Jason Peters

Demetress Bell said that he took most of the first-team snaps during Eagles practice Wednesday, an indication that he will start at left tackle Sunday against Pittsburgh even though King Dunlap returned. "We'll have to see what tomorrow is," Bell said. Earlier, Andy Reid did not name Dunlap as his starter even though two weeks ago when the tackle was first injured, the Eagles coach said the job was still Dunlap's. "I'll cross that bridge when we get there," Reid said before practice.

TWO YEARS AGO, before he ruptured his right Achilles' tendon twice in a 7-week period, Jason Peters was the best left tackle in the NFL. You can debate who might've been the best quarterback or the best running back or best wide receiver or the best pass-rusher in the league in 2011. But there's no debate about who was the best left tackle. There was Peters and then there was everybody else. He was that good. An athletic freak with running-back feet inside a massive 6-4, 340-pound body.

Despite rupturing his right Achilles tendon twice within a month last spring, Jason Peters said on Tuesday that he could have played late last season and that he anticipated playing near his all-pro form from 2011 for the Eagles this coming season. The left tackle met with reporters not long after he went through new Eagles coach Chip Kelly's first workout of the offseason. It was the first time Peters formally spoke with the media since his injury last March. He said that he knew Dec. 1, shortly after the Eagles shut him down for the season, that he was healthy enough to play.

The line could come back to haunt a head coach - or make him look like a genius. The Eagles had just acquired Jason Peters in a trade with the Buffalo Bills for three draft picks, including a 2009 first-rounder, and given the two-time Pro Bowl left tackle a six-year contract worth more than $60 million. Those two actions alone provided a good idea as to what Andy Reid thought about Peters, but the Eagles' coach also put his feelings into words. Reid said that after studying tape of Peters he "came out feeling that he was the best left tackle in football.

The increasing number of questions about Jason Peters' return is all one needs to know about the state of the Eagles' left tackle situation and the offensive line in general. On the day he officially announced King Dunlap's return to the starting lineup, Eagles coach Andy Reid fielded as many questions about Peters as he did his current left tackle. "There's a chance," Reid said of the injured Peters' playing this season. The fact is that Reid won't have to worry about a Peters return if Dunlap or the rest of the offensive line can't improve enough for the Eagles to have a realistic shot at the playoffs by the time Peters is eligible to play.

Suddenly, the Eagles have a fire burning on their front lawn. It had been a smooth and serene offseason for the team, the to-do list meticulously crossed off one by one until all that seemed left to do was kick back, watch some game film, and try to bolster a solid roster in the draft. Then came Friday's news that Jason Peters, their Pro Bowl left tackle, one of the Eagles' two best players in 2011 along with LeSean McCoy, had ruptured his Achilles tendon, probably ending his season.

So much for offensive line continuity. A little more than two weeks after the Eagles finished locking up their starting offensive line, at least through the next three seasons, the strongest link in the group, Jason Peters, ruptured his Achilles tendon. The Pro Bowl left tackle injured his right tendon Tuesday in a football drill. But the Eagles didn't announce Peters' injury until Friday. He will undergo surgery next Tuesday at the Rothman Institute. "We don't know when he will return to the field and we will not speculate on a timeline," Eagles coach Andy Reid said in a statement.

Howard Mudd has been coaching NFL offensive linemen for 36 years. He has tutored a lot of good ones, but before Andy Reid coaxed him out of retirement last January, he never had to give much thought when somebody asked him to name the best player he ever coached. Walter Jones. Jones was the Seattle Seahawks' left tackle for a dozen dominating years before retiring after the '08 season. Went to nine Pro Bowls. Almost certainly will get voted into Canton in his first year of eligibility.

IF THE EAGLES lost Michael Vick to injury in the offseason, the alarm would be deafening. The fringy residents of Eagle Nation would hyperventilate if LeSean McCoy tore a chest muscle lifting weights. If DeSean Jackson's right knee buckled at the beach, or if Trent Cole dislocated his shoulder falling out of a tree stand, or if those Pamplonan bulls outrun Jason Babin, the Bleeding Green might slit their wrists. There should be at least as much anxiety surrounding the absence of Jason Peters.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Demetress Bell doesn't have to go far to find out what it's like to play left tackle for the Eagles, with Howard Mudd as his offensive line coach. Bell, 28, is sharing a dormitory room at training camp with the man he is replacing and whose very large cleats he must step into. "I've got Jason Peters in my dorm room and Howard Mudd in the classroom," Bell said. "What else could you want?" Peters, whose ruptured Achilles tendon led to the Eagles' acquiring Bell in early April, reported to Lehigh University just like the rest of his teammates, even though he is likely out for the season.

TIGHT END James Casey, one of the nine unrestricted free agents the Eagles signed in March, had arthroscopic knee surgery this week. The former Houston Texan will miss the Eagles' final four OTAs next week, as well as the team's mandatory minicamp, June 4-6, but is expected to be ready for the start of the training camp in late July. The Eagles did not release the news of Casey's surgery, which is something they usually, but not always, did when Andy Reid was the head coach. The news was first reported by USA Today Sports.

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy left Monday's practice early with an apparent knee injury. McCoy stretched on the sideline at one point before leaving the practice field. McCoy was spotted after practice walking through a NovaCare Complex hallway with a plate of food. He said the issue was with his knee. He did not appear to be limping or in pain. The Eagles did not have an official report on McCoy's condition. Bryce Brown took first-team snaps at running back in McCoy's absence.

As expected, Todd Herremans was moved to right guard after the Eagles took tackle Lane Johnson with their first overall draft pick. Herremans played every snap with the first-team offense on Monday, the first day of organized team activities. Johnson did not run with the starters - he had only a three-day rookie minicamp under his belt before Monday - but that is certainly the expectation. In Johnson's place was second-year lineman Dennis Kelly. Jason Peters was at his usual spot at left tackle.

JASON PETERS says the right Achilles' tendon he ruptured twice last spring is 100 percent again. Todd Herremans says the broken right foot that cost him half the 2012 season is as good as new. And Jason Kelce says the right ACL he tore last September is getting better every day and he expects to be "full go" for the start of training camp in 2 1/2 months. If you're looking for a reason to believe that the Eagles can be more than a 6-10 or 7-9 football team in Chip Kelly's first season as an NFL head coach, Peters, Herremans, Kelce and the rest of the offensive line are it. Let's face it. We don't have the slightest clue at this point what kind of production they will get from the quarterback position because we don't even know who the hell the quarterback will be, and probably won't know until the middle of August.

Part one of a series. The Eagles gather for their first "organized team activity" - otherwise known as "practice" - on Monday. It will also be the first time Chip Kelly has the entire 90-man roster on the field together. He will spend the next four weeks evaluating his team and organizing his depth chart before a month-and-a-half break before training camp. But Zach Berman and I will get you up to date on the roster and spend the next two weeks assessing where the Eagles stand at each spot.

Eagles guard Evan Mathis recently underwent surgery to "clean out" his left ankle and could miss the rest of spring practices, an NFL source said. The source called the surgery "minor. " Mathis played most of last season with an ankle injury - he started every game - and was slated to undergo surgery once the offseason began. The Eagles decided the procedure was unnecessary, but recent swelling and discomfort in the ankle prompted the team to reconsider. He is expected to be ready by the start of training camp in late July.

The Eagles had no trouble defending their approach to the 2013 draft: It was consistent, and it was according to plan. They may have considerably more trouble defending against other teams when the season begins, however. If it takes three years to evaluate a draft class, it's absurd to evaluate any of the team's picks after just one week. But it's perfectly reasonable to assess what the team did and didn't do, and where its roster stands going into May and June practices. On offense, the roster looks pretty good.

The Eagles have been calling other teams looking for partners to trade out of the No. 4 spot in the NFL draft, according to two NFL sources. General manager Howie Roseman has reached out to at least two NFL general managers in an attempt to have a deal in place in case the Eagles don't like the players left on the board, the sources said. The draft begins Thursday evening with the first round. Rounds 2-3 will occur Friday, with the final four rounds taking place Saturday. Roseman's willingness to unload the fourth overall pick comes as little surprise.

If there is an ideal candidate for the Eagles to draft with the No. 4 overall pick, it just might be Eric Fisher. The Central Michigan tackle may be as close as there is in this draft to a "can't-miss" prospect. He fills an immediate need for the Eagles on the offensive line, and he projects as the eventual heir at left tackle, one that could anchor the unit for 10 years. It sounds almost too good to be true. In fact, Fisher may be too good for it to be true. Once given a mid-first-round grade by analysts, Fisher catapulted into the top 10 after a Senior Bowl performance that quelled concerns about his having played in a less-prominent conference.

On the day of the Eagles' first minicamp practice under new coach Chip Kelly, reports surfaced that indicated officials at the University of Oregon admitted there was "at least one major violation" uncovered in an NCAA investigation of the football program Kelly coached from 2009 to 2012. Kelly, through the Eagles, released a statement Tuesday morning that said he was aware of the ongoing investigation, that he had cooperated with the NCAA while at Oregon and would continue to do so, and that he would have no further comment until a ruling was made.