Inside the Eagles: Several Eagles know the ups and downs of an NFL career

After two days of training camp, Moise Fokou lost his standing as a starter. During Week 1, Owen Schmitt was out of the NFL, contemplating other careers. After Week 2, Kevin Kolb went from quarterback of the future to backup, with only one half to show for his tenure as starter.

Each, however, has rebounded to play a role in the Eagles' recent success. They are just three examples of a team heavy on players who have reversed recent professional setbacks to contribute on the field.

The individual resilience might help explain how a team laced with youth has clawed its way to a 4-2 record despite injuries to two starting quarterbacks, a Pro Bowl fullback, a starting center, and a starting defensive tackle.

It also shows that the Eagles have players with the ability to work through ups and downs, a crucial skill in a league in which individual and team success is often fleeting, and a low moment may be just a week away.

Kolb credited Eagles coaches with keeping players involved even after demotions.

"They keep the faith, and so when they keep the faith, you start believing in yourself, too," Kolb said.

Said cornerback Ellis Hobbs, "The coaches try not to treat you differently. . . . Some other teams, you kind of get branded an outcast."

Examples of professional persistence can be found throughout the lineup. Most prominent are Kolb and quarterback counterpart Michael Vick, whose career standing was uncertain until opportunity and refined play vaulted him back to stardom. There is center Mike McGlynn, who came into 2010 as a career backup, only to step in for an injured Jamaal Jackson and play well at the heart of the offensive line. There is Winston Justice, who, after an infamously bad first start in 2007, has made himself into a reliable right tackle.

On defense the Eagles have Juqua Parker, who lost his job in training camp to first-round pick Brandon Graham only to seize it back with his play early in the season. Trevor Laws was disappointing his first two years in the NFL but has become a regular part of the defensive-line rotation. Antonio Dixon, undrafted, cut by his first team, is now a major piece of the Eagles' improved run defense.

Look over the linebackers: Ernie Sims, discarded by Detroit; Stewart Bradley, returning after a season lost to injury; and Fokou. In the secondary Hobbs, stuck on the bench and the injured list last year, now holds a starting job.

No one has come so far, so fast, as Schmitt, who was cut by the Seattle Seahawks six days before the season opened. Instead of working with NFL quarterbacks for the next game, he caught passes from his roommate. Instead of training at the Seahawks' professional facility, he lifted weights at L.A. Fitness. He had to consider that his career might be over and wondered if he could get into coaching.

"In all reality, I probably would have just got a construction job," said the burly and reticent fullback.

Across the country, the Eagles' starting fullback, Leonard Weaver, suffered a gruesome knee injury on the NFL's opening Sunday. One of Schmitt's college roommates from West Virginia, an Eagles fan, suggested that maybe the team would call.

Sure enough, Schmitt's agent reached him around 7:30 or 8 that night. Could he get to Philadelphia for a Monday morning tryout? Schmitt boarded an 11:30 flight, landed early the next morning, and worked out for the team a few hours later. Later that day, he had a contract and a foothold in the NFL. Schmitt has already impressed with his blocking and tough running.

For Fokou, it would take months for the process to play out. The second-year player went into training camp as a starter and quickly lost the job. Once the season began, Fokou said, it was difficult in practice, not getting any repetitions except on the scout team, but he tried to stay prepared in case his time came. It finally did in Week 5, and he forced a fumble, solidifying his grip on the job, for now.

For athletes talented enough to reach the NFL, a backup role is unfamiliar. Most had to be stars all their lives to get this far.

"One thing that I realized as a young player is that the great ones have gone through it," Kolb said when asked about the unsteady nature of a young career. "That kind of gives you the mentality that, 'Hey, I'm going to have to go through something like that,' you know. It's not always going to be the way you played it out in your head."

"It just shows you how fine of a margin this league is as far as you playing or you not playing," said Hobbs. "It doesn't take much."

The moves from the top of the depth chart to the bottom and back up again can happen so fast they leave little time for thought. Schmitt said he has barely taken in his professional whirlwind since getting released Sept. 6.

"I'm sure after the season," he said, "I'll be like: 'Wow, what just happened?' "

Read The Inquirer's Eagles blog, "Birds' Eye View," by Jeff McLane

and Jonathan Tamari,

at www.phillynews.com/eagles

Subject: Kolb named NFC offensive player of the week

Response from bobbyd24 at 12:01 p.m. Wednesday.

"Kolb had played four games as a pro beginning to end. 3-1. About 1,000 yards. Isn't that what you dream of when you draft

a QB?"