SB Nation - Shaheer McBride

Philadelphia Eagles add LB Curtis Gatewood

JasonB — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:47:53 -0000

As it turns out, the Eagles added two player yesterday. In addition to TE Tony Curtis, they also signed OLB Curtis Gatewood formerly of the Redskins, Chiefs, & Lions. Gatewood was a college DE that was converted to linebacker.

Gatewood, an outside linebacker, originally signed with the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt in 2008. After spending several weeks on the Redskins practice squad, he was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs and appeared in six games, recording four tackles on special teams. Gatewood played defensive end at Vanderbilt, where he was teammates with Eagles safety Reshard Langford. He spent part of the 2009 training camp with the Detroit Lions.

To make room the Eagles released QB Adam DiMichele and WR Shaheer McBride.

The Linc - We're still talking about Mike Vick

JasonB — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:37:08 -0000

Wing Tips " VICK’S SHARPNESS SURPRISES NEW TEAMMATES
Several Eagles – on offense and defense – were stunned to see that Vick already knew certain routes and patterns and already knew where his receivers belonged – and motioned them there. "He learned it so quickly. I was surprised," said wideout and Delaware State product Shaheer McBride. "I saw him out there directing guys. I was like, ‘OK, wow. That doesn’t look right.’ Is he supposed to be directing guys already?"

Twitter / Macho Harris: And I'm def excited to hav ...
And I'm def excited to have MV7 on the team!! Everyone deserves a 2nd chance we all make mistakes! Live and Let Live!...God Bless!

EA looking to add Michael Vick to Madden 10 on August 19
"Michael Vick will be added to the Philadelphia Eagles roster in the next Madden NFL 10 roster update, pending NFLPA and NFL approvals. The next roster update will go live approximately on August 19th for Xbox 360 and PS3, with additional platforms to follow shortly thereafter.

Brian Donovan - NewsCast Aside – Vick Deserves To Play - True/Slant
An interesting look at how Philly fans have looked past poor behavior in the past, some might say worse behavior specifically by a recent world champ....

Fan reaction mixed to Eagles' Vick signing | PoconoRecord.com
Several Pocono football fans voiced mostly support of the Philadelphia Eagles decision to sign quarterback Michael Vick to the team. Vick just completed a sentence for operating an illegal dog fighting ring. Here's what they said.

More after the jump, including more local reaction from each side to the Vick signing.

Sports Radio Interviews " Blog Archive " The Fillies In Philly Are Not Happy About The Eagles Signing
These ladies aren't fans of Mike Vick... Whoa.

The Associated Press: Vick signing draws mixed reaction in Philly
Michael Vick's return to the NFL with the Eagles is getting a mixed reaction in Philadelphia.

BGN live report from Eagles training camp

JasonB — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:31:47 -0000

More photos » by Rich Schultz - AP

4 months ago: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb smiles on the sidelines during the morning session of NFL football training camp at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. on Friday, July, 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

Browse more photos »

I just caught the morning practice here at Lehigh University on this, the final day of Eagles training camp. After the jump, I'm basically going to cut and paste the notes I took from practice, but if you've got any specific questions about what I saw let me know.

Remember that this was a non-contact practice... so there wasn't much to see as far as the offensive line, line backers, and the running game.

First, the offensive line is finally getting healthy. Everyone but Shawn Andrews was back on the field practicing today.

McNabb was having a lot of fun today. He sprinted onto the field before the rest of the offense and was hamming it up for the crowds. He'd point to one half of the crowd for a cheer, then to other side to see if they could top it. Midway through practicing he had the sidelines cracking up as he was dancing for fans as they were taking pictures. Probably the funniest moment of the day came toward the end when McNabb came over to the crowd and got them to start an "Andy! Andy! Andy!" chant. Reid never looked over, but he did laugh and shake his head.

The play of the day came from Shaheer McBride, who made a fantastic one handed leaping grab on an overthrown A.J. Feeley pass. That drew huge cheers from the crowd. Overall, McBride actually had a very good day. He made a number of good catches in a hurry up drill towards the end of the day.

The most exciting part of practice was the WR vs DB one on one drills. Basically the WR lines up opposite the DB, the whislte blows and he tries to get open. The crowd would really get pumped for the big matchups, Desean Jackson vs Sheldon Brown, Asante Samuel vs Jason Avant, Maclin v Hobbs... The drill clearly favors the WR, so don't panic if it doesn't sound like the secondary did well...

Macho Harris struggled a bit as he was flat out burned by Jeremy Maclin and got a really tough move put on him from Reggie Brown. Harris tried to jam Brown, but Reggie basically threw off him and broke out over the middle for the catch... that drew an "Ohh!" from the crowd.

The premier matchup of the drill was Desean Jackson vs Sheldon Brown. Brown tried to jam him, but Desean side stepped it and just smoked him. Sheldon probably wasn't within 5 yards when Jackson caught the TD.

Maclin took on Brown and put a great move on Sheldon to get open over the middle. He should have had a TD but Maclin dropped the underthrown ball. Maclin's next turn was where he simply burned Macho Harris.

Jason Avant was clearly the best route runner of the bunch. He put great moves on both Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs. He actually beat Samuel deep on the final play of the drill. Actually, when Asante stepped up for that last play Desean Jackson ran over to the coaches and started campaigning for himself to be the WR to take on Asante. He clearly wanted a shot at Samuel. He was really excited however when Avant beat Asante.

Onto the full team drills...

Asante Samuel picked off Feeley in a very typical Asante way. He jumped a quick out pass and took the INT to the house. Asante Samuel, a quick out pass, and a QB that doesn't have a cannon arm is a recipe for disaster on the offense.

Omar Gaither was running with the number one defense. Joe Mays took snaps with them as well. It looks as if they are trying out the idea of "platooning" the guys where Mays takes running downs and Omar takes passing downs. It's hard not to love Gaither after going up to camp. He's by far the most vocal guy on the field.

Joselio Hanson broke up a McNabb pass to Brent Celek that would have been a first down in a hurry up drill.

Newly signed TE Rob Meyers made a nice 15 yard grab over the middle in double coverage during a hurry up drill. Also, he and Maclin both stayed on the field after practice to work on route running with coaches and to catch passes from Feeley.

Todd Pinkston and Desean Jackson seem to have taken a liking to one another. The two hung out mostly all morning. At one point, Pinky stood there tracing over Jackson's arm tattoo with a black magic marker. Odd.... Oh and for anyone wondering what Pinky's role would be as an intern coach, it seems he's mostly a cheerleader. He was out clapping and encouraging guys all day.

Lesean McCoy seemed to be used a lot like the Eagles use Brian Westbrook, he was even split out wide in 7 on 7 drills. He caught a rather long pass down the sideline that drill.

Special teams coach Ted Daisher probably showed more energy during the special teams drills than any of the players. That guy is intense.

Before practice, Ted Daisher has the punt team out and Jeremy Maclin & Danny Amendola were the only two return men. When the punt team re-assembled for some more work toward the end of practice, Desean Jackson joined those two.

G Cobb watched practice from the sidelines while listening to his iPod the entire time.

The team actually practiced a game ending kneel down. That prompted a lot of questions from the crowd, "Did they just practice taking a knee?"

Brian Westbrook came out to watch practice. He was hanging out on the side laughing with Desean Jackson. At one point McNabb saw him and yelled to the crowd "It's Brian! Then ran over to him pointing as he led the crowd in a Brian! Brian! cheer"

Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp Preview - Wide Receivers

JasonB — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:53:59 -0000

View full size photo »

This is the next installment in our series of 12 positions in 12 days previewing the upcoming Eagles training camp. Rookie and selected vets report to Lehigh July 26th and each day leading up to that date we will bring you a preview of a different position battle.

It's everyones' favorite position! The position the entire Eagles fanbase has obsessed over for the past decade. "If Andy Reid insists on passing all the time why doesn't he go get good WRs?!?"

Well, has he? We take on the WR position after the jump.

The Bodies

Danny Amendola, Jason Avant, Hank Baskett, Reggie Brown, Kevin Curtis, Brandon Gibson, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Shaheer McBride, Brandon Robinson, Marcus Thigpen.

Presumed Starters

The same pair who ended last year as the starters will likely open this year in the same position, Desean Jackson & Kevin Curtis. Thanks to injuries to 2008 starters Curtis and Reggie Brown, Desean Jackson had an opportunity to play early as a rookie and took full advantage of it posting the best year from an Eagles rookie WR in team history. Jackson caught 62 passes for over 900 yards and a 2 TDs. He also averaged nearly 15 yards per catch and did all this while also working as the teams' primary punt return man. With another year in the offense and simply another year as a pro... Jackson could very well establish himself as the best WR in the NFC East.

Kevin Curtis started out last year on a sour note. Sports hernia surgery kept him out of the first six games of the season. Despite playing with pain when he did come back, he was relatively productive but never reached the form we saw in 2007 when he gained over 1,000 yards. Heading into 2009 healthy, there's good reason to believe Curtis should be a productive part of the offense once again.

New Additions

Jeremy Maclin drafted #19 overall after the Eagles traded up to the spot to get him.

Brandon Gibson drafted in the 6th round.

Brandon Robinson & Marcus Thigpen were both signed as undrafted free agents.

Danny Amendola was signed as a free agent from the Dallas Cowboys.

What to watch for

There's eleven WRs on this roster competing for five or six spots. Last year the Eagles carried ~~five~~ six at the position(I forgot Greg Lewis!). We can pick four guys that are basically guaranteed a spot. Desean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Jeremy Maclin, & Jason Avant. I really think the development of Avant last year and the job he did on third downs has cemented his spot as an important role player in this offense.

That leaves seven players competing for no more than two spots. If we take the longshot players out of the equation(Robinson, Thigpen, McBride, Amendola) that leaves a serious three man battle for the final WR spots. The combatants are Brandon Gibson, who I only really put a notch above the UDFAs because he was a draft pick. Hank Baskett(a former Na Brown award winner), whose celebrity may be quickly outpacing his actual talent. And finally Reggie Brown, who up until an injury in training camp last year had been starting for this team since midway through his rookie year.

On talent alone, Reggie Brown should clearly win that battle... but the mere fact that Reggie Brown isn't a lock to make this team is a bit of a red flag for him. Would the Eagles be better served with Reggie as bench player for depth or should they be looking to get a draft pick for him from a team that might be in need of a veteran WR who, until last year, had actually put up decent numbers? A major factor in the battle for the final WR spots will be special teams play. Hank Baskett is particularly good special teams player, whereas Reggie Brown has barely ever played special teams.

While the development of Desean Jackson & Jeremy Maclin will no doubt be the biggest and most important story at the WR position in camp... I'm most curious to see what happens with Reggie Brown. If he doesn't show some serious fire, competitive spirit, and of course reliable hands at Lehigh this year the Eagles may very well end up moving on from a guy who, by the end of 06/07, was looking like a potential star. His fall form grace has been quick and it will be fascinating to see if he can resurrect himself.

All that said, I do want to stress that this camp is really about Desean Jackson & Jeremy Maclin. Those two are clearly the most important players to watch not only at the WR position, but maybe in the whole offense.

Previous position previews

Bird Droppings 5/26/09

JasonB — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:00:21 -0000

New feature here on the site and one that I think will help to liven up things a bit in this painfully slow portion of the NFL calendar. Bird Droppings will be a daily link dump feature where I highlight what the local and national football writers are saying about the Eagles or whatever...

I contemplated calling this new feature "The Linc" and expanding that to everyday, but I think I'm going to leave "The Linc" as a place to highlight what bloggers only have to say. Plus, there's no way I could find a new picture of a cute girl in an Eagles jersey every day of the week... I also thought about calling the new feature "Birdseed" or something like that, but "Bird Droppings" had more of a ring to it. Plus, we very well may be highlighting some crappy stories. Zing!

Oh and if the photoshop wizards who check out the site want to make a cool banner for this new feature... that would be awesome.

Anyway, without further ado let's kick off the inagural edition of Bird Droppings.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram has a story about Kevin Kolb, fishing, and his desire to start one day.
Hank Baskett and his bride to be, Kendra Wilkinson, hung out in Vegas this weekend.
You'll probably be able to buy Eagles themed lottery scratch off tickets in the very near future.
Ray Didinger looks back on the infamous Body Bag Game.
Shaheer McBride hopes to actually play in a game this year.
The NFL has launched an investigation to discover whether the Redskins tampered with Albert Haynesworth. They obviously did, but will the NFL actually take a stand against something that has been going on for a long time?