Celek 'Mild' Knee Sprain; No Shockey Yet
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Celek 'Mild' Knee Sprain; No Shockey Yet
Les Bowen
BETHLEHEM --- Brent Celek left practice early Thursday with what the Eagles described as a "mild" right knee sprain. Celek later walked briskly to the parking lot, waving off reporters' concerns with "I'll be good. I promise." He was wearing a wrapping on his right leg.
Just a day earlier, the Eagles seemed to be done with their tight end flirtation. Visanthe Shiancoe had signed with the Patriots, and the Eagles hadn't opted to bring in Jeremy Shockey for a physical, after reports said they might. Does this change anything? There's no reason to think Celek will miss any game time, but even if he misses a week or two of Lehigh workouts, that's a lot of reps for the backup group led by Clay Harbor, Brett Brackett and Chase Ford. At the very least, these guys will get a better basis for evaluation. If they don't look so hot, THEN we could see Shockey or somebody.
A source close to the situation said Thursday there is "mutual" interest between Shockey and the Eagles, but nothing is close to happening now.
There's always competition. I'll be surprised when there's not," Harbor told reporters Thursday, after the first full-squad workout of training camp, which was closed to the public. "Another guy or two added into the mix just makes it better. As players, you see the competition, you see what other guys do, you welcome them and you just push each other ... It helps you grow as a player. You do things right, if things don't work out with a certain team, yo're a good player, you'll wind up somewhere else."
Harbor was OK last season as Celek's second-year backup. It's probably fair to say he didn't make the leap forward the organization had hoped to see. It's also probably fair to say the NFL lockout kept that leap from happening for a lot of 2010 rookies, who didn't get the time in the facilities, going over their rookie game tape, that a second-year player normally gets.
"I felt like I played pretty well,' Harbor said. 'I probably had about 15 balls thrown to me all year." He caught 13, so that would be an amazing rate, if it were true. "I do need to improve, show the coaches I can do more things, gain their trust a little more, maybe be a little bigger part of the offense. It's hard to get on the field when you have three great wide receivers like DeSean [Jackson], Jeremy [Maclin] and Jason Avant."
Oh come on Les. With all the receiving weapons the Eagles have how many catches should you reasonably expect the 2nd TE to get. Clay Harbor blocked well last season.— soulman386- birds pursuing shockey?...he CAN help get em.— t_darb_56
- Lazy Les, Clay Harbor was targetted 19 times last year.— HgMeng
- Feels like back in the day when we snagged Mark Bavaro right before he retired. He was an Eagle killer like Shockey. I think it would be cool to have him. He plays harder than most and his hands were good throughout most of his career. Can't hurt to have a big end zone target.— PG
- they need a player like shockey for one reason,he would bring a prescence that they lack.i never really liked him but he played with an attitude .the eagles dont have anyone who plays with an attitude and the last person they had who was TO and they got rid of him,say what you want about TO but when he got on the field he had a passion that not too players had or have to this day. the eagles dont have a playerthat comes to mind that appears to be very passionate about football. they say you play like your coach ,and its true, andy reid is unemotional and 98% of the eagles are unemotional. so getting shockey would change the laid back attitude of the eaglles.when you anyone from the eagles on an interview you would think they won about 3 or 4 superbowls by the way they talk and act— swgaston49
- they need a player like shockey for one reason,he would bring a prescence that they lack.i never really liked him but he played with an attitude .the eagles dont have anyone who plays with an attitude and the last person they had who was TO and they got rid of him,say what you want about TO but when he got on the field he had a passion that not too players had or have to this day. the eagles dont have a playerthat comes to mind that appears to be very passionate about football. they say you play like your coach ,and its true, andy reid is unemotional and 98% of the eagles are unemotional. so getting shockey would change the laid back attitude of the eaglles.when you anyone from the eagles on an interview you would think they won about 3 or 4 superbowls by the way they talk and act— swgaston49
- Yeah for all that talk about staying humble they sure seem to have a lot to say don't they? Young guys, they'll learn but I expect better from Vick after what he's been through. All this media attention he's getting worries me, he needs to focus on just playing ball. That's what he did in 2010 when he played lights out. I agree about Shockey.
- Celek may just be the smartest player on this team. Wouldn't be surprised if his complete recovery exactly matched the finish of contact/swelter camp.— mccloudmj
- NO— cozlooby
- Looks like he already has the correct tattoo on that right bicep— joeibt
- Liked the way this guy played when he was on the Giants. Since then....??????? Wouldn't be Shocked to see him out there.— NYPHILLYPHAN
- maybe he'll have a press conference and say this is like the dream team. no thanks.— djack10
- Shockey should be in the MIX; it sure would keep things stirred up...johnnyu— john ullman
- I like Shockey's attitude, I always hated him when we played him and that's a good thing. He's perfect role player for Philly. At his age he's not looking to be a banger, but a situational player like you saw with Hernandez and Gronkowski in the red zone. He won't want to grind it through training camp either, I can see him signing here or else where when there's only a couple of weeks of camp left.
