Eagles training camp: Notes on Poyer, Momah, Ertz, Bamiro and Wing
Rookies reported to Eagles training camp today. There was no practice, but a number of the players were made available to the media.
• Jordan Poyer said he models his game after Cortland Finnegan, who currently plays for the Rams, and formerly played for the Titans. "I like the way he plays," said Poyer. "He's just a scrappy defensive back. He's not the fastest guy out there, but I think with his scrappiness, he's able to turn the ball over. That's what I prided myself on, being able to create turnovers."
In case you're unfamiliar with Finnegan's work, check him out.
Poyer was 2nd in the nation in interceptions his final season at Oregon State, with seven, but he had a poor showing at the Combine. Poyer disagreed with that assessment, and was surprised that he slipped to the 7th round of the draft.
"I didn't think I had a terrible Combine," Poyer said. "My agent thought I was going to (get drafted) the second day, in the second round, third round. I kept slipping, I kept slipping, and I called (my agent), asking him what's going on, and he had no idea, so it's hard to tell."
For the record, Poyer finished in the 2nd and 4th percentiles among all CBs competing at the Combine since 1999.
If you can get past Poyer's Combine performance, he garnered a place on the 2012 NCAA All American team. Among the All Americans declaring for the draft, Poyer was the only player drafted after the 4th round:
Poyer noted that he covered a wide variety of receivers in college, from speedy players like De'Anthony Thomas to bigger receivers like 6'4 Dan Buckner of Arizona.
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• Ifeaniyi Momah has been training in Florida at Bommarito Performance Systems, and has been working with former WR Kelley Washington, who was once a training camp cut of the Eagles. Washington was known as a very good special teamer in the NFL, and the importance of special teams is something that Washington is trying to instill in Momah.
"It's something that he harped on for all of us that were down there," said Momah. "Special teams can carry you a long way, and you have to make sure you're doing all the little things right in order to make the team."
Momah will have to play well on special teams if he is going to make the team, and it will be interesting to see a 6'7 guy running down the field covering kicks. No word on whether or not Washington is teaching Momah how to dance.
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• Second round pick Zach Ertz said the Eagles valued his versatility. "I think being able to line up all over the field like I did in college is big, and I know James (Casey) can do some of that as well, and Brent (Celek)," said Ertz. "There are a lot of great tight ends on the field, and I know Coach Kelly wants to have a lot of tight ends, so it's going to be really neat." Neat indeed. Maybe even super duper.
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• Newly signed OT Michael Bamiro weighed 380 pounds when he graduated high school, and was not recruited. He initially went to college at Pittsburgh Titusville (a satellite college), which doesn't even have a football team. Bamiro said he was there just for an education, studying pre-law. He watched Pittsburgh football games on Saturdays, he thought he was talented enough to do the same things the Pitt players could do, and that pushed him to go back to playing football. He transferred to Stony Brook, excelled, and yada yada yada, now he's on the Eagles. Interesting story.
Bamiro said that he is down to 339 pounds, and he even gave me a "then and now" picture of himself.
I think he looks great.
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• Brad Wing will be competing against Donnie Jones for the punter job. Wing and Jones are both left-footed punters. When asked if he thought there was a method to the lefty-lefty competition, Wing said he thought it was just a coincidence, although he noted that "left-footed spin has been said to be harder to catch." I'll have much more on the punters soon. Seriously.
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