Andy Reid

MICHAEL VICK indicated Wednesday he has no problem with Chip Kelly saying Vick and Nick Foles are engaged in an even competition for the Eagles' starting quarterback job. The problem might lie in getting Vick to believe he could ever lose such a contest, after 3 years as the starter here. "Honestly, I just look at it as it's still my team, still my job," Vick said during a session with reporters following the second day of the extra minicamp granted new NFL coaches. "I think that's the mind-set that you've got to have.

THE EAGLES started their voluntary offseason strength and conditioning program on April 1, which, as luck would have it, happened to be just 2 days after Danny Watkins got married. If Andy Reid, who selected Watkins with the 23rd overall pick in the draft 2 years ago, still was the Eagles' head coach, and if Watkins had lived up to first-round expectations the last two seasons, he almost certainly would've headed to Aruba rather than South Philadelphia. But Reid was canned on Dec. 31 and Watkins, who started just six games last season, is perilously close to joining the Eagles' long, long list of first-round draft busts.

CHIP KELLY'S first game as Eagles coach will be on a Monday night. But his third game will be just as intriguing. The Eagles' 2013 schedule came out on Thursday and they'll kick things off with a visit to Washington on Monday, Sept. 9. Ten days later, former coach Andy Reid returns to Lincoln Financial Field when the Chiefs play the Birds. Here's a look at the Birds' 2013 slate. Week 1 - Monday, Sept. 9 at Washington, 7:10 p.m., ESPN All-time series: Washington leads, 81-71-6.

AS ANDY REID trudged toward his inevitable end as Eagles head coach last December, attention naturally pushed in the direction of Howie Roseman, the Eagles' cherub-faced general manager operating in only his first season without Joe Banner over his shoulder. Some, including his boss, Jeffrey Lurie, saw Roseman as a shrewd judge of talent, crediting him with the choices made in the 2012 draft, while discounting his culpability in previous drafts and transactions, including the great free-agent "Dream Team" debacle of 2011, which accelerated the Eagles' dive from playoff contender to their current status among NFL rebuilders.

ONCE CONSIDERED one of the league's most dangerous offensive weapons, DeSean Jackson's productivity hasn't matched his special talent the last 2 1/2 years. Maybe it was that vicious, concussion-causing collision with Dunta Robinson in 2010. Maybe it was the draining struggle to get a new contract. Maybe it was the offense that seemed to allow opponents to take Jackson out of the game plan too easily. Whatever it was, Jackson hasn't been anywhere close to the prolific player lately that he was earlier in his career.

THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS hired former Vikings coach Brad Childress, reuniting him with his former Eagles boss, Andy Reid. Childress, who spent last season as the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, will be the Chiefs' spread game analyst and work on special projects. He spent 5 years as the Minnesota head coach (2006-10), a stint that included two division titles (2008-09). The team was 12-4 in 2009. Childress previously spent seven seasons (1999-2005) with the Eagles, where he worked with Reid, the new Chiefs head coach.

PHOENIX - The Hawaiian shirt - an impenetrable jungle of blue, red, white, yellow and green - was familiar, as was the group of faces awaiting Andy Reid's arrival. But a red Kansas City Chiefs helmet adorned the sign that identified the table of the man who coached the Eagles for 14 years. Reid celebrated his 55th birthday at the NFL meetings' AFC coaches breakfast, flanked by a half dozen Philadelphia reporters. KC is a different media market, all right - nobody from Missouri was on hand to ask any questions of the Chiefs' new coach.

PHOENIX - Andy Reid appeared relaxed on the morning of his 55th birthday, clad in a Hawaiian shirt. The longtime Eagles coach, who now leads the Kansas City Chiefs, is enjoying a new life that includes quarterback Alex Smith, another heralded free-agent class, and the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. But he still holds a degree of affection for his former employer, which is one of the reasons he obliged when Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie asked Reid to talk to Chip Kelly while Kelly vacillated about replacing Reid.

When he looked at the team he inherited from Ray Rhodes in 1999, Andy Reid was appalled by the lack of talent on the offensive side of the ball. "The cupboard was bare," he said a few years later, after restocking well enough to make the Eagles a perennial playoff team. Lo these many years later, Chip Kelly has begun trying to rebuild the team he inherited from Reid. This time, the cupboard was bare on the defensive side, and Kelly has already gone about addressing that. That first offseason, Reid simply had to add inventory: wide receivers Torrance Small and Charles Johnson, offensive linemen Lonnie Palelei and Jeff Dellenbach, tight end Luther Broughton, and stopgap quarterback Doug Pederson.

On March 16, 2004, the Birds were the talk of the NFL after signing free-agent superstar receiver Terrell Owens. With the team coming off of three straight NFC Championship Game losses, his addition seemed to be the move that would put the Eagles over the top. That proved to be the case during the 2004 season, as Owens provided quarterback Donovan McNabb the top-shelf wideout he'd been lacking. The pair took the team to Super Bowl XXXIX, which ended in a loss to the New England Patriots.