"Bubble Boys"

Jerome McDougle, DE -- The Eagles traded up to select the former University of Miami standout with the 15th overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft, but his pro career seemed doomed from the start. McDougle skipped out on the first week of training camp to get a six-year contract from the Eagles that included $6.122 million in bonuses. McDougle suffered injuries to his ankle, knee and hip in the final preseason game of his rookie year against the Jets at Lincoln Financial Field and missed the first eight games.

In 2004, McDougle first was put on the shelf with an irregular heartbeat, then lost four games to a sprained knee. He missed all of 2005 after being shot in the abdomen during a robbery attempt near his home in Miami on the eve of training camp. He saw his most action last season, but over a most forgettable four-year career in which he has never started a game, McDougle has just 23 solo tackles and three sacks. The Eagles likely will begin the season with 10 defensive linemen.

McDougle is not expected to be one of them.

Ryan Moats, RB -- The Eagles had high hopes that Moats could serve as an apprentice under Brian Westbrook after selecting the former Louisiana Tech running back 77th overall in the 2005 draft.

But Moats has seen far more action on his Internet blog than on the field, where he has been rendered inactive for 19 of a possible 34 games and has rushed for only 347 yards and three touchdowns on 44 carries.

Correll Buckhalter, Penn State rookie Tony Hunt and Thomas Tapeh are virtual locks to make the team.

Matt McCoy, LB -- Unless the Eagles think the former second-round draft pick out of San Diego State can help dramatically on special teams, the undersized McCoy could be history.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, McCoy played even smaller than that while starting 10 of the first 11 games of 2006 at weakside linebacker. He lost his job to rookie Omar Gaither after the Indianapolis Colts ran up 420 yards of total offense, including 237 on the ground, Nov. 26 at the RCA Dome.

McCoy could stick if the team keeps seven linebackers. If not, it appears he'll have to beat out Tank Daniels as Gaither, Jeremiah Trotter, Takeo Spikes, Chris Gocong and Stewart Bradley are all, barring injury, dialed in.

Kelly Holcomb, QB -- The veteran Holcomb was thrown into the March trade that sent Darwin Walker to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for Spikes. He would have been safe as the team's third-string QB behind Donovan McNabb and A.J. Feeley had the Eagles not drafted Kevin Kolb with the 36th pick in the 2007 draft.
..Read more at the Trenton Times>>

Run Defense is Key to Success

I think more than any other area, the Eagles run defense will decide how successful they are this year.

Here's an interesting article by Dave Spadaro of PhiladelphiaEagles.com about Jim Johnson and the Eagles run defense .

The Eagles will run the football well if they choose to do so. If they run it well they will destroy teams on the ground and in the air. McNabb has an outstanding group of young recievers, who I think will turn heads this year. I've got a lot of confidence in the Eagles offense. But the defense I'm not as sure about. They will destroy teams on 3rd down with their coverage and pass rush but they'll struggle if they can't stop the run, so I consider the run defense, the key to their season.

Jim doesn't plan on making any major changes when it comes to stopping the run. He's going to rely on bigger, better players doing a better job of executing their defensive assignments in order to stop opposing running games. Jim plans on rotating his defensive linemen and he'd better follow through with it. The run defense went into the tank when Johnson stopped rotating his smallish defensive line. If the Eagles defensive line unit gets tired, they'll get destroyed because they're undersized. Andy needs to look over Jim's shoulder and make sure he rotates that line each and every game.
..Read More at GCobb.com>>

Rayburn Cut

Eagles release Rayburn

The Eagles released backup defensive tackle Sam Rayburn one day before the start of mini-camp, which begins Friday morning at the NovaCare Complex.

Signed as a rookie free agent in 2003, Rayburn recorded 101 tackles and nine sacks in a 52-game career slowed by injury and inconsistency.

The acquisition of free agent tackles Montae Reagor and Ian Scott in recent weeks paved the way for Rayburn's departure.

http://blog.nj.com/timesupdates/2007/05/eagles_release_rayburn_dawkins.html


Too bad for the Truck Driver. He did pretty well in 2004, and since then has really not produced enough. The Eagles DTs have taken a complete overhaul since 2004 now. Hollis Thomas, Corey Simon, Rayburn, and Darwin Walker are all gone. Looks like a good group with Bunkley, Patterson, Reagor, Ramsey, and Scott. Let's hope it is anyways.