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Sam Donnellon: Eagles counting on rookie-rich roster to develop quickly
BETHLEHEM - Jeremy Maclin "needs to get in or this thing passes by you real fast," Eagles coach Andy Reid was saying at the second day of rookie camp. Nearby, WIP's Anthony Gargano was exhorting on-air about LeSean McCoy's explosiveness, about the rookie making an immediate impact. Later, Reid was asked if Cornelius Ingram, the rookie from Florida who seems already penciled in as Brent Celek's complement at tight end, was further along than he expected.
"He's doing a good job," said the coach.
Once upon a time - like two summers ago - going ga-ga over a rookie-enriched roster could be read as a storm warning. But that was before the Giants leaned heavily on six rookies to advance to the Super Bowl and stun the undefeated Patriots there, before the Arizona Cardinals used a rookie to shut down a team's premier receiver on the way to last season's Super Bowl.
So when Eagles president Joe Banner proclaimed the Eagles to have "the best roster in the league" the other day, the snickers were less about his accuracy as they were about whom his comments were directed.
Was he challenging his coach?
His quarterback?
Or like so much of the populace, was he simply gushing over the influx of young, untested talent?
"We know we have a special unit," Ingram said after a morning practice at Lehigh. "I was amazed when I first got here and saw DeSean Jackson running routes, and Jason Avant running routes and McNabb throwing it and our defense running around.
"I was like, 'We're for real.' "
Ah, but are they? And is he? Out all of last season with a torn ACL suffered during a pad-less drill last summer, Ingram is kind of the poster boy for speculative ebullience. He is either a studious Pro Bowler in training, or a tweener with a reputation in college for - how can we phrase this gently? - avoiding contact.
He's proud of the first, aware of the other.
"Catching balls in traffic or making plays, you build confidence with either one of the quarterbacks," he said. "My main focus is to make sure I come down with the ball and know what I'm doing on the field. So once we get in a game they won't have to think about me being a rookie."
The Eagles are good that way. There is no hazing in this camp, and McNabb's annual early presence here is intended to smooth the newness of the new guys. McNabb also included Ingram in his annual Arizona meet, catch, and eat, which the rookie appreciated greatly.
Eager to please and prove, Ingram's take on reality so far has been balanced with the sobriety of his situation. There were times in the first minicamp when his knee ballooned with swelling and he had to be reassured by McNabb, who went through the same thing. Playing in Florida's spread offense, his blocking skills will start from the ground up here, although Reid did say, "He looks good on the bags.
"I've got to see him once we get live, how he holds up," Reid added. "Is it going to be a learning experience for him? Yeah, it will be."
Said Ingram: "I know I wasn't the traditional tight end coming out of college. But I know I can do it. I know what I'm capable of."
What excites the Eagles almost as much as Ingram's 6-4, 245-pound frame, is that approach. Confident, yet a sponge to learning. Often players are told not to act like rookies, but Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, at the NFL's rookie symposium in Palm Beach earlier this month, advised the opposite.
"Be a rookie," Ingram recalled Tomlin saying. "Don't tell everybody you know what to expect or you know what's going on. Because we don't."
"I told myself before the first minicamp that I was not going to go out and try to do things that I had not been doing," he said. "Move like DeSean Jackson when I can't just to prove that my knee's back healthy. I just went out and played like Cornelius Ingram. I think that helped me a lot. Because you can tend to lose focus."
That's the fear with rookies. You can teach execution. Teaching poise - well that's more dicey. It's why July rosters don't always look as great in January.
And it's why sometimes, like with the Giants two seasons ago, they look better.
"You just don't expect all those rookies to play like that," Ingram said of that Giants team. "It just shows you that the league has changed, and that guys are now picking up the offenses and defenses enough that they can get on the field.
"It makes you feel good because you see all those rookie guys be successful early. You just think to yourself, 'Why can't you?' It's motivation to do the same thing."
Send e-mail to donnels@phillynews.com.
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