't show up. Darren Sproles isn't there either, per source. Jimmy Kempski is reporting the same thing.
Darren Sproles also not there w/Eagles' blessing, I'm told. Training in California, and coaching kid's track team. https://t.co/hVxIxWiK06
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) April 8, 2016