TE Ingram plans to join McNabb in Ariz.
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TE Ingram plans to join McNabb in Ariz.
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
It's been just over a week since the draft, but as far as first impressions go, the Eagles seem to have themselves a likeable group of rookies.
Tight end Cornelius Ingram joined WIP's midday show yesterday and called the Birds a "perfect fit."
When asked about meeting Donovan McNabb for the first time, Ingram said the Eagles' quarterback welcomed him and already invited him to work out in Arizona with other teammates before training camp.
"He told me, he was like 'I get the guys to come out to Arizona for a week so we can get some things done,'" Ingram said. "He was gonna definitely make sure everything is taken care of, getting the information, where we're flying out of, everything like that. It's definitely a work in progress, and I'm definitely gonna be willing to do that anyway. Any way I can get better, especially with being around the veteran guys, just learning the whole NFL, how to be a professional athlete, how to practice and all that kind of stuff, every chance I get to be around a lot of veteran guys, I'm willing to do it so I'm definitely looking forward to it."
Some of you have communicated a concern that the Eagles don't have a true blocking tight end. It's a skill Ingram wasn't asked to perfect in Florida's spread offense, but one he's willing to work on.
"This past weekend, I think I was in the three-point stance 90 percent of the time," he said. "It's all about just playing football and being a football player so it wasn't difficult or it didn't feel strange at all."
Ingram had seven touchdowns with the Gators in 2007 and said he's looking forward to being a target in the red zone for McNabb.
"It's to the point where some of the stuff that we ran in the red zone yesterday, I was actually familiar with because we did a lot of it at Florida," he said. "And some of the formations that we run, it was named the exact same thing at Florida so I felt pretty comfortable when they called certain plays or they called certain formations, I automatically knew because I did it here at Florida."
And finally, Ingram explained that he knows about Philadelphia's football tradition and high expectations from fans. It helps that he's gotten advice from another Gator who's now a professional athlete in the city.
"They said they [the fans] can be hard-going sometimes, so I'm gonna definitely make sure I make all my blocks and catch the ball all the time," he said. "But they're definitely great fans, and I've talked to Mo Speights playing with the 76ers because he went to Florida and he's actually looking forward to showing me around whenever I get stable in Philly."
Love this pick...He has a chance to be an elite receiving TE in this league.— ChrisInVT
Comment removed.- One thing I've learned about the Philly media....Just because they say it, don't make it true!! A lot of times they say thing just to sell papers or they might even have an axe to grind...— jthomas40
- ...but...the soft thing was played out before the 2008 season started. What makes you think it's still funny? BTW, what kind of crappy eagles fan dishes out insult to their team's players like this? Do you punch your mother in the back while she is sleeping? What a lack of class..— MFPhils
- bad bad move for a potential eagle sleeper pick stud! The eagle management should disallow this unless the coaching staff is there. The only thing the rookies would learn would how to catch erratic passes and become one of McSmileys homies--LJ, Ocho jocko mocko, Boldin greedy, etc.— jwatson
- bad bad move for a potential eagle sleeper pick stud! The eagle management should disallow this unless the coaching staff is there. The only thing the rookies would learn would how to catch erratic passes and become one of McSmileys homies--LJ, Ocho jocko mocko, Boldin greedy, etc.— jwatson
5, your Westy bashing is as tiresome and nonsensical as wolf's constant DM bashing. The guy was hurt last year. That doesn't make him soft. Just the opposite. Anyone who plays hurt is AOK in my book. Your comments and those stupid names make you sound as juvenile and as dumb as wolf is. Pick another role model please. Wolf is as low class as they come. You at least offer a useful comment or 2. Move on from the soft stuff so you can viewed as a person with an intelligent opinion and something to offer. That stuff doesn't cut it.— tpizza- STUD!!!! People dont realize that we could easily have the best offense in the nfl and all young. Imagine if Kolb turns out to be good.... Kolb, Mccoy, Desean, Maclin, Ingram, Weaver, Avant. AHHHHH...... Now if the flyers had a goalie, ha— fman727
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- since when is the ability to block a big deal for TE on this team? We (as fans and media) make it up to be one because we saw Schobel blow the Bears game and we see Celek trying to pick it up ... but who was the last TE to block well for this Birds coaching staff? That's like a big back ... they don't have one because the staff doesn't think it a huge necessity.— vinni
- Guys....this is big trouble, here is why.....LIABILITY, he will not be under contract (most likely), is McLeader going to pay if he gets hurt? His agent will advise NO WAY. He should be sleeping on feathers until he inks the contract. When it is an organized Eagle event they are liable. But Mc Stink would no give any of his 10.2 million this year if the guy blows out his knee that is already tender....watch this develop. If Donnie Boy was a leader he would tell the kid sorry , can't risk getting you hurt...stay in Philly and work out at the Eagles facilities...that is the only play here!!— SkipinWV
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