Eagles Notebook: Lots of moving around with Eagles linebacker banged up

Will Witherspoon, who has been settling in nicely as the Eagles' middle linebacker, will move to the weakside this week, assuming usual starter Akeem Jordan can't play with a knee hyperextension and bone bruise, other players said yesterday. Jordan was limping heavily in the locker room.

If Jordan doesn't play, the Eagles will start their fifth different linebacking trio in nine games.

Chris Gocong, the strongside starter who missed the Dallas game with quad and hamstring injuries, returned to practice and apparently will start in the middle, for the first time in his career, with Joe Mays taking over for Gocong.

At least, that was how players said the Eagles did it for yesterday's practice, which Moise Fokou missed with an illness. If Fokou, last week's strongside starter, returns today, the picture could change again.

One thing's for sure - this is not what the Birds envisioned, when they started training camp with Stewart Bradley in the middle, flanking Gocong and Jordan, with Omar Gaither playing in the nickel, backing up both Jordan and Bradley.

Bradley is down for the season with a torn ACL, Gaither is done for the year with a Lisfranc foot sprain. Gaither was wheeling his immobilized right leg through the locker room yesterday, the first time since the Oct. 18 injury he's been around while reporters were present.

"It's just one of those things that just happens," Gaither said, when asked about the injury run for the linebacking corps. He noted that Carolina just lost linebacker Thomas Davis to an ACL tear. "For whatever reason, the injury bug decided to bite the linebacking corps this year."

Gaither said his injury occurred on "a simple cut" against Oakland. "I played two plays on it. You could see clearly that I was limping around out there. At one point, I was hopping on one leg."

Gaither might or might not be headed for free agency this offseason, depending on what happens with the collective-bargaining agreement, as it relates to players with 4 years of service. If there is no CBA right away, and 2010 is an uncapped year, free agency doesn't come until you've played 6 years.

Birdseed

 

Who returns kicks now that Ellis Hobbs is out for the season? Quintin Demps is first up, but he's hobbled by an ankle problem right now. Jeremy Maclin and Macho Harris also are possibilities, Andy Reid said . . . Left tackle Jason Peters (sprained ankle) and fullback Leonard Weaver (ankle) did not practice. Defensive tackle Mike Patterson (toe) was listed as a limited participant . . . Reid said he held out Brian Westbrook not because of concussion problems or any new swelling in Westbrook's ankle, but because the Birds were working out on the less-resilient indoor surface. Reid said Westbrook would practice today.