CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
Strong indications are that Lito Sheppard does indeed plan to attend the Eagles' mandatory minicamp this weekend.
Sheppard has been awaiting a trade that has not occurred and does not seem imminent. He could be fined if he were to sit out the minicamp, the only mandatory gathering for veterans until training camp starts in late July, but players trying to force trades or get contracts revised often use minicamp attendance as leverage. Although Eagles coach Andy Reid hinted last weekend that a revision of Sheppard's contract isn't out of the question, no such discussions are known to have taken place.
Reid said he would speak to the two-time Pro Bowl corner this week. Sheppard is unhappy with the contract extension he signed in 2004 that locks him up through 2011 at much less money than top corners now make, including Asante Samuel, signed by the Birds as a free agent, presumably to replace Sheppard.
Even if Sheppard continues to work under the contract he dislikes, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson faces the difficult task of finding suitable roles for Samuel, Sheppard, and longtime starter Sheldon Brown.
Brown has not returned calls seeking comment.
So far, the Lito situation has been much less of a circus than another salary dispute with a high-profile player a few years back. Remember that guy? Here's a bit of satire from The Onion, hypothesizing that player's reaction to his current team taking on a guy who's a bit of a character risk. (Sniff, sniff ... "That's my cornerback!")
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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