Rasheed Bailey trying to catch on with Eagles

WHEN THE Eagles signed Rasheed Bailey as an undrafted free agent in early May, it made for a nice, sweet, local-boy-makes-good story, even if the kid's chances of making it to the 2015 regular-season starting line with the team seemed somewhere between slim and none.

The Roxborough High product had been an NCAA Division III pass-catching scourge at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, leading the nation in receiving yards (1,707) and touchdown catches (19). Set the school record for career receiving yards (3,138).

But Division III is to the NFL what the Bucks County Playhouse is to Broadway. Last year, there were just nine D-III players in the league, only two of whom happened to be wideouts - Pierre Garcon and Cecil Shorts.

Bailey understood going in that the odds of him making the Eagles weren't particularly good. But hey, if you don't dare to dream, you'll never know what is possible.

"I came in with the attitude, 'OK, I'm going to learn from every single person,' " Bailey said after catching four passes in the Eagles' 40-17 preseason win over the Baltimore Ravens Saturday night. "Because once you learn from them, you get to take certain things from their game and put it into yours.

"So I didn't come in here thinking, 'Oh my God. I've got all of these people in front of me. I've got no chance.' I came in with the mentality that, 'I can play here. I can be here. I want to stay here.' And in order to do that, I've got to learn. I have to catch up because I went to a Division III school.

"And when I catch up, man, it's going to be a beautiful sight."

Don't look now, but the distance between Bailey and his roster competition is shrinking. His chances of making the Eagles no longer are somewhere between slim and none.

With two preseason games left to play, with two more games left to make an impression on Chip Kelly and his coaching staff, Bailey is in the roster hunt. And that's all he can ask for at this point.

Kelly is expected to keep six wide receivers on the 53-man roster. When training camp began, all six of those spots appeared to be set with Jordan Matthews, Riley Cooper, Josh Huff, rookie first-round pick Nelson Agholor, veteran Miles Austin and special teams ace Seyi Ajirotutu.

Bailey's best hope seemed to be the practice squad. And indeed, that still may be where he winds up.

But he has played well enough in the first two preseason games and the first three weeks of training camp practice to at least be mentioned in the conversation for a roster spot.

Matthews, Cooper, Huff, Agholor and Ajirotutu all still are roster locks. But the door might be open just a crack for Bailey to beat out the 31-year-old Austin if he continues to play well in the preseason.

Austin had four straight seasons with six or more touchdown catches when he was with the Cowboys. But the last one was in 2012. He had 47 receptions in 12 games for the Browns last year before a lacerated kidney ended his season.

He's been just OK so far with the Eagles. Caught a 39-yard pass from Matt Barkley in the first preseason game against Indianapolis.

Missed a couple of days of practice last week and didn't play Saturday against Baltimore, though Kelly insists he's healthy, which means he's either fibbing or Austin's daily urine sample showed an elevated potassium level or he hasn't been getting enough sleep or some other sports sciencey reason that Kelly will take to his grave with him.

The Eagles signed Austin to a one-year, $2.3 million contract, $1 million of which is guaranteed. Kelly would have to like Bailey a lot to throw $1 million of Jeff Lurie's money down the drain.

There's also the fact that the Eagles have a relatively young wide receiver group. Agholor is a rookie. Matthews and Huff are entering their second years. Keeping a veteran like Austin, who is respected and can mentor younger receivers, would seem to be a positive.

As Kelly pointed out last week, there are three ways to make the team if you're not a starter: special teams, special teams and special teams. Austin returned kickoffs his first four years in the league, but hasn't done it since '09. And the Eagles have at least three other players with kick-return ability: Huff, Agholor and running back Kenjon Barner.

"My attitude from Day 1 was not to expect anything," said Bailey. "No day is promised. I came in here with my head down and said, 'OK, let's go. You've got to win every day.' With that attitude, you can go far. I've learned that by just watching some of these older guys and having the mentality that I have.

"You've got to come in here and you've got to work hard every single day to be what you want to be."

Bailey took a hard fall on his left shoulder late in Saturday's game. He was sore after the game, but an X-ray didn't show any damage. He said he doesn't expect to miss any practice time this week.

Bailey has played exclusively in the slot in the preseason, which is why he can usually be found in the vicinity of Matthews, who caught 67 passes last year out of the slot.

He has excellent hands, as he showed in the first preseason game with an 18-yard circus catch of a pass from Tim Tebow. He also is a good yards-after-the-catch receiver. Made a nice cut to the sideline on a wide-receiver screen in the third quarter Saturday night and gained 8 yards. Also picked up 15 yards of a 17-yard gain after the catch on a third-quarter underneath drag route.

"The [spring] OTAs definitely helped me," Bailey said. "Being around Jordan Matthews, I can't stress his name enough. I've spent a lot of time with him just learning. Learning the play signals and just learning and learning and learning.

"Now it's just technique stuff. How to get off [the line of scrimmage] in certain situations. Releasing a certain type of way. I'm learning. I'm learning a lot.

"In this league, the game is 90 percent mental. The way you play this game, you have to be smart. Being in the [position] room with Miles Austin, that guy is smart. And if I can learn from him and other older players how they go about things, it's going to be a beautiful thing."

Blog: eagletarian.com