Mike Kafka

1. He'll be fine. 2. He'll continue to struggle. Get Mike Kafka ready.

The Eagles on Tuesday signed fourth-round draft picks Mike Kafka, a quarterback, and Clay Harbor, a tight end, to four-year deals. Kafka, out of Northwestern, is likely to be the third-string quarterback this year behind Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick. Harbor, from Missouri State, figures to battle with Cornelius Ingram for the job backing up Brent Celek. The Eagles have signed nine of their 13 draft picks, all from the fourth round or later.   - Jonathan Tamari    

No, the Eagles should not have brought Donovan McNabb back this year. Let's make that point clear right at the top. Now that we have, we can take a look at what really is a strange and fascinating confluence of circumstances. On Wednesday, Andy Reid confirmed that rookie Nick Foles will be the Eagles' No. 2 quarterback - a vitally important job considering the injury history of starter Michael Vick. On that same day, the NFL Network announced that it had hired McNabb as an analyst for this season - a sign the 35-year-old has very likely played his final down in the league.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - There is no mystery backup quarterback. The Eagles don't have a card in their back pocket that they're waiting to play. Mike Kafka is the No. 2 to starter Michael Vick. And while coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg insist that there is still a competition for that spot, Kafka will open the season as the backup barring some unforeseen event. "There's competition there," Mornhinweg said Monday at training camp. "We'll see. Mike Kafka's had an excellent camp up to date.

Crunch Time is a compilation of notable hits, and a few misses, from Eagles training camp in Bethlehem. Rookie Vinny Curry sacked Mike Kafka. As in, threw him to the ground. Good thing for Curry it wasn't Michael Vick; those quarterbacks are wearing red jerseys for a reason. You're supposed to get there, then stop with your arms up until a coach decrees a sack. At most, you're allowed to tag ‘em. Jamel Hamler, a former Fresno State wideout who finished last season on the Eagles' practice squad, had a couple of impressive catches.

The Eagles announced that they released reserve quarterback Trent Edwards on Monday, a day before the team opens its first minicamp under coach Chip Kelly.   Edwards' release comes as little surprise. The Eagles added two quarterbacks already this offseason - Dennis Dixon and G.J. Kinne - and are expected to select another during next week's NFL draft.   Kelly has said that his offensive system does not require mobile quarterbacks, but Dixon and Kinne are considered athletic quarterbacks.

Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick have joined last week's rookie camp quarterbacks, Mike Kafka and Joey Elliott. Kolb agreed that every organized team activity for him is a little different this year, with Donovan McNabb gone and all eyes on Kolb as the new starter. "It is a totally different approach," he said. "I'm already setting myself up for, 'Hey, look it off this way because this is the way it's going to be in game time' . . . try to work game-time mode as much as possible.

When about a dozen Eagles players gathered in South Jersey on Wednesday for informal workouts, Mike Kafka was the first to arrive. The quarterback sat in his modest Nissan sedan until the rest of the group arrived in their Lexuses, Range Rovers, and supersize trucks. Eagles fans who had scouted out the practice location then emerged from out of nowhere and flocked to the players for autographs like bees to pollen. Virtually unnoticed, Kafka simply laced up his cleats at his car, walked to the field, and went to work.

The Eagles announced that they released reserve quarterback Trent Edwards on Monday, a day before the team opens its first minicamp under coach Chip Kelly.   Edwards' release comes as little surprise. The Eagles added two quarterbacks already this offseason - Dennis Dixon and G.J. Kinne - and are expected to select another during next week's NFL draft.   Kelly has said that his offensive system does not require mobile quarterbacks, but Dixon and Kinne are considered athletic quarterbacks.

The news of Mike Kafka's signing a futures contract with the New England Patriots on Thursday makes this a good time to revisit the Eagles' 2010 draft class - and specifically the fourth round. That's when Kafka went. He was one of four fourth-round picks for the Eagles. A fourth-round pick in the NFL has value - but not significant value. There's rougly a 10 percent chance of finding a starter in that round. Of course, based on those odds, the Eagles had a realistic statistical chance of finding a starter in that round.

We're in new territory with Nick Foles. Forever (or since Andy Reid has been head coach, whichever is longer), we've been watching young quarterbacks and trying to gauge how they're developing in Reid's offense. Donovan McNabb. Koy Detmer. A.J. Feeley. Kevin Kolb. Mike Kafka. Even Michael Vick; he wasn't exactly young when he got here, but the issue was whether he could develop into an effective QB in Reid's system. It's the other way around now. We're trying to get a read on Foles, but Reid isn't really relevant any more.

Nick Foles was the sixth quarterback selected in the NFL draft by the Eagles during Andy Reid's tenure as head coach, and, considering only where he fell in the draft, it would be fair to say the organization's expectations placed him squarely in the middle of that pack. Donovan McNabb was taken with a high first-round pick and Kevin Kolb with an early second-round pick, and it was obvious in both cases that the Eagles believed they would become legitimate starters at the position.

NICK FOLES normally strides into the Eagles' NovaCare practice facility sometime around 7 o'clock each morning. Once settled, his normal routine involves somewhere around 5 or 6 hours of studying, which surrounds a morning walk-through and an afternoon practice. Through his first 6 weeks as an NFL quarterback, Foles has relied on veterans Michael Vick and Trent Edwards and used his time to tackle the intricacies of Andy Reid's complicated offense. "I've studied so much since I got here that sometimes I feel like I'm back in school," Foles said last week as the Eagles prepared for the Lions.

THE IRONY of the 2012 Eagles draft class is that the one rookie who could ultimately have the most effect on how the season turns is the one nobody hopes to have to rely on. Despite being a third-round draft pick, Nick Foles was not selected with the thought that he would be the Eagles' No. 2 quarterback. That was going to be either third-year player Mike Kafka or former Buffalo starter Trent Edwards, signed as a free agent. But Foles' play during training camp and in the preseason earned him the immediate backup spot behind Michael Vick.

No, the Eagles should not have brought Donovan McNabb back this year. Let's make that point clear right at the top. Now that we have, we can take a look at what really is a strange and fascinating confluence of circumstances. On Wednesday, Andy Reid confirmed that rookie Nick Foles will be the Eagles' No. 2 quarterback - a vitally important job considering the injury history of starter Michael Vick. On that same day, the NFL Network announced that it had hired McNabb as an analyst for this season - a sign the 35-year-old has very likely played his final down in the league.

Trent Edwards will go to Jeffrey Lurie's home on Friday for a mandatory team barbecue. Edwards will smile and make eye contact with anyone who greets him, knowing that at the NoveCare Complex, an evaluation will be made by Eagles coach Andy Reid and general manager Howie Roseman about whether Edwards will be on the team past 9 p.m. This is Edwards' reality - even after an impressive performance in the Eagles' 28-10 win over the New York Jets in...

When Nick Foles first took the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the preseason opener, the swooning over the Eagles' rookie backup quarterback had not yet begun. He was then just a shaggy-haired project known only by the most intense of Eagles loyalists and those who ventured to Lehigh to watch training camp. Four weeks later, the hysteria is in full effect. Foles, whom coach Andy Reid named the No. 2 quarterback earlier this week, started his second straight preseason game in the Eagles' 28-10 win over the New York Jets Thursday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Nick Foles entered the preseason as the Eagles' No. 3 quarterback and will exit as the No. 2, a promotion that came after Foles' standout effort during the last three weeks and Mike Kafka's lingering hand injury. "He's in that position right now, yeah," coach Andy Reid said Tuesday when asked if Foles is the top backup. Pressed for clarification, Reid emphasized it's the standing at this time. "Right now, that's what he is," Reid said. "He's the one that's going to play and start [Thursday's]