From PE.com

Wide receiver DeSean Jackson, the Eagles' second of two second-round picks in April's NFL Draft, agreed to terms on a four-year deal Sunday, ensuring he will be under contract in time for training camp, which begins July 21 when rookies and selected veterans are scheduled to report.

Good news for sure and hopefully the news that Laws has agreed to a deal will come down at some point today. Rookies and selected veterans are due to report to training camp tonight.

If you don't know about the holdup with getting these 2nd round picks signed, check out our writeup about it from last week....

Earlier this week we explored the issue of the Eagles two remaning unsigned picks and how only one other second round pick from this year's had signed. To date only two second rounders and three first rounders have signed a contract. With training camp for some teams starting as early as this weekend it's starting to become a problem. ESPN's John Clayton shed a little more light on the hold up...

On Tuesday, the NFLPA filed a brief seeking a decision of a Special Master. Without getting too complicated, the dispute revolves around the interpretation guaranteed one-time bonuses and the way those guarantees are interpreted within the rookie pool.

Under the rookie pool, base salaries can only increase 25 percent per year, but agents found a loophole in which a draft choice can receive a one-time bonus and guarantee it in the final year of the contract. This particularly affects second-round choices because they sign four-year deals. The problem in this summer's negotiations is that there is no collective bargaining agreement in 2011 so the fourth year of the contract can't be involved in any kind of guarantees.

The special master is set to rule next week. Eagles rookies are due to report to camp Monday. I would have to imagine the Eagles have a framework of a deal in place with Laws and Jackson and will move quickly to get their signatures once the ruling comes down, but so far it looks like those two will miss at least a few days of camp while this matter gets settled.

This is a pretty unfortunate situation for rookies who could possibly miss parts of camp due to an issue between the union and the NFL that they can't control.

via media.philly.com

The Eagles sent out an email today with the subject line "Will Laws, Jackson be at camp on time?"

Good question. With one week to go until rookies are due to report to Lehigh, the Eagles top two pics remain unsigned. Is this cause for concern? For now, I'll say no for one simple reason. Most teams' top picks haven't signed either. A quick glance at NFL.com shows that just 3 first round picks have signed so far and ZERO second round picks have signed as of a week ago. (Note, 2 2nd rounders have now signed)

At the time Eagles signed 3rd round pick Bryan Smith, he became just one of six 3rd picks to agree to a deal.

The point here is that there's no need to panic yet. The last thing we want is for either guy to miss a day of camp, but as soon as a few other 2nd rounders sign Jackson and Laws should fall into place. Their contracts will based on the deals of the players picked around them, so until some of those guys sign the Eagles(and all other teams) will probably have a difficult time finding out exactly where to start.

My guess is that this week we'll see a flurry of first and second round picks signing.

[Note by JasonB, 07/14/08 3:14 PM EDT ] Update thanks to jhavrk8

The Redskins broke what could be a logjam of potential unsigned second-round picks by signing wide receiver Malcolm Kelly to a four-year, $3.36 million deal.

The NFLPA notified agents Wednesday to move cautiously on first- and second-round contracts because of a Special Master hearing scheduled for next week involving how to guarantee one-time bonuses with no collective bargaining agreement in 2011. The Redskins were concerned their three second-rounders, including Kelly, could be late for training camp because a decision might come after the team's opening of training camp on July 19.

Joe Banner weighed in on Lito's absence... Didn't say much of anything new, but I suppose it's noteworthy nonetheless.

"He will be with us this year," Banner said of Sheppard, who has been seeking a trade because he is dissatisfied with a contract extension he signed 4 years ago, which runs through 2011. The week before the April 26 NFL draft, a Sheppard trade seemed a sure thing, but it didn't happen then - because the Eagles were asking too much, because teams were reluctant to give Sheppard a new, state-of-the-art contract after he missed 14 games the last three seasons, or because of some combination of those reasons - and, apparently, it won't now. Banner said nothing was happening on the Sheppard trade front.

Desean Jackson and Asante Samuel tweaked their hamstrings.

Rookie wide receiver DeSean Jackson got the first hammy and the other casualty was $60 million cornerback Asante Samuel.

"I don’t think either one of them is bad," said Andy Reid, adding that neither player has a history of hamstring trouble.

Probably the most unsettling news is that it appears McNabb has a sore shoulder according to Kevin Curtis.

"He’s looking good," wide receiver Kevin Curtis said after practice. "But I think he has a little bit of a sore shoulder."

Or does he? Says Andy...

While Reid dismissed the soreness with an, "I don’t think it’s going to be a problem," McNabb’s teammates watched him struggle the first two days of organized team activities at the NovaCare Complex.

McNabb was a little better Wednesday than Tuesday, when he was very un-McNabb-like. More often than not his throws were wild. That said, there were far too many interceptions thrown by all of the Eagles’ quarterbacks Wednesday, including McNabb.

I'm really not concerned about the hamstrings, that's very common in these early practices, but I do think McNabb's shoulder is something worth keeping an eye on. There were reports of this in the first rookie camp back in may, and Andy Reid has admitted to having McNabb on a "pitch count" where he's shut down after a certain amount of throws.

That's the question asked by Yahoo! Sports Jason Cole in his latest feature on Desean Jackson , which was featured on the Yahoo Sports front page with the title "Action Jackson." Not bad...

The article is an interesting read and further cements the idea that Jackson's college stardom has, to this point, followed him to the NFL. He still has plenty to prove on the field, but the fact that he was invited to te NFL rookie premier , is on the cover of video games , and is being featured in national pieces shows the kind of star power the kid has. It also has the media paying some extra focus on his alleged "primadonna" attitude. I found this little tidbit in the Yahoo! article interesting...

The problem is that Jackson has this tendency to act like a kid who thinks it’s cool to sit in the back of class and stare at the ceiling tiles with a disaffected attitude. During every individual drill, Jackson was the last in line to do the exercise. When wide receivers coach David Culley stopped to talk to the group, Jackson was the first (and often the only) one to take off his helmet. He looked off in every direction except directly at Culley.

About the only time Jackson seemed to pay full attention was when Reid was observing up close. In the NFL, you have to work harder than just when the big boss is looking.

All of that makes you wonder if Jackson gets the big picture, if he understands that he’s part of a big plan to put one extraordinarily quick offensive unit on the field from time to time; the type of unit that could ruin the great pass-rushing defenses from the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. The defenses that made McNabb’s life miserable a year ago.

The article also mentions that Desean will be heading to Arizona to attend McNabb's annual workout there.

[Note by JasonB, 06/02/08 9:11 PM EDT ] Updated with screenshot of Desean on Yahoo!

Mike Gibson got a little taste of what Eagles fans are all about.

Mike Gibson found out first hand the other day just how passionate fans are when it comes to the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.

Gibson was taking a subway train to the downtown area with some of his new teammates when a few of the passengers asked if they were football players.

It wasn’t a bad question, as Gibson, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 305 pounds as a rookie offensive lineman for the Eagles, definitely stands out in a crowd.

“They just started singing the (Eagles’) fight song,” Gibson said.

“It was pretty cool. There are die-hard Eagles fans. They definitely love their sports out here, which is really cool. They were very encouraging, saying, ‘Go Eagles.’

“The people are awesome. I like everything about this place.”

"DeSean, everybody knows you’re an electrifying returner. What are the odds of you being a somewhat Devin Hester-type player and what do you think about the criticism of you being a ‘raw’ receiver – that you don’t run routes very well?” Booker asked, doing his best to imitate a television reporter.

Coolly, calmly, Jackson replied: "The best thing I can say is that I just want to be like Lorenzo Booker. That’s my hero.”

Moreover, only Al Harris of the Eagles/Green Bay Packers and Nate Clements of the Buffalo Bills/ 49ers have more career starts at cornerback to begin their NFL career than Brown's active streak of 96 in a row.

"That was a little name that the fans gave me for coming out and playing hard," Mays said following yesterday's workout at the Eagles' camp for rookies and selected veterans. "When you're playing hard, you get in some good hits and sometimes it's the best hits that you can ever imagine. So I got the nickname, but I just try to keep living up to it."

It takes more than a catchy nickname to grab the attention of the Eagles, who made Mays a sixth-round pick (No. 200 overall) in last month's draft. Not only did he hit hard, he also hit often, leading the Bison of Fargo, N.D., in tackles with 90 in 11 games.

"He has good intensity," Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "You can tell that he likes the game. He's a take-charge guy. That's what you want as a middle linebacker. He's still learning the system. He's going to make a few mistakes, but he's into his book. He's a very physical linebacker."

“How many times in a 20-year period does one coach,” Vermeil said, “coach anywhere for 10 years? There’s Jeff Fisher and Andy Reid. I think it’s a real great reflection on the strength of the man and the quality of the guy. He has great ability to keep the thing in proper perspective, especially having gone through the family problems at the same time. You’ve got to respect him for that. I think he’s one of the great coaches.”

Last week in our interview with McNeese State AD Louis Bonnette , he told us that Bryan Smith had already put on almost 10 pounds since the NFL combine and was up to 243 lbs. Much was made of Smith's lack of size when the Eagles took him in the 3rd round of this year's draft, at the time he was listed at 231 pounds.

Not very big for a defensive end.

That said, when Andy Reid talked about Bryan after picking him he mentioned several times that Smith had the frame to add more wieght and that he'd likely add 8-10 pounds.

So why was a guy with the frame to carry more wieght so undersized at combine time? He couldn't afford food.

"My junior year, we were getting $438 (per month) in scholarship checks," Smith said. "I know some guys at D-I schools were getting $700.

"We got 438 and that was it, no on-campus meals, or anything -- (And) we had to pay the light bills, the rent and all that stuff."

So while coaches urged him to pack on the pounds, it wasn't physically possible, at least not the way Smith wanted to do it.

"I didn't have money personally, so I couldn't really eat," he said. "I tried to eat healthy (so) I didn't want to eat no big, greasy hamburger.

"That's a big factor. If you tray to gain weight, gain good weight, not bad weight," he explained. "Try to gain muscle instead of fat."

After Smith signed with an agent, he was able to get on the kind of nutrition and workout program an NFL player should be on. Not surprsingly he's bulked up quickly. It's interesting to hear a player say this because I think most of us would have never considered that guys playing college football wouldn't have access to the most basic needs an athlete has... It's also interesting to compare the college experience of a guy like Desean Jackson at Cal, which has NFL caliber nutrition and conditioning programs, to a Smith at McNeese State who was picked just a round later and could barely afford to feed himself.

There was an interesting article about Jack Ikegwuono in the Inky this weekend that, among other things, shed a little more light on his legal situation.

Ikegwuonu said the whole thing was a misunderstanding, although both parties were unable to comment much more specifically.

"I wish I could explain the whole story," Ikegwuonu said, adding that it would take a sit-down session over coffee to hash it out. "Nothing was taken. It's really just a big misunderstanding between friends. My brother's friend was actually the one that initially had contacted the authorities. His efforts to rectify the situation after the fact were pretty quick. He realized what had happened. But once the state's attorney got hold of it, she wouldn't let it go."

Ikegwuonu said deals had been offered and he was confident the situation would be resolved by the start of training camp on July 21. He added that to prove his innocence, he was willing to fight the charges.

Pat Kirwan explains how an uncapped year 2010 may actually lower spending.

The one factor fans have heard the most about is that 2010 and 2011 would be "uncapped" years. But there are three main trigger points that will go off in 2010 if there isn't a new CBA in place, and they may offset the fear of life with no salary cap. They are: 1) free agency will require six years of service (instead of four years in 2010 and five years in 2011); 2) teams will have three tags to use to restrict free agents instead of one tag, as they do now; and 3) teams that go deep in the playoffs could have some spending restrictions.

He goes into much more depth and it;s worth reading for anyone that thinks teams will go on spending sprees in the absence of a salary cap.

Finally, Les Bowen has confirmed Mark Eckel's earlier report that Eagles VP of player personnel Jason Licht is out.

I thought this was a really great piece from Les Bowen in today's Daily News. Probably the most informative and revealing piece on Desean Jackson I've read to date. There's great stuff about his family and his realization that he needs to be making his own decisions. Some interesting stuff from his former coach and other people in his life... Definitely go check it out in it's entirety, but there were a couple tidbits I found especially interesting.

I thought this was just kinda funny...

DESEAN JACKSON met Terrell Owens, however briefly, at a promotional appearance in Los Angeles last weekend. Jackson ended up meeting Freddie Mitchell at a workout a few months back, also in LA.

Jackson wants to be that playmaking wideout Eagles fans covet, but he said yesterday he does not want to be T.O. - at least not in the sense of "talking about your teammates'' - and he does not want to be Freddie, the guy Jackson has heard "talked his way out of the league.''

I'd love for some of the attitude and fire I hear from Jackson here to rub off on Reggie Brown...

"The top-notch guys, the guys who really go out there and make big plays, and expect the ball to always be in their hands when the game's on the line, I definitely feel like you have to have, not a chip on your shoulder, but you have to have that within yourself,'' Jackson said yesterday, as he began a minicamp for Eagles rookies and select veterans that continues through tomorrow, before resuming next week. "You've gotta want the ball. You gotta know when it's a crucial time, you gotta step up for your teammates and for yourself and make big things happen. If you're a coach, you don't want your go-to receiver to not want the ball . . . the best of the best receivers want to be in that position.''

I can't agree more... 9 times out of time the guy that gets the ball is the one who wants it most. It's true in most any sport.

Not likely... fairly generic stuff from McNabb, but it was interesting to read what he said about Desean Jackson simply because he never really talked about the kid in mini camp.

He lists some of the usual questions he's gotten and his answers

Q: Did the team do enough this offseason to compete for a Super Bowl?

A: We have enough to compete right now. If there is a chance to continue improving our roster after June 1 than we should look at that too.

Q: Without any new offensive weapons, how will the team improve this year?

A: Having L.J. Smith healthy is a good start. We need to be more productive in the Red Zone and that's a part of the field where the tight end is crucial. When L.J. was hurt last year we seemed to get away from that too much.

Q: What about DeSean Jackson?

A: He impressed me with his speed and ability to catch the ball. Hopefully he will be able to shorten the field for us with his return ability on special teams, and stretch the field on offense with his speed.

I suppose the June 1 line is interesting. Clearly McNabbb is still looking for more pieces.