Man in the middle: Gaither for now
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Man in the middle: Gaither for now
Bob Brookover
It's two weeks until opening day and the Eagles remain uncertain about who is going to replace the injured Stewart Bradley as the starting middle linebacker.
Joe Mays had that title for the first three preseason games, but veteran Omar Gaither will be running with the starters this week in practice, according to defensive coordinator Sean McDermott.
"I feel like I'm going home," Gaither said. "I feel like Dorothy."
Gaither probably shouldn't get too excited about clicking his red cleats together because all indications are that he's still in an open competition for the middle linebacker job with Mays. Rookie Moise Fokou got to play one series with the starting defense at middle linebacker in Thursday night's preseason game against Jacksonville, but the competition for the starting job appears to be between Mays and Gaither.
"I didn't click my heels," Gaither said. "I got on my knees and did a lot of praying. It's good, though. I'm looking forward to it. It will be exciting for me."
Gaither has sat out the last two preseason games with a sprained knee and was already running with the first-team nickel defense at middle linebacker. He admitted that when Bradley went down during the first week of training camp that he wondered why he wasn't the starter.
"You try to justify and understand things that happen, but you can't do that," Gaither said. "You have to keep playing. You would think I would be the guy that went in there right away, but Joe played well last year and they felt like he could go in there and do some things. You always have to earn stuff around here and it has been that way since I got here."
Gaither, in fact, has twice lost his starting job. He lost his starting middle linebacker job to Bradley near the end of the 2007 season, but was moved into a starting role at weakside linebacker. He lost that starting job to Akeem Jordan when the Eagles played at Baltimore in Week 12 last season.
McDermott did not commit to Gaither as the starter, but said "you will see him with the ones during practice."
Mays' response to McDermott's decision?
"I'm not going to read into this too much," he said. "It's competition. Everybody is going to get their chance and he's getting his chance right now. That's the way I see it and all I can do is keep working. I just have to sit back and continue to prepare like I'm going to be the starting middle linebacker and when the day comes, we'll see who they call."
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i couldnt agree more with extremeteam they only using him now because they dont have a choice they didnt bench him because he couldnt play they did it because he didnt resign with them i hope he has a hell of a year then they will be force to pay him . i love the eagles but i hate the management & the tatics that they use on how to resign guys remember mike lewis he's all pro 1 year then after he turn down a long term deal all of a sudden he couldnt cover anyone ..im glad he sign a good deal with the 49ers— scrap32- and Phillies whatever...again, your just a friggin idiot...— merlinknghts
- and aliens are landing in your back yard, extreme..what an idiot...do you even know anything about the game?— merlinknghts
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- Yo Gaither five words for you: TIME TO SHOW SOME TESTIES!— pflynn20
- Thank God Gaither is back because even though I like Mays he looks lost out there.— PhiNChi
- Geez, some of the gloom & doom here gets to a person. Why don't we have a tailgate party on opening day and all slit our wrists in the parking lot? Not saying everything's great. I don't expect much from the Iggles the first few games. Rookies, new coach at DC, roster shifting, fine tuning, etc. But this is a not-perfect but pretty sound organization and they'll produce a winner, hopefully all the way to Florida.— rad205
- Geez, some of the gloom & doom here gets to a person. Why don't we have a tailgate party on opening day and all slit our wrists in the parking lot? Not saying everything's great. I don't expect much from the Iggles the first few games. Rookies, new coach at DC, roster shifting, fine tuning, etc. But this is a not-perfect but pretty sound organization and they'll produce a winner, hopefully all the way to Florida.— rad205
- Geez, some of the gloom & doom here gets to a person. Why don't we have a tailgate party on opening day and all slit our wrists in the parking lot? Not saying everything's great. I don't expect much from the Iggles the first few games. Rookies, new coach at DC, roster shifting, fine tuning, etc. But this is a not-perfect but pretty sound organization and they'll produce a winner, hopefully all the way to Florida.— rad205
- Geez, some of the gloom & doom here gets to a person. Why don't we have a tailgate party on opening day and all slit our wrists in the parking lot? Not saying everything's great. I don't expect much from the Iggles the first few games. Rookies, new coach at DC, roster shifting, fine tuning, etc. But this is a not-perfect but pretty sound organization and they'll produce a winner, hopefully all the way to Florida.— rad205
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- shambles, this team is in shambles and the season is minus two weeks from beginning. i'm not worried though because shawn andrews is going to pratice.— JACK V
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- Plenty of QB's will make a pass at Dorothy. Get ready, O.— mick314
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- What is the problem that I cant have a post posted , there was nothing objectionable about my post.— nas786
- Extreme, you are right on point about Gaither, I also made this point b4, Gaither is a better WILL backer than Jordan, I have seen numerous backs run through his tackles. If you so called experts remember, we didnt have any run defense until Gaither took over for Matt McCoy. All of a sudden he's afraid of contact? The better he plays, the more he plays, the stronger his negotiating position, wakeup you morons, not the firstime this has happened.— nas786
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- how do you spell mistake? Gaither.— BananaHammock
- how do you spell mistake? Gaither.— BananaHammock
- "Gaither, in fact, has twice lost his starting job. He lost his starting middle linebacker job to Bradley near the end of the 2007 season, but was moved into a starting role at weakside linebacker." Revisionist history, Brookover? Gaither moved to weakside linebacker not because Bradley beat him out, but because Takeo Spikes was injured for the last two games of the 2007 season. He had experience at the weakside position, and it made sense to move him there after the Spikes injury. If you go back and do some research, you will find information that indicates that fact.— utang44
- What extremeteam said is 100% accurate. You don't suddenly go from being NFL starter worthy to incapable of playing linebacker in the space of 3 days. It just isn't possible. Where there is smoke, there is fire. It isn't the first time the Eagles have done a player that way, and I'm quite certain it won't be the last. As for no one "standing up" and taking over the MIKE position, Gaither spent over a week rehabbing a knee sprain, and he hasn't played in the last two preseason games. It wasn't possible for him to step up and take over the spot when he wasn't on the field to do it. He's now good to go, and as Reid said: he knows that Omar can play this position, that's not a question.— utang44
- Extreme - you are 100% correct. He didn't agree to a team friendly long term deal, so they buried him. It's not the first time it's happened with this organization and it won't be the last.— jbruder02
- What a bunch of overpaid underachievers! This team will be a major disappointment and will likely finish under .500. You can't find ANYONE who will step up? Sad. And, hopefully an end to the Reid era in Philly. He needs a change of scenery and so do we Eagles fans.— trainrdt
- Linebacker is the weakest position on the team. I go through entire games not hearing Gocong's name.— Bobphxville
- @extremeteam, you are a moron. The front office would hurt their chances of winning games by not putting the best player on the field? Due to a non-existant contract dispute? Conspiracy theory. Take your withchunts elsewhere— Falkirk
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- extremeteam, you are really reaching. I mean, that's one of the more ludicrous reaches I've ever read. Think about it. Why would they bench Gaither after he didn't agree to an extension? He's still under contract, so why would they care?— MadAsHell
- extremeteam - so the fact that Gaither would get put on skates by Offensive Guards and Centers and that he shied away from contact from Fullbacks wasn't a factor of why he lost starting jobs twice (once at the MIKE and once at the WILL)? No, according to you the ONLY reason he was ever removed was b/c e didn't sign the long-term contract the Eagles offered. Not going to say that the rejection was not part of the decision at all, but I can definitely tell you that if Gaither was playing lights out, the EAGLES would NEVER have benched him regardless if he signed the contract or not.— CV
Feel like Dorothy all you want, just don't play like Toto.- Comment removed.
- Sounds like both of these guys have a really healthy attitude towards competition. I'm not thrilled with the linebacker situation, but this doesn't seem like panic time (remember, it's not Levon Kirkland out there).— david
