Freddie Mitchell

FORMER EAGLE Freddie Mitchell was arraigned on tax-fraud charges after surrendering to authorities in Orlando last week. Now he's sitting in jail in Orange County, Fla., after being arrested on an Indiana warrant for failing to pay back child support, a lawyer says. Mitchell, 33, known as FredEx, surrendered to authorities March 12 and was released on his own recognizance until his arraignment, which was scheduled for Thursday. Bringing his child-support payments up to date was a condition of his release prior to his arraignment, according to court documents.

If Freddie Mitchell has learned the Eagles' offense as well as he has learned patience in the last six months, his future should be bright indeed. The Eagles' first-round draft pick bounded into town in April planning to be an NFL star. He still has those plans, but his time frame has been adjusted. After a long training camp and four regular-season games, Mitchell has one reception for zero yards. He's playing behind Todd Pinkston, who has blossomed into a big-play receiver. If Mitchell is not exactly content, he's certainly understanding about his status.

Fourth and 26. Just say those words and most of the population in Green Bay and Philadelphia knows exactly what you're talking about. Football fans all over the country will be talking about Fourth and 26 all week as the Packers and Eagles prepare for Sunday's game at Lincoln Financial Field. It was the most memorable play of the Eagles' 2003 season and the most miserable play of the Green Bay Packers' season. Fifty years from now, they'll still be breaking out that roll of video from the NFL Films archives.

This is just the beginning for Freddie Mitchell. He is quite certain of that. Mitchell came to the Eagles this summer as a very confident first-round draft pick from UCLA. More important, he came to be the wide receiver Donovan McNabb so desperately needed a year ago. But few had seen much from Mitchell this season. Just two catches for 15 yards in his first four games, actually. Eagles fans wondered where Mitchell was. No matter that it takes rookies time to learn the West Coast offense.

Dear Freddie, I know you've said you don't read your fan mail. And my journalist's objectivity usually prevents me from saying this. But I can't help gushing. You're my Eagle. I know Donovan is the team superstar, the $5 million man, the all-pro. But you, Freddie, are the people's champ. You are rhinestone flash on a team of solid sterling, dual-toned mink on a squad of workman corduroy. That's why you do that cute buckle-the-belt motion every time you make a crucial grab, as you did on fourth-and-26 last Sunday.

Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell is one of six NFL players who received racially motivated, threatening letters in a campaign that is being investigated by the FBI. "Yes, I got a letter," Mitchell said yesterday after the Eagles practiced. "It doesn't make any sense, but you know, there's racism everywhere. I'm not worried about it. It's not a threat to me at all. I don't live in fear. I just go out and live day to day. If you live in fear, you know your life will be messed up. " Federal law enforcement sources confirmed that Mitchell had been sent several letters, including one in September.

It was a revealing day for Freddie Mitchell. Two plays in the Eagles' 23-16 victory over Atlanta yesterday showcased why the wide receiver was a first-round draft choice - and why he hasn't yet lived up to that potential. The first came in the opening quarter, on a 37-yard strike from a rolling-out Donovan McNabb that, in this season's eighth game, turned out to be the the first TD by a Philadelphia wide receiver. The other came late in the third quarter of what was then a tie game.

I WOULD LIKE to thank Bill Belichick on his first derogatory remarks in print being against Freddie Mitchell. I have been an Eagles fan for 29 years, and I never disliked an Eagle as much as I do Freddie Mitchell. He has contributed nothing to this city as long as he has been here. With all the mouth he has, you would think he would find a way to back it up, but he is just another big-mouth bust. The faster he is out of green and white the better. Brian White Philadelphia

Maybe Freddie Mitchell was kidding when he said on ESPN that he's "got something" for Patriots all-pro safety Rodney Harrison. Maybe he was just being stupid. Whatever, Mitchell's comments caught the attention of Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest. "Freddie Mitchell is a first-round draft choice who has been an underachiever," McGinest said yesterday. "The only reason people know his name is because he's been on TV running his mouth. "You don't see the real guys who make a difference on their team saying anything.

NOW THAT THE Freddie Mitchell era in Philadelphia has come to an end, I would like to share with your readers a side of Freddie that most people did not get to see. Freddie Mitchell has a big, caring heart when it comes to kids in our community, especially disabled and disadvantaged children. Whenever we asked him, Freddie would make the time to attend our Variety Club events and light up the faces of our kids. He never once dropped the ball. Freddie, thanks for the 4th and 26. Eagles fans will never forget it. Thank you even more for the warm reception you always gave to Philadelphia's children.

FREDDIE MITCHELL has filed a civil suit against his co-defendants in his federal conspiracy and tax fraud case. The former Eagles wide receiver brought a case in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania against Jamie Russ-Walls and Richard Walls, of Bensalem, alleging fraud, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress. The suit cites that Mitchell, best remembered for his fourth-and-26 catch against the Packers in a January 2004 NFC divisional playoff game, has suffered embarrassment, lost business opportunities and required medical or psychological attention because of being implicated in the federal court matter in which the couple took advantage of him and defrauded him. An April 2011 federal indictment in Florida, which was unsealed last March, charged that Mitchell worked with the Wallses to bring pro athletes to their tax business, which the government says falsified wage and tax statements to make it seem their clients were owed refunds ranging from $170,000 to nearly $2 million.

FORMER EAGLE Freddie Mitchell was arraigned on tax-fraud charges after surrendering to authorities in Orlando last week. Now he's sitting in jail in Orange County, Fla., after being arrested on an Indiana warrant for failing to pay back child support, a lawyer says. Mitchell, 33, known as FredEx, surrendered to authorities March 12 and was released on his own recognizance until his arraignment, which was scheduled for Thursday. Bringing his child-support payments up to date was a condition of his release prior to his arraignment, according to court documents.

Now that Eagles fans have witnessed DeSean Jackson's exclamation point at the end of Miracle at the Meadowlands II, Fourth and 26 - much like the two players who engineered it - has lost a little luster here. But Sunday, when the Eagles and Green Bay Packers meet in an NFL playoff game for the first time since that maddeningly memorable afternoon seven years ago, it will be difficult to overlook the improbable salvation wrought by 74 Double Go. "I just remember being on the sidelines," said safety Quintin Mikell, a rookie that day, Jan. 11, 2004.

The official game report from Sunday's win over the Dallas Cowboys dourly notes that Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. This is because the NFL does not yet march off 15 yards for stupidity. If it did, there would be a lot of marching and the games would take an awful long time. When the penalty was assessed for Jackson's slo-mo plunge into the end zone, backward somersault and monster spike, many wondered how a touchdown celebration could be illegal when the touchdown was still in the process of occurring.

His arrival produced boos, his departure cheers and, in the 11 years in between, Donovan McNabb generated a near-constant, noisy cacophony in Philadelphia - elated roars, frustrated sighs and loud disagreements. The era of the player Andy Reid called "the greatest quarterback ever to play for the Philadelphia Eagles" ended with a trade to Washington late on Easter Sunday, his lengthy career here apparently beyond salvation even on that day of redemption. McNabb, who holds virtually all of the franchise's career quarterback records, was dealt to the Redskins for a second-round draft pick this year and a third- or fourth-rounder next year.

WITH ALLthe hubbub about the possible trade of Donovan McNabb, I thought it was time for a true Eagles fan to pipe up. Granted, my expertise is limited to drawing up plays with a stick and dropping lots of passes when I was 12. But, like all the other slobs sitting on couches and pontificating about the Eagles, I am a rabid fan, and I have the scars to prove it. I was watching in 1981, when the Eagles went to Super Bowl XV to face the Oakland...

They were the kind of games that champions win, and the city's baseball team won two of them in the span of a week with the stakes elevated to postseason proportion. Down to their last out, the Phillies staged scintillating rallies to eliminate the Colorado Rockies from the National League division series, and then to take Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against Los Angeles. In Colorado, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth delivered the knockout blows. Against the Dodgers, Jimmy Rollins' aplomb allowed him to scorch a game-winning double into right-center field.

There have been some questions about whether several guys are healthy enough to participate in this weekend's first mandatory minicamp. In a radio interview [Monday], Tom Heckert said that Jack Ikegwuonu, who spent all of last year on IR, is cleared to practice 100 percent in this minicamp and will be participating in the full practices. There has been some rumors that Cornelius Ingram may be still be suffering effects from his knee injury last year. Some rumors even suggested that he may need a second surgery.

By early afternoon, the wide receiver rumors were swirling again. The Eagles were going to make a trade with the Cleveland Browns for a wide receiver. And isn't that exactly what they did? No, it wasn't Braylon Edwards, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound veteran who caught 16 touchdown passes two seasons ago. But the Eagles said they got a player who lasted far too long on the first-round draft board when they selected Missouri's Jeremy Maclin with the 19th overall pick. To get the 19th pick, the Eagles traded the 21st overall pick and a sixth-round selection (195 overall)

FRED EX got quite a delivery from FedEx. He only wishes he hadn't signed for it. Ex-Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell is under investigation after accepting a package allegedly containing about 7 pounds of marijuana. According to a story in Florida's Lakeland Ledger , Mitchell was handcuffed, but not arrested, last Thursday after signing for the package at his restaurant, Brothers Bar-B-Q in Lakeland. Police said the package was first delivered to the home of Mitchell's 90-year-old grandmother, who Mitchell said "takes memory pills.