Two rookies in heart of Eagles' offensive line

JUST A FEW weeks ago, the Eagles were the talk of the football world as they cast their line into the well-stocked free-agency fishing hole and reeled in one big whopper after another.

While there is no disputing that they have assembled an impressive collection of talent worthy of a serious Super Bowl run, there also is no disputing that they are a fragile house of cards that could easily collapse if their young, ready-or-not-here-we-come offensive line can't keep quarterback Michael Vick out of harm's way this season.

Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg confirmed yesterday what most of us already had suspected - that rookie sixth-round pick Jason Kelce will be the starting center in 2 weeks when the Eagles open the season against the Rams in St. Louis.

"Right now, he's the starting center. Yes," Mornhinweg said.

Kelce won't be the only rookie on the Eagles' starting wall. He'll be joined by first-round pick Danny Watkins, the team's new right guard. To recap, a team with Super Bowl aspirations is about to go into a season with two rookies on their offensive line.

Starting two rookies on your offensive line hasn't been a particularly popular recipe for success. The last team to make it to the playoffs with two rookies providing security for its quarterback was the 2005 Patriots (left tackle Nick Kaczur, left guard Logan Mankins).

Eagles coach Andy Reid certainly hasn't made it a habit of force-feeding rookie offensive linemen. Until now, he's started only three rookies - John Welbourn and Doug Brzezinski in 1999, his first year in Philly, and Shawn Andrews in 2004.

Now, with perhaps his best chance yet to get the Super Bowl monkey off his back, he will line up two of them side by side.

"I know it can work," Mornhinweg said confidently. "I'm quite happy with their play. I'm very confident that it will work. It's a difficult thing to do. It's a difficult thing with the center position alone. But I'm real confident that they will be playing at a high level very quickly."

To make matters even more interesting up front, the Eagles made another noteworthy move over the weekend, relocating veteran left guard Todd Herremans to right tackle. Evan Mathis, one of the multitude of free agents the Eagles signed late last month, will replace Herremans at left guard.