TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
As his teammates spent a pleasant, coolish morning on the NovaCare practice fields, DeSean Jackson was in Atlanta, a source close to Jackson said Monday, hanging with Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith. The source said Jackson plans to spend the rest of the week on his home turf of LA. No plans to attend any part of the final week of Eagles OTAs, which wraps up Thursday, although the source said DJax should be back in Philly next week.
Maybe professor Reid will let him make up the missed work then.
Or maybe, more likely, Reid will gloss over Jackson's absence when he addresses the media on Thursday, and then just forget the whole thing. This OTA is voluntary, Jackson was here last week anyhow, and everyone knows he wants his contract redone. The Eagles have said they agree that would be optimal, but restrictions pertaining to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement make it complicated, and in the case of a low--base-salary player like Jackson with two years left on his deal, perhaps impossible.
Jackson has indicated several times he intends to be patient, he has made a number of offseason appearances on the team's behalf, and has even indicated he will not boycott training camp, but "patient" is not the same thing as "happy," which might be the message he is trying to send by finding other pressing business this week. UPDATE: Reports, including one by ESPN's Adam Schefter, contend that Jackson's absence is not contract-related.. Heck of a coincidence, though.
Also absent is corner Asante Samuel, apparently because of a death in his family. The guys who were sitting out by the end of last week because of what the Eagles said were minor injuries -- middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, running back LeSean McCoy and left guard Todd Herremans -- are still sitting out.
Bradley and McCoy ran sprints after practice with trainers and a few other injured players, such as tackle Fenuki Tupou (pec muscle) and center Jamaal Jackson (ACL). They seemed to be moving well.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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