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Nolan Carroll doesn't mind being a 'rookie'

IT SEEMS so long ago now, even Nolan Carroll can't remember all the details, but it was a running play, early in the second quarter of that disastrous Thanksgiving game at Detroit, disastrous for Carroll and for the Eagles.

"It was a bunch of bodies just coming. I think somebody rolled on me; I pulled this (left) leg out in time, but then I felt this (right) leg, and I couldn't get it all the way out in time. I just felt it kind of crack," Carroll recalled Monday.

As the defensive back rode a cart off the field during the Eagles' 45-14 loss, he carried with him the broken pieces of the strong case he'd made for a free-agent payday, in 27 Eagles games in two seasons. Surgery fixed the fibula, but Carroll wasn't 100 percent by early March and couldn't promise he'd be full-go in April when teams would want him on the field learning their defense, showing the skills that made him the Birds' starting corner last season opposite Byron Maxwell.

Carroll, 29, ended up signing a one-year contract with the Birds, hoping to again win a starting job, and this time, stay healthy.

Carroll was among the 38 rookies and select vets who took the field Monday at NovaCare; the rest of the 90-man roster assembles Wednesday for the first full practice Thursday. Quarterbacks always attend these things, but the other "select" vets are selected because they're coming back from injury. This year, that group comprises Carroll, second-year corner JaCorey Shepherd (ACL) and third-year linebacker Travis Long, who is trying to return from back-to-back ACL tears.

"Definitely weird, man. I haven't done anything like this since my rookie year. It's been seven years," Carroll said. "But it's good to get out there early, get acclimated to this heat, just go out full-speed again, not having any limitations."

Carroll said free-agency rules worked against him - other teams couldn't see his medical records until two days before free agency, there was a complicating ligament tear, and it was easier just to move on to someone with two healthy legs.

"Most of the questions were 'How do you see yourself when we start in April?' One of those things where, 'You're going to have to wait until toward the end of May, that's when I'll be able to start doing football activities and stuff.' They had to try to make a determination off that."

Carroll said he thinks he runs as well as he did before he got hurt. That's something coaches will be watching closely; Leodis McKelvin seems to be penciled in for one starting corner spot, but Eric Rowe, the second-round rookie who stepped in capably for Carroll last season, has struggled with new coordinator Jim Schwartz's scheme. The starter opposite McKelvin much of the spring was Ron Brooks, mostly a special-teams guy the last four years for Buffalo.

Under Schwartz, "it's about challenging (receivers) more," Carroll said. "Last year there was more emphasis on our zone, and there was a lot of gray area in what we were doing. This year it's simple. It's man-to-man, you've got to hold up on your own. Those front-four guys are going to rush . . . we've got a deep safety, the linebackers are going to clean up anything that comes their way, and the corners, we just have to get the job done at the line, mess up the timing of the routes."

Maxwell has been traded to Miami. Carroll said this feels like a younger group of d-backs than he has played with previously, but he knows some of that might be that he is "one of the older guys now."

Agholor update

Doug Pederson said he hasn't spoken with Nelson Agholor since a dancer at a strip club in South Philly accused Agholor of sexual assault last month, an accusation the Philadelphia district attorney determined did not warrant criminal charges.

Pederson said he will speak with his second-year wide receiver when Agholor arrives.

"I just know this - we all make mistakes. We learn from them. We move on. And we look forward to him getting to camp and getting ready to go," Pederson said.

Quarterback Sam Bradford said they did not discuss the incident when Agholor went to San Diego to work with Eagles quarterbacks and receivers earlier this month.

@LesBowen

Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog