Archive: June, 2009
Daily News staff
New Eagles cornerback Ellis Hobbs did a chat over at ESPN.com today, talking about the Eagles' chances and his departure from New England.
Asked about the Birds' chances of winning it all, Hobbs said, "We're loaded with talent and all we have to do is put it together."
Hobbs said he would like to return kicks as long as he was successful at it, but termed whether he would as the "million-dollar question."
Frank Seravalli
Unlike the big to-do made of Donovan McNabb’s contract restructuring last week, Monday Night Football analyst Ron Jaworski doesn’t think it’s such a big deal.
“I think it’s irrelevant, to tell you the truth,” Jaworski said while sitting in his office at NFL Films last week in Mount Laurel.
Jaworski was participating as an instructor in last week’s 3rd annual NFL Broadcast Boot Camp for present and former players looking to break into television and radio.
Daily News staff
UPDATED: The Eagles have issued a press release, confirming the deal.
Eagles second-round pick LeSean McCoy has agreed to a 4-year contract, according to the Twitter feed of his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Rosenhaus says McCoy becomes the first second-round pick to agree to a deal.
An Eagles source has now confirmed the signing.
Daily News staff
The Eagles ranked 20th in the NFL in actual dollars spent on salaries from 2004 to '08, according to numbers obtained by Jason La Canfora, the former Washington Post Redskins writer who recently joined the NFL Network. The numbers are gross totals spent on player salaries and bonuses.
The Eagles spent $495.75 million, and La Canfora says the Birds are among the teams that "stand out, stringing together a good run without grossly overspending." He makes the same case for the Giants (No. 19, $497.63 million) and Bears (21st, $495.57 million). Of course, all three teams reached a Super Bowl during that span, with the Giants winning the title. New England is 10th at $513.31 million.
Conversely, the team at the top of the list in spending -- to no one's surprise -- is the Dallas Cowboys at $566.89 million and still searching for an elusive playoff victory. The Redskins -- backed by Daniel Snyder's cash -- are third at $547.37 million. Seattle is a surprising second at $552.42 million.
Daily News staff
Eagles special teams ace Tank Daniels is using part of his time off until training camp to hld a football camp in the tiny town of Holland, Texas.
This is the second year of the camp and it was moved to Holland this year at the urging of his Harding College (Ark.) teammate and current Holland assistant coach Rae Holder.
“I want to come back to a small town, because I’m from a small town,” Daniels told the Temple Daily Telegram. “I want to show these kids, ‘I’m just like you. Anything you want you have to work real hard for. NFL players, NBA players, they are just like you. They just worked hard at what they wanted to do. If you want to accomplish that you have to work hard to accomplish it. It’s not above you.’”
Daily News staff
Offensive line coaches rarely get much attention or accolades. Without question, the Eagles' Juan Castillo is among the best in the NFL.
Now, the chance for Castillo to get recognized for his success and his work is mired in controversy in his hometown of Port Isabel, Texas.
The city is scheduled to present Castillo with the key to the city during a "Juan Castillo Day" celebration. The problem is, that ceremony is scheduled for July 4. Some are arguing that a different date should have been selected and the Fourth of July should be used to honor veterans instead of their hometown hero's football accomplishments.
Daily News staff
No, this is not news, but you don't have to wait for the season to even start to know how it ends. That is the fun of computer simulations, if you find those sorts of things entertaining.
Paul Bessire, a friend of the Daily News, at Whatifsports.com, has run the NFL season for FoxSports.com and has the Eagles beating the Patriots, 34-31, in the Super Bowl in Miami.
The site had the Eagles play the Patriots 1,000 times, with the Eagles winning 57 percent of the games with an average score of 33-30.
Daily News staff
In a classy move, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb took to his Yardbarker blog to reflect on the loss of Action News sportscater Gary Papa.
I am so saddened by the loss of Gary Papa who succumbed to prostate cancer this morning. My deepest sympathy goes out to his wife and children, his family at 6ABC, and the people in the region who counted on him and invited him into their homes each night.
Gary was a very special man; very genuine. He was able to do his job of reporting the sports news and he did it in a way that showcased the fan in him. I think that’s what touched most of his viewers – that he followed and supported the same teams they did.
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
I've had a week or so now to talk to people and filter through the particulars of Donovan McNabb's contract revision.
Here are a few things I've heard from various people involved in the process, and some things I've deduced:
1. We all remarked on how often McNabb referenced the next two years in his remarks last Friday. As we've reported since then, the way the money breaks down, it's still possible the Eagles could part with McNabb after 2009 -- though if they do that, they will have paid him $15.5 million for one season of work, counting the $3.5 million guarantee for 2010. Hard to imagine that happening if 2009 is reasonably successful, playoff season. Right now, I see no reason to think McNabb has to win the Super Bowl this season to get a second year, with so much youth around him. Obviously, it's hard to envision the exact circumstances of the way the season might end -- if McNabb throws six interceptions in a playoff game, or something, it could all look different.
Daily News staff
Eagles wide receiver Kevin Curtis returned to his home state of Utah for a charity golf tournament and proclaimed himself fully healthy to play this season.
Curtis missed the beginning of last season following sports hernia surgery and then missed the post-draft minicamp because of a followup surgery in April. He was a limited participant in the last group of OTAs, saying he felt strong at the start of practices but the area would get fatigued.
