Towards the end of practice when the Eagles closed with their special teams units working on kickoff returns and kickoff coverage, most of the offensive skill players took a knee on the sidelines.

But not Brent Celek.

The Eagles' tight end was on the sideline about 10 yards away from one of the assistants, practicing catching the ball and securing it. Over, and over, and over again.

It's like shooting free throws, right?

Celek made a few good grabs this morning. On one play he beat Stewart Bradley over the middle during 7-on-7s. On the very next play, he showed great concentration by holding on to a ball that was deflected by Akeem Jordan.

There was one more during 11-on-11s where he found room to run afterwards, drawing applause from the fans.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Lorenzo Booker, who dropped a couple passes. He also dropped one yesterday. Andy Reid said Booker has good hands so he wasn't sure what the problem was today.

Some other observations from the first full-squad practice with pads:

** Hank Baskett had a drop during drills, drawing boos from the crowd. Baskett later made a 45-yard grab from McNabb. When asked about Baskett's offseason and how it might affect him, Reid joked: "What happened?" He added that he's seen no change in Baskett.

** I don't know how Juan Castillo and some of the other coaches ever have a voice left. They must gargle with salt water every night.

** Some new numbers to learn. 26 is Sean Jones, not Lito Sheppard. 82 is Eugene Bright, not L.J. Smith. And No. 23 is Dimitri Patterson, not Troy Vincent. OK, so Vincent's been gone for awhile, but it's still who I thought of at first.

** A frustrated Joe Mays snapped off his chin strap after misreading a play during defensive drills. Sean McDermott ran over, showed him what he did wrong and slapped him on the backside. It's still early, but I think Philadelphia is really going to embrace the new defensive coordinator. He learned from the best.

** By my count, the first big hit came at 9:23 a.m. Quintin Mikell appeared to have an interception during the first play of 11-on-11s but was leveled by teammate Chris Gocong. Both players were OK. Sheldon Brown, by the way, was the first player to run over and help Mikell up.

** Quentin Demps walked over to the trainers' tent at one point to get looked at, but he returned to the action shortly thereafter.

** Who says it's only practice? Mikell waved to the fans to make noise after the defense stopped the offense and Donovan McNabb on a mock third-down play.

** The catch of the day probably goes to DeSean Jackson for a diving, 25-yard grab on the far sideline, which brought the crowd to its feet.

** You know the saying Practice like you play? Jason Avant should be the poster-child. Great hands, steady throughout. Seems like as coachable a guy as you'll find at this level.

** Reggie Brown made a catch near the sidelines during 7-on-7s and had a chance to go out of bounds. He instead cut inside, juked Chris Gocong and absorbed a hit.

** Eldra Buckley had probably the longest run of the day, which brought laughs and cheers from McNabb and Leonard Weaver on the sidelines.

** Nick Cole got reps at center and guard.

** QUESTION: Am I over-tweeeting during practice? Or do you enjoy the updates?

** I'm pretty sure the Inquirer and Daily News guys will have more on this, but Brian Westbrook was on the sidelines during drills, helping LeSean McCoy and some of the other guys. Bob Brookover of the Inquirer talks more about that in today's video, which will be up later this afternoon.

** To the fan who constantly yelled "C'mon Brian, quick peek!" for about 15 minutes while Westbrook was talking to teammates and watching practice, give it a rest! I know fans like photos, but this guy was in his mid-40s and wouldn't shut-up. What would it have taken for him to realize Westbrook was trying to focus on practice rather than give him a wave?

** Was that too harsh? Maybe I'm hungry. Back with more later. And don't forget Les Bowen is chatting on philly.com at 1.

Time for another question with our friend Bill Barnwell over at Football Outsiders.

Earlier, Barnwell talked about the Eagles' pass-run ratio.

And previously, he discussed the Birds' short-yardage woes.

Today, ironically, we ask Barnwell about the turnover on the offensive line. At this afternoon's practice, Shawn Andrews was nowhere to be found after his back tightened up during a morning run.

Jason Peters, meanwhile, joined a few other players who spent the practice stretching after a quad spasm.

So the retooled offensive line is going to have to wait to get to know each other just a little bit longer.

Here's the Q&A with Barnwell:

Q: One of the main reasons, at least it appeared to me, that you project the Eagles to have less than 10 wins is the turnover on the offensive line. An optimist would argue that they are more talented and more athletic on the line. What is your take on why it could take them some time to learn to play together?

A: There are other reasons -- namely, we expect the rest of the division to get better than our projections did a year ago, and the team had the second-healthiest defense in football in 2008 (after four consecutive years where they were middle of the pack, so it's a fluke), but offensive line continuity is definitely a factor we saw as a negative for the Eagles.

Absolutely, I agree 100 percent that the line will be way more athletic, and it'll certainly have more talent. I can't say enough positive things about the moves the team made this offseason for the long-term. That being said, we've found that teams tend to see a decrease in offensive performance when they bring in new linemen. Athleticism's great, but if you're not used to hearing the line calls and false start, all you're doing with that athleticism is walking backwards five yards and trying to stop defenders with their ears pinned back. If Donovan McNabb audibles at the line, it will be -- for better or worse -- the first time in a decade he won't be audibling to the same guys. It's easy to imagine that there'll be some snafus before everyone grows comfortable.

Honestly, I think that the offensive line continuity is less of an issue here because of the quality of player the Eagles brought in, relative to the level of play that Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan were providing by the end of the season. But it will still matter.

***

So what do you think?

I'll be talking about the Eagles' offensive line turnover and all things Birds Friday morning on WIP's Morning Show at 7:30.

This probably wasn't how Andy Reid envisioned the first full-squad practice playing out.

The beat guys from the Inquirer and Daily News have all the details, but here are some quick news and notes.

** The story we discuss every day is Jeremy Maclin's absence. During Reid's press conference, a reporter asked him if Maclin missing time is less of an issue because so few first-round picks have signed, but Reid didn't really seem to accept that as an excuse. He said Maclin is missing valuable time and the two sides are "not as close as we need to be."

** It's interesting to note that Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey agreed to terms today. Per Pro Football Talk, Heyward-Bey will get $38.250M in base salary over five years, with $23.5M guaranteed. PFT reports that this is a 20.5 percent bump in guaranteed money from last year's No. 7 pick and a 19.5 increase in base salary.

Heyward-Bey and Maclin are both represented by CAA. Per SportsBusiness Daily, Heyward-Bey is represented by Ben Dogra and Tom Condon. Maclin is represented by Dogra and Jim Steiner.

Michael Crabtree was the second receiver taken at No. 10. And Maclin was the third selected at No. 19.

** We wrote about Shawn Andrews in this space yesterday. He said he had done everything in his power to get physically fit and mentally right in the offseason. But as reporters gathered on the field during today's practice (which was closed to the public), big No. 73 was nowhere to be found. Reid said during his press conference that Andrews' back tightened up on him during a run earlier in the day. Not good news, but there's no telling how big of a deal this is right now.

Update: Les Bowen over at Eagletarian caught up with Andrews.

** As for the guys who were here, Quintin Mikell and Quentin Demps lined up as the starting safeties, as expected.

** Reid talked about seeing a few balls hit the ground. Obviously not a huge deal for the first practice, but the culprits we saw were Hank Baskett, Lorenzo Booker and Eugene Bright. Reggie Brown also dropped one, but Donovan McNabb took the blame for it.

** Reid said Sheldon Brown is the No. 1 right cornerback. Brown and Ellis Hobbs lined up with the first team. Asante Samuel spent practice stretching after suffering a hamstring spasm earlier in the day.

** Akeem Jordan joined Stewart Bradley and Chris Gocong as the starting linebackers.

** Kevin Curtis lost safety Byron Parker for one of the longest receptions of the afternoon.

Today's video report is with the Daily News' John Smallwood. We should have it posted around 7 or 7:30 so check back.

And we'll also put up the next question with Football Outsiders.

Time to continue our Q&A with Bill Barnwell, managing editor of Football Outsiders.

If you missed our first part about the Eagles and short yardage, or are wondering exactly what Football Outsiders is, click here.

Also, last night, we updated news on Hollis Thomas, Derrick Burgess and more first-round picks signing.

And don't forget to join me for a live chat at 2 p.m.

OK, now on to the Q&A with Barnwell. As the author of the Eagles chapter in the Football Outsiders Almanac, Barnwell examined a constant criticism of Andy Reid, Marty Mornhinweg and the Birds' offense: they pass too much.

Q: You wrote about the Eagles' "pass-happy" offense. What did you find? Do they pass significantly more than other teams? Does this hurt them?

A: We're probably the only people in the world outside of the Eagles organization that think their pass-to-run ratio is just about perfect. The first article we wrote at Football Outsiders and our reason d'etre was to analyze a Ron Borges piece in the Boston Globe about "establishing the run". Our founder, Aaron Schatz, compiled the play-by-play and found that run attempts in the first half bore no correlation to winning -- it was, instead, run attempts in the second half that had a significant relationship to winning. That's because teams that are ahead in the second half run the clock out; instead of teams "Running to Win", they really "Win To Run". So next time you see one of those stats like "The Eagles are 15-1 when Brian Westbrook gets the ball 30 times", realize that what they're examining with that statistic is the effect, not the cause.

The problem for the Eagles is first down, where they do throw the ball too much. The average NFL team throws the ball 48.5% of the time on first down, and gains an average of 6.6 yards per attempt; the Eagles throw the ball 53% of the time, but only gain an average of 5.9 yards per attempt. Meanwhile, the Eagles gain 4.2 yards per rush attempt on first down, while the league average is 4.3.

Philly also throws the ball more often than league average on second down (58.2% of plays versus a league average of 53.8%) and third down (78.5% of plays versus a league average of 75.6%), but they're more successful in those situations than the rest of the league is. (The Eagles only had an average of 6.4 yards to go on third down, the fifth-fewest in the league.)

If there was one specific situation where the Eagles should definitely run the ball more often, though, it's second-and-short (three yards to go or less). A league average team gains 3.7 yards on running plays in that situation, and 6.0 yards on pass plays -- naturally, teams have the option of going deep in that situation and taking a shot downfield. The Eagles do that too frequently, and they don't succeed often enough. Although the Eagles average 4.1 yards running the ball on second-and-short, they only average 4.3 yards passing the ball.

My take: First of all, thanks to Bill for taking the time to provide so much depth with his answer. I thought the stat about the Eagles having an average of 6.4 yards to go on third down last season (fifth-fewest in the league) was particularly interesting. You always hear coaches talk about getting the offense in manageable third-down situations, and the numbers show the Eagles did a good job of that last season.

As for the rest of the post, I agree with Bill for the most part. If you go back to my posts last year, I very rarely whined about the team's pass-to-run ratio. I argued that the team just wasn't running the ball effectively enough in certain situations. The whole "run the ball" thing has become a crutch for some, who use it to explain every failure we see with the Eagles.

Do they need to get better at running the ball? Absolutely. And I think you saw them address that through their offseason moves.

But last year, I thought the problem was that they didn't run the ball effectively when they needed to, not that they didn't run the ball enough.

Coming later today, Barnwell takes a look at the turnover on the offensive line. Plus the live chat at 2. Plus the first full-squad practice at 3:30.

Just got done reading every Tweet, blog post, article, column, etc. about the Cliff Lee trade and figured I better get back to football.

Some news and notes around the league before we call it a night here:

** Former Eagles DE Derrick Burgess is a holdout in Oakland. He was the only Raiders player under contract who didn't report to camp. Per David White of the San Francisco Chronicle, Burgess is owed $2 million in the final year of his contract. White suggests the holdout is not about money, but rather about Burgess wanting to be traded or cut so he can continue his career somewhere else. ESPN's Chris Mortensen suggested back in May that the Eagles could be a possible landing place for Burgess.

** Speaking of former Eagles, Hollis Thomas has agreed to a one-year deal with the Rams, sources tell Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Thomas visited with the Eagles and took a physical earlier this month.

** Everyone seems to agree that the limited number of first-round picks under contract has had an effect on the Jeremy Maclin situation. Today, a couple more reached deals. Per baltimoresun.com, the Ravens and Michael Oher reached a five-year agreement. Oher was the 23rd overall pick.

** Meanwhile, the Bills and center Eric Wood have also agreed to terms. Wood was drafted 28th overall with the pick that was originally the Eagles' from the 2008 trade with the Panthers. The Birds, of course, included the pick in the trade with Buffalo for Jason Peters.

That brings the number of first-round picks who have signed to six.

Yesterday, Eagles consultant Andrew Brandt Tweeted the following at 7:16 p.m.:

Grinding through Maclin negotiations when told news of Jim Johnson passing. Puts things in perspective. Great coach, wonderful gentleman.

** Slightly off-topic, but I have to mention it. The old Jeep was down to its last drops of gas this evening when I pulled up to an Exxon on my way back to the hotel. At the pumps were mini TVs with NFL Live showing. How great of an idea is this? TVs at the gas pump? I almost didn't want to leave when I had filled up. In what other places can we squeeze in TVs where they don't currently exist? I want suggestions here. I'm serious. If they had these at the station in the Allentown Service Plaza, I wouldn't have minded the pump taking 30 minutes to fill up my tank.

** Some things to look out for Thursday. First of all, I just got back the next set of questions from Bill Barnwell of Football Outsiders. In case you missed it, Barnwell wrote the Eagles chapter in the FO Almanac. He has some interesting things to say about the Birds' run-pass ratio and turnover along the offensive line. I'll post those items throughout the day.

** Also, join me for a live chat Thursday at 2 p.m. We can talk about anything you like -- camp questions, Maclin's holdout, Sexy Singles, whatever.

Join me for an Eagles chat at 2 p.m. Thursday, a little more than an hour before the players take the field at Lehigh.

According to the Eagles, all the veterans have reported to training camp.

And that includes Sheldon Brown.

This was my first time taking part in the exercise of waiting for veterans to report. Here's how it works:

You walk up a hill to where the players' dorms are located around 2:30 p.m. Every 20 minutes or so, you see a huge, dark-colored SUV, pickup truck or van pull up. As the player unpacks his stuff, you run over to hear what he has to say about the upcoming camp or what he did in the offseason. And then you wait around again. I'd say about 80 percent of the four hours or so were spent just waiting.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Just trying to paint a picture for all the great MTC readers out there.

Earlier we wrote about what guys like Quintin Mikell, Hank Baskett and Chris Gocong had to say.

Here's a roundup of some comments from others who arrived later:

** The most entertaining interview today was probably Shawn Andrews. The Big Kid was sporting a cleaned-up mohawk and a Macbook Pro as he arrived in a white Range Rover.

** Andrews said he got the computer for his Rosetta Stone CDs. Philly.com's Danny Abelson, who is helping out at camp, heard Andrews say he's learning Hebrew and French, and that he traveled to Paris and the Middle East in the offseason.

** Andrews was in good spirits, saying he's looking forward to playing right tackle at camp, and playing alongside his brother. He said he's done everything in his power to get physically in shape and mentally right.

** Andrews was wearing black and white, checkered slip-on shoes. I only bring this up because friend and loyal MTC reader Bener wore the same footwear during a trip to Vegas back in February, and we made fun of him about 672 times over the course of a three-day weekend. If you're wondering, I chose to not take any jabs at Andrews about this.

** Shawn said he thinks his brother Stacy will be ready to participate in contact drills on Friday. Andy Reid recently talked about Nick Cole giving Stacy Andrews competition at guard. Shawn acknowledged that Cole's a good player, but said they brought his brother in for a reason. And per Shawn, it was not just to "tame his crazy brother."

And we agree.

** We also heard from DeSean Jackson, who said it would have definitely been beneficial for Jeremy Maclin to be here the past few days. He said the first four days are huge, but Maclin's situation is his situation, and Jackson hasn't talked to him about it.

** Jackson visited Donovan McNabb in Arizona, going through two-a-day workouts in the heat.

** When asked if he and Maclin are similar, Jackson said they're not. He pointed out they come from two different college offenses.

** While I was listening to Jackson, a monstrous, black conversion van pulled up quietly behind me and the group of reporters, and honked his horn. But it was not just a regular horn. It was a horn on steroids. I jumped like a 4-year-old frightened girl, but luckily all the TV cameras were focused on Jackson, so I don't think this was caught on tape. I believe the driver was Todd Herremans but have not been able to confirm as of yet.

Sitting here outside the dorms at Lehigh as veterans report.

Some quick tidbits from Quintin Mikell, Chris Gocong and Hank Baskett:

** Of Jim Johnson, Gocong said he received some tough love from the defensive coordinator at times, but also saw the soft side. He emphasized what a big influence Johnson was on his life. Gocong heard of Johnson even before joining the Birds. "If you know football, you know his name," he said.

** Mikell said he used to be a "knucklehead" but Johnson kept giving him more chances and helped him along. He said he couldn't help but think of Johnson as he drove to camp, and added that he's still going through the mourning process.

** Mikell talked about Johnson's ability to put players in great positions to succeed. He discussed how Johnson first played him in only goal line situations and put him up in the box so he could use his strength against the run. Maximizing the potential of players was one of Johnson's great strengths, Mikell said.

** Mikell joked that Johnson designed the defense for safeties.

** When asked about who will step up as a leader, Mikell said he'd be one of the guys. He also mentioned Stewart Bradley. Mikell added that his teammates were not knuckleheads, and everybody wants to win. He said if someone acts out and he needs to say something, he will.

** Mikell had nothing but great things to say about Sean McDermott. That's been a running theme here.

** Baskett said Kendra has a kid on the way and it's changed the way he looks at life.

** He added that he always enters camp fighting for a job, and this year's no different

** When asked about his new celebrity status, Baskett said, "I'm not a celebrity. She's a celebrity. I'm a football player."

** Baskett said Kendra made him run during their honeymoon in St. Lucia.

** When asked if teammates tease him, Baskett said they do, but they never cross the line. He said Greg Lewis still texts him and ribs him.

More later... 

The Eagles held practice as scheduled this morning at Lehigh, but it was not business as usual.

Jim Johnson was on everyone's minds.

Fans who want to watch practice have to walk up a path to get to the bleachers. A memorial for Johnson sprang up on the grass on the way to the fields. Members of the field staff here at Lehigh were asked by fans early this morning where they could put flowers and teddy bears to honor Johnson, so they decided to paint a black and white "JJ" on the lawn.

Fans gathered by the impromptu memorial with signs and candles.

We caught up with a couple of them and will post the video shortly.

One woman, Gail Guerrero of Center Valley, got emotional while talking to us. A training camp regular, she had met Johnson several times, and he was one of her favorites.

Meanwhile, Marty Mornhinweg and Sean McDermott spoke to the media. The beat guys will have you covered, but here are some highlights:

** Mornhinweg said he never had to coach against Johnson, and he was glad he didn't.

** He said Johnson was on everyone's mind this morning at practice, and that will continue for a long time.

** McDermott said he was going into a meeting when he heard the news yesterday, and when he got out, he had messages from several members of Johnson's coaching tree like John Harbaugh and Steve Spagnuolo. In McDermott's words, everyone checking on each other to make sure they were OK.

** McDermott said he remembers sitting in the locker room with Johnson, their heads in their hands after the loss to the Cardinals in the NFC championship, and now wishing Johnson would have gotten to call one more game.

** He said it's an honor to follow Johnson, and McDermott told Johnson's family he'll try to honor them with the way the Eagles' defense plays this season.

** McDermott said God needed a defensive coordinator in heaven, and Johnson will have a great view watching all his coaching sons from the sky.