Desean Jackson

When the NFL lockout finally ended last summer and practices began, DeSean Jackson stayed away. Stuck in a contract dispute with the Eagles, Jackson skipped the first 11 days of training camp, setting in motion a season that would quickly turn sour for the receiver and his team. This year, though, Jackson is already looking forward to the full-team practices that begin Tuesday, sounding reenergized by finally putting his contract saga behind him. "The [off] time's been long enough already," Jackson said Saturday.

For years, NFL teams have called what the Eagles are doing this weekend "rookie camp," but that title was always a bit misleading. This minicamp would indeed be the first gathering of the team's draftees and the undrafted rookies, but the whole team would assemble, for the first time since the end of the previous season; the rookies were just part of the show. The new collective bargaining agreement brought all kinds of changes to the offseason routine. One of them is that there will be no Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson or Trent Cole at the rookie camp that starts Saturday and extends through Monday.

DeSean Jackson can relate to LeSean McCoy. Both were second-round picks. Both became Pro Bowl pieces of the Eagles offense while still on modest, by NFL standards, rookie deals. But while Jackson held out of training camp last summer before playing out the final year of his contract, he urged McCoy to take a different approach as he enters the last year of his deal this offseason. "I think it would be in his best interest to come" to offseason practices and camp, Jackson said Friday.

Here are the six plays in which Michael Vick appeared on the field for the Eagles' last night: FIRST QUARTER 14:49: 2nd-and-10 from Eagles' 27 Formation: Donovan McNabb lines up wide right, Vick lines up in shotgun. Three-wide receiver formation with DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Kevin Curtis. Jackson lined up in backfield along with LeSean McCoy. Play: Vick completes shovel pass to McCoy for gain of 4 yards. 12:18: 1st-and-10 from Eagles' 33 Formation: McNabb out of game.

BETHLEHEM - No sign of wide receiver DeSean Jackson, despite those reports Sunday that an end to his holdout was near. "Me and DeSean, we've been talking a lot," quarterback Michael Vick said. "Everybody's just trying to get on the same page, and just create an understanding. DeSean, he has an upbeat attitude, very positive right now, and I think he's going to handle the situation like a man. "We just gotta sit back and see what happens, but we want him here, we're looking forward to him coming in. " Vick said he doesn't know when Jackson will be here.

After playing it straight with the press concerning the past and future of Donovan McNabb, star Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson yesterday dished to the radio station that pays him, 97.5-FM, "The Fanatic. " "It was time for a change," said Jackson - a shot, clearly, at McNabb. "We've got some young players here. I'm just excited about everything. " McNabb's criticism of the Eagles' young players in the regular-season loss in Dallas caused Jackson, in his second season, to bristle.

Poor Donovan McNabb. After one season with the best wide-receiving tandem he had as an Eagle, he gets traded to the Washington Redskins. Kevin Kolb will be the beneficiary of what has the potential to the top wide-receiver twosome in Eagles history. DeSean Jackson was a star from the start. Injuries made him the first rookie receiver to start a season opener under Andy Reid, but Jackson's six catches for 106 yards against the St. Louis Rams was a sign of things to come. Jackson set an Eagles rookie record with 62 catches and 912 receiving yards.

SPEAKING for the masses, DeSean Jackson said, "Today I felt we were in great shape being up 23-3 - the second half was just brutal. " On a day when Jackson caught six passes for 171 yards, and dropped a couple of others, the Eagles still blew a 20-point lead and lost to the 49ers, 24-23. The team's third consecutive loss, and third consecutive second-half collapse, colored everything, even his personal success. Bittersweet, as the lady once said. "It was just that they were able to put points on the board [in the second half]

In late April, when the cancer that had invaded Bill Jackson's pancreas spread, DeSean Jackson had his father relocated from Long Beach, Calif., to Philadelphia. From peewee football through DeSean's tenure at the University of California, Bill Jackson was a staple at his son's games. However, after DeSean, a wide receiver, was drafted by the Eagles last year, the bicoastal travel prevented the elder Jackson from attending most of the games during his son's breakout rookie season.

Now comes the interesting part for DeSean Jackson and the Eagles. The franchise tag was widely expected. Now we see if the tag is a temporary patch on a ruptured relationship or a step toward saving the marriage. The Eagles say they want Jackson long-term. Jackson says he wants to be here. But a one-year deal that would give Jackson a big raise and leave the Eagles with just a short commitment might make the most sense for both sides. Yes, both Jackson and the team have tossed bouquets about being together for years to come.

Never have so many been so glad to see a bunch of professional football players running around in shorts. Organized Team Activities (OTAs or, as we called them before the NFL was completely bloated with self-importance, minicamps) have come to South Philadelphia. That is welcome news for two reasons: one, because it signifies the unofficial start of the 2012 season; and two, because it signifies the official end of all the lame excuses about how the lack of running-around-in-shorts time hurt the Eagles in 2011.

The dynamic may have shifted slightly, some tinkering may have been done, but the Eagles still conduct business as they always have. And yet, the narrative, after what unanimously has been declared a successful offseason, has been that the Eagles have significantly altered their philosophy or shaken up the front office after a disastrous 2011. Not true. They have made changes. However, they are micro adjustments that owner Jeffrey Lurie hopes will have a net macro result - the Eagles finally winning a Super Bowl.

HE STEPPED UP on the stage for his press conference, and gave his coach a playful pat on the back, and you could not have smacked the smile off LeSean McCoy's face if you had tried. On the day he got paid, signing a 5-year contract extension worth $45 million overall and $20.765 million guaranteed, the Eagles' elite running back admitted that his dominant emotion might just have been relief. "It feels good just to wake up tomorrow and go to work knowing that the deal is done and it's over with," McCoy said.

When the NFL lockout finally ended last summer and practices began, DeSean Jackson stayed away. Stuck in a contract dispute with the Eagles, Jackson skipped the first 11 days of training camp, setting in motion a season that would quickly turn sour for the receiver and his team. This year, though, Jackson is already looking forward to the full-team practices that begin Tuesday, sounding reenergized by finally putting his contract saga behind him. "The [off] time's been long enough already," Jackson said Saturday.

DeSean Jackson can relate to LeSean McCoy. Both were second-round picks. Both became Pro Bowl pieces of the Eagles offense while still on modest, by NFL standards, rookie deals. But while Jackson held out of training camp last summer before playing out the final year of his contract, he urged McCoy to take a different approach as he enters the last year of his deal this offseason. "I think it would be in his best interest to come" to offseason practices and camp, Jackson said Friday.

For years, NFL teams have called what the Eagles are doing this weekend "rookie camp," but that title was always a bit misleading. This minicamp would indeed be the first gathering of the team's draftees and the undrafted rookies, but the whole team would assemble, for the first time since the end of the previous season; the rookies were just part of the show. The new collective bargaining agreement brought all kinds of changes to the offseason routine. One of them is that there will be no Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson or Trent Cole at the rookie camp that starts Saturday and extends through Monday.

What a difference a few months make. After a toxic 2011, Andy Reid and the Eagles management have restored a sense of optimism and hope around their team. Even the loudest Reid critic should be impressed with what the Eagles have done the last two months, including the draft that just unfolded. "It's a positive thing. When you're around the team right now you feel that," Reid said Saturday, wearing a signature Hawaiian shirt. "I think they're excited to get going. " For anyone else it would be a bit early for short-sleeves with a tropical motif, but as the weather warms and the Eagles' barren January fades in the distance, the team once again looks great in the offseason.

The past, present and future came together Saturday for one happy Eagles picture. Brian Dawkins returned to the NovaCare Complex to retire as an Eagle and all the bitterness, at least for this moment, was forgotten. The draft, meanwhile, was coming to its conclusion and for the first time in a long time, Andy Reid's selections were near-unanimously applauded by a fickle fan base. And with that the future is as bright as the Eagles coach's Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirts.

TEN YEARS ago, the Eagles hit pay dirt in the second and third rounds of the draft, selecting safety Michael Lewis, cornerback Sheldon Brown and a running back by the name of Brian Westbrook. Lewis, Brown and Westbrook made a collective 241 starts for the Eagles and helped them make it to the NFC Championship Game four times and to the Super Bowl once. Since then, with two notable exceptions, the draft's second and third rounds have been one dry hole after another for the Eagles.

JASON AVANT He has managed to up his numbers in each of his six seasons in the NFL, but costly fumbles and a lack of production in the red zone could have the Eagles looking for another slot receiver. RILEY COOPER The size is there (6-foot-3, 222 pounds), and he had a few moments last season, but he hasn't turned into that red-zone threat some thought he could be. MARTY GILYARD Signed in January after a season out of the NFL, he has experience returning kicks and could help in that area.