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Vick hosts informal practice with a few receivers

QB Michael Vick said practice is essential.

By Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: May 20, 2011

Michael Vick, several other Eagles, and a handful of locally based NFL players gathered for informal workouts in Marlton on Thursday.

The quarterback was joined in South Jersey by tight end Brent Celek and wide receivers Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant for the first time since the start of the NFL lockout. The players did not alert the media to their whereabouts, although 6ABC was on hand to capture some of the practice.

"The one thing that we do know is that we're professional athletes and we can't sit around and not do anything," Vick told 6ABC. "The speed of this game, the toughness that you have to have and bring in to each and every week has to start from somewhere."

Vick said last week that he expected approximately 15 players to attend, although fewer apparently showed.

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, who has spent most of the offseason training in Miami, said on Saturday that he would participate in the practices, but he did not attend. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who is based in Los Angeles, said last week that he would not be able to make the workouts.

Minnesota running back Albert Young, from Moorestown, was one of the non-Eagles to participate.

Maclin and Avant have caught passes from Vick on occasion, but this was the first time the players ran pass patterns.

"We're all a little bit rusty, and that's obvious today," Celek told 6ABC.

NFL players have been locked out, for the most part, since March 12. There was a brief reprieve in late April, when a federal judge lifted the lockout, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted NFL owners a stay and upheld the lockout until their appeal is heard June 3.

The Eagles, who would normally be at the NovaCare Complex for minicamp, are expected to organize several other practices over the next few weeks.

Contact staff writer Jeff McLane at 215-854-4745, jmclane@phillynews.com, or @Jeff_McLane on Twitter.