SPORTS
May 23, 2013 | By Marcus Hayes, Daily News Staff Writer
IN HIS HUGE OFFICE, early in these spring mornings, ol' Chippah must be chuckling. He has the whole region chasing its tail, like some strung-out Pac-12 defense without the sense to just play soft until the red zone. Who will be the quarterback? Will the rookie right tackle start over that huge Hanson brother lookalike? Can Trent Cole play without his hand in the ground after eight seasons? Can Brandon Graham get a break? Who's going to return punts? Jason Avant's going to be a safety?
SPORTS
May 22, 2013 | By Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist
After closing time at Club Chipper, the hot new dance spot in South Philadelphia, the patrons clear out pretty fast. They have to exit via a hallway lined with blowups of newspaper pages celebrating great moments in Eagles history - if you define Eagles history as things that happened since the NovaCare Complex opened in 2001. What is striking is how ancient that history is beginning to feel. To many of the players leaving Chip Kelly's aerobics/football class Monday, the names and faces on the walls are those of strangers.
SPORTS
May 22, 2013 | By Jeff McLane, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A week after Chip Kelly lifted the curtain on his practices and Michael Vick had the slight edge on Nick Foles in first-team repetitions, the roles were reversed and the second-year quarterback was first up with the "ones. " Foles took 21 snaps to Vick's 15 in seven-on-seven and team drills on Monday, and if it weren't for the great interest in the Eagles' quarterback competition, it might have felt a little silly logging repetitions in May with players running around in shorts. But what the snap count did reveal, if we're to trust that Kelly's closed practices weren't significantly different, is that the Eagles coach wasn't lying.
NEWS
May 18, 2013 | By Zach Berman, Inquirer Staff Writer
Part Four of an online-only Series The Eagles held their first OTAs this week, and they will practice throughout the next four weeks. After those practices, coach Chip Kelly will have a better idea of the Eagles roster. But there's a lot that will happen between now and then. Here is the state of the quarterback position: Projected starter Michael Vick (6-feet, 215 pounds), age 32, 12th season Other than the changes under Kelly, no topic has received more discussion this offseason than what will happen at quarterback.
SPORTS
May 15, 2013 | By Zach Berman, Inquirer Staff Writer
Michael Vick, Nick Foles and Matt Barkley were on the field together for the first day of organized team activities on Monday. But any hope for a clue about who will start at quarterback for the Eagles this season based on the first practice was diminished by coach Chip Kelly's rotation. Vick opened with the first-team offense, but Foles also took a significant number of snaps at the NovaCare Complex. Kelly believed it was near a 50-50 distribution. Neither Barkley nor Dennis Dixon took first-team snaps on Monday, but both received steady work during Kelly's fast-paced practice.
SPORTS
May 15, 2013 | BY LES BOWEN, Daily News Staff Writer bowenl@phillynews.com
RIGHT NOW, we really don't know who the quarterback of the 2013 Eagles will be. That thought somehow forced its way through the sensory overload of the first Chip Kelly Eagles practice reporters were allowed to watch yesterday at NovaCare. (The other thought that arrived, almost concurrently: People actually listen to Nicki Minaj? I mean, if you autotuned Minnie Mouse . . . ) The hectic, no-huddle (ever!) pace and dance-party-volume music were certainly novel flourishes on the fields Andy Reid trod for so long in South Philly.
SPORTS
May 13, 2013 | By Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist
If we can be sure of one thing about Sam Hinkie, it's that we can't be sure about anything. The man who will run the Sixers is said to be as smart as a master of business administration degree from Stanford suggests. He is known to be in the vanguard of using advanced metrics to evaluate players and make decisions. It is tempting from that sketchy information to conclude that Hinkie's hiring should drive the final stake through the Andrew Bynum Error. No matter how Hinkie crunches the numbers on Bynum, the only one that really matters is zero.
SPORTS
May 13, 2013 | By Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
If Chip Kelly drafted Matt Barkley, a quarterback virtually no one thought he could be interested in, then there is no reason to think that he can't start this season. History says fourth-round quarterbacks hardly ever start in the NFL, let alone as rookies. But the NFL is evolving and in certain segments becoming more like the college game than vice versa. And there's something about the Great Kelly Unknown that suggests anything is possible. There are some pertinent reasons to support Barkley's candidacy, among them his decision-making, accuracy, and moxie.
SPORTS
May 12, 2013 | BY LES BOWEN, Daily News Staff Writer bowenl@phillynews.com
MATT BARKLEY is here to play. The Eagles' fourth-round rookie quarterback made that clear yesterday afternoon when he met with reporters following the first workout of rookie camp, which continues through the weekend. The full squad assembles Monday, the first time reporters can watch the team under new coach Chip Kelly. Barkley said Michael Vick and Nick Foles are "outstanding men," who "have both done great things," but "you come in knowing that you have a job. They're trying to take that job as well.
SPORTS
May 10, 2013 | BY LES BOWEN, Daily News Staff Writer bowenl@phillynews.com
NEW COACH Chip Kelly has touted an even competition between Michael Vick and Nick Foles for the Eagles' starting quarterback position, but given the reworked 1-year, $10 million contract the Birds gave Vick, most of us figure he is likely to emerge as the starter. That's pretty much what receiver Jeremy Maclin thinks, as well. Maclin was asked yesterday, if he had to guess, who will be No. 1? "Right now, you've got Mike going with the 'ones' and Nick sprinkling in some reps here and there, so . . . " Maclin said at his Lincoln Financial Field charity event honoring five moms of kids he met through his summer football camp in West Deptford, N.J., where Maclin lives.