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Eagles linebacker Bradham faces court hearing

Nigel Bradham has a preliminary hearing on Wednesday as a result of his July arrest on aggravated battery charges stemming from an altercation in which he allegedly hit a Miami hotel employee. The linebacker will not be there. He will have a lawyer present.

Nigel Bradham has a preliminary hearing on Wednesday as a result of his July arrest on aggravated battery charges stemming from an altercation in which he allegedly hit a Miami hotel employee. The linebacker will not be there. He will have a lawyer present.

"I think everything will work out," Bradham told reporters.

Coach Doug Pederson said Monday he was not concerned that Bradham would need to miss any time. Bradham is expected to be the Eagles' starting strong-side linebacker this season.

Get Sproles the ball

Expect Darren Sproles to be featured in the passing game this season. Offensive coordinator Frank Reich said that every week during game planning meetings, they will ask, "How can we get this guy the football?"

Reich was the offensive coordinator in San Diego last season, when Danny Woodhead led the Chargers with 80 catches. He sees similar qualities in Sproles.

"Sproles is the original, right?" Reich said. "He's the original guy. He's the prototype. Right from the start, I remember coming in some of the immediate talk was the excitement of how we get to use a guy like Darren Sproles. . . . In Doug's offense, they've done that in the past. We'll continue to mix in some other things that we've all done, that our staff has done to kind of isolate backs and get good matchups."

Smith shows improvement

Defensive end Marcus Smith missed the first preseason game because of a concussion and faces competition for his roster spot from Steven Means. But defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had good things to say Tuesday about the Eagles' 2014 first-round pick.

Smith had four tackles and one sack in the preseason game last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"The thing I'm most proud about with Marcus is that he's done a good job in the run game," Schwartz said. "He's a very skilled athlete. He's fast, and he's smooth. I think he was a quarterback when he first went to Louisville. I mean, that stuff shows. Where he's really making good improvement is setting the edge of our defense [and] attacking tackles. He did that against a physical group from Pittsburgh. That was a great sign."