"I talked to [Brown] and told him it's the same thing I was going through . . . He ultimately won't even be playing before the end of the season," Sheppard told the newspaper.
"It's a known fact. I hope they prove me wrong."
Sheppard is probably right.
The Eagles made a draft-day trade with the New England Patriots for cornerback Ellis Hobbs and reportedly offered Brown in a trade to the Arizona Cardinals.
I don't think it would surprise anyone if Brown were slowly phased out of the Eagles' plans.
As I said earlier, I wouldn't argue with anything Sheppard said.
But if Sheppard believes this type of reaction to a complaining player is somehow exclusive to the Eagles, he is mistaken.
You would think that by now, after seven seasons in the NFL, Sheppard would understand his place in the business he chose to make his profession.
Porterhouse, filet mignon, rib eye or New York strip - ultimately, that's how Sheppard and every other player in the NFL is viewed by management.
Players are products, pieces of meat, commodities to be cherished when they are at their highest value and then quickly discarded as circumstances change.
It's not a philosophy exclusive to the Eagles, or even to the NFL.
It's not even exclusive to the world of professional sports.
What happened to Sheppard is simply the way business works.
Ask an automotive worker in Detroit who has been laid off.
Ask the businessmen and white-collar workers who are standing in unemployment lines.
Ask some of my fellow journalist who have gone to work in the morning and then gotten a phone call in the afternoon telling them they no longer had a job.
