Ernie Sims

Stewart Bradley backpedaled into pass coverage, turned, and ran as tight end Brent Celek sped down the middle of the practice field. Bradley was with him step for step, and when Kevin Kolb couldn't squeeze a throw in, cornerback Asante Samuel howled with delight. That's what it's like to have the Eagles' top linebacker back. "He's an athlete, no doubt about it," defensive tackle Trevor Laws said. Bradley's return after missing all of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament is the highlight of an overhaul at the position.

The Eagles showed their interest in keeping running back Jerome Harrison by tendering him at a second-round level yesterday. Harrison, a fifth-round pick out of Washington State, was acquired by the Eagles in a trade with Cleveland for Mike Bell during the season. He ran for 239 yards and a touchdown on 40 carries in eight games. He also had eight receptions for 43 yards. The Eagles also tendered punter Sav Rocca to give them the right of first refusal should he receive another offer.

Motivation is not a problem for Eagles linebacker Ernie Sims. He can whip himself into a dangerous, speeding projectile during any given practice for the slightest of reason. It doesn't take much. In training camp, Sims had difficulty sorting out the difference between the contact and the noncontact drills, or maybe he just didn't care much for the latter. So, to keep the confusion to a minimum, he simply hit people as hard as he could on every play and apologized later. He had to do a bunch of apologizing.

74th ANNUAL DRAFT When: Tomorrow, 4-10 p.m. (Rounds 1-2) and Sunday, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Rounds 3-7) Where: New York TV: ESPN, NFL Network Time limits: First round, 10 minutes per pick; Second round, seven minutes per pick; Rounds 3-7, five minutes per pick.   Eagles' picks   1st round: 21 overall 1st round: 28 overall 2nd round: 53 overall 3rd round: 85 overall 4th round: 121 overall 5th round: 141 overall 5th round: 153 overall 5th round: 157 overall 5th round: 159 overall 6th round: 194 overall 6th round: 195 overall 7th round: 230 overall Traded to Buffalo for LT Jason Peters   Eagles' first-rounders since 1999 (Andy Reid's first season)

"Brian and I spent some time together this off-season, but nothing kind of came up as of going back to Philly and how he felt. " Oh, yeah. I spent the entire off-season talking to Dawk about it. He told me, "Just don't play as bad as I did. " "I've only been here for three games. . . . That's kind of something that happens over time. " I've been here for three games and haven't yet been booed. You clowns booed me at the draft. "I'm seeing a team that's getting a comfort level in [defensive coordinator]

DETROIT - The date was Dec. 23, 2007. That was the last time, before yesterday, Ernie Sims won a football game. Sims' old team, the Detroit Lions, beat the Kansas City Chiefs that day, 25-20. But they lost the next week and, in 2008, they lost all 16 weeks. That made 17 in a row. The Lions won two games in 2009 but Sims did not play in either of them. Instead, he played in 11 losses. That made 28 in a row, and then came the Eagles' opening-game loss last week to the Green Bay Packers.

Ernie Sims was fined $50,000 on Wednesday for what the NFL deemed an illegal hit in the Titans game. However, the fine was not for the blow that many had speculated would draw the league's attention. The Eagles linebacker was fined for "unnecessarily striking a defenseless receiver in the neck and head area with his forearms," according to a statement from the NFL, when he hit Tennessee's Lavelle Hawkins away from a play in the second quarter. Earlier in the game, though, Sims appeared to be leading with his helmet when he dealt a sideline hit to running back Chris Johnson . Sims later said that Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel received the brunt of the hit, but it was not considered illegal by the NFL anyway.

ERNIE SIMS wants to win tomorrow. Sure, everybody playing for the Eagles and the visiting Green Bay Packers wants to win, but Sims, the Birds' new weakside linebacker, really wants to win, not having done so since Dec. 23, 2007, when the Detroit Lions defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 25-20. How long ago was that? Same day, the Eagles won in New Orleans, 38-23, with Kevin Curtis scoring a pair of touchdowns, and catching six passes for 78 yards. Sims, a Lion from the time he was drafted in the first round in 2006 until he was traded to the Eagles this past offseason, is 0-28 since.

  BETHLEHEM - The morning session was hot, hot, hot. We don't have those fancy National Weather Service stats here, but our gauge, which measures the extent to which the polo shirt sticks to our back, indicates that this was the warmest day of camp, the adhesion level rising up from the kidneys, through the middle of the back and well into the shoulder blades. Tempers flared a bit, as well. The catalyst, as has often been the case, was new weakside linebacker Ernie Sims, who caught running back Eldra Buckley as Buckley reached for a high Kevin Kolb screen pass.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - In a way, you can't really blame Ernie Sims for getting excited again about playing football and hitting people, although that might not be an opinion shared by every member of the Philadelphia Eagles. Sims, a newcomer to the team and the presumptive starter at weakside linebacker this season, was at it again Monday on the crackling griddle of football fields at Lehigh University. For not quite the first time during training camp, Sims popped a teammate pretty hard in a situation that didn't necessarily call for it. There was some grumbling from the offense and some minor tut-tutting from the coaches, but Sims was remarkably unbothered about carrying out one of the favorite parts of his job description.

The Eagles finally jumped into the linebacker market, and they did it in a big way and, as we probably should have expected, with a surprise. At first blush, the DeMeco Ryans trade has a lot to like. A lot. He was a Pro Bowler in 2007 and 2009 and AP defensive rookie of the year in 2006. Playing as a true middle linebacker in the 4-3 early in his career, he recorded more than 100 tackles each season. Equally importantly, according to reporters in Houston, he was a leader who ran the defense from the middle, something the Eagles sorely lacked last season.

TEMPE, Ariz. - Stewart Bradley's explanation of why he's in Arizona and not Philadelphia was not particularly complicated. Of course he enjoyed the Phoenix area's relative proximity to his hometown of Salt Lake City and he believed the Cardinals were close to winning. But there was also the issue of years and dollars, which is often the determining factor for a free agent. Bradley, a 28-year-old linebacker who was once a key part of the Eagles' defense, signed a 5-year, $30 million contract with the Cardinals in July.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - There is a trio of stars waiting to take the field at cornerback. There's a two-time Pro Bowler at one defensive end and prize free-agent signings at the other end and defensive tackle. At safety, the Eagles have two second-round picks. And then there is linebacker, where the top of the depth chart has a fourth-round rookie at middle linebacker and two seventh-round picks on the outside. The most experienced linebacker currently on the first team is Moise Fokou, who is entering just his third season.

BETHLEHEM - Everyone knew David Akers wasn't coming to Lehigh, but it still seemed strange when the special-teams drills started yesterday with the Eagles' all-time leading scorer nowhere in sight. It seemed even stranger hours later, when a source close to the situation confirmed that Akers had signed with the San Francisco 49ers. Akers, 36, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, played in more Eagles games than anyone else in franchise history (189, and 19 more in the postseason)

The Eagles are not pursuing their 15 free agents as NFL business resumes, and will almost certainly not bring any of them back, including starters such as linebacker Stewart Bradley and punter Sav Rocca and backup running back Jerome Harrison. Safety Quintin Mikell, long expected to depart, agreed to a deal Tuesday with the St. Louis Rams. Kicker David Akers also has been expected to leave ever since the Eagles drafted kicker Alex Henery in the fourth round. Other free agents expected to be allowed to depart include cornerback Dimitri Patterson, guards Nick Cole, Max Jean-Gilles and Reggie Wells, and linebackers Ernie Sims, Omar Gaither and Akeem Jordan.

The Eagles added 11 young players over the three-day NFL draft, but they still emerged without answers for two of their biggest needs: starting cornerback and defensive line. After taking eight players Saturday - starting with Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews and Nebraska kicker Alex Henery - the Eagles came away with a draft class that adds depth at safety, linebacker, offensive line, and running back and probably turns the page on David Akers' long tenure at kicker. They filled one glaring need in the first round by selecting guard Danny Watkins.

The Eagles added 11 young players over the three-day NFL Draft, but still emerged without answers for two of their biggest needs: starting cornerback and defensive line. After taking eight players Saturday - starting with Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews and Nebraska kicker Alex Henery - the Eagles came away with a draft class that adds depth at safety, linebacker, offensive line and running back and probably turns the page on David Akers' long tenure at kicker. They filled one glaring need in the first round by selecting guard Danny Watkins.

SOMETIMES YOU just can't shut Andy Reid up. Like last month at the NFL meetings in New Orleans when a reporter asked the Eagles head coach for a detailed analysis of his linebacking corps, which contributed just four sacks and one interception to a defense that finished 21st in the league in points allowed last season. "Linebacker, we've got to look at that," Reid said. What, you were expecting something a little more expansive? The man is conserving words for his next career as a talk-show host.

NEW ORLEANS - Howie Roseman, his collar open, sat back into a deep chair in the plush Roosevelt New Orleans hotel and propped a brown wing-tip onto a knee. For a general manager in the midst of a turbulent offseason across the NFL and with another big decision looming at quarterback, Roseman seemed at ease. Now in his second year on the job for the Eagles, he has a large draft class and a major trade to look back on and evaluate as he eyes his second offseason and again contemplates dealing away a quarterback.

The Eagles showed their interest in keeping running back Jerome Harrison by tendering him at a second-round level yesterday. Harrison, a fifth-round pick out of Washington State, was acquired by the Eagles in a trade with Cleveland for Mike Bell during the season. He ran for 239 yards and a touchdown on 40 carries in eight games. He also had eight receptions for 43 yards. The Eagles also tendered punter Sav Rocca to give them the right of first refusal should he receive another offer.