Nick Cole

POSITION: Right guard HEIGHT, WEIGHT: 6-0, 350 AGE: 24 BIRTHDATE: July 28, 1984 HOMETOWN: Lawton, Okla. COLLEGE: New Mexico State YEARS PRO: 3 (all with Eagles) HOW ACQUIRED: Signed as a rookie free agent in 2006. He is not related to Eagles defensive lineman Trent Cole. THIS YEAR: A backup center, Cole played all 14 games and started the last two at right guard in place of Max Jean-Gilles. FAVORITE ATHLETE: Former Chiefs offensive lineman Will Shields, a 12-time Pro Bowler and likely Hall of Famer from Lawton, who retired after the 2006 season.

The way Andy Reid portrayed it, Nick Cole was returning to his rightful place when the Eagles' coach named him the starting right guard after trading away Stacy Andrews on Saturday. Cole spent most of last season at right guard until center Jamaal Jackson suffered a knee injury. Cole moved over to center for the final two games of the season, and as Jackson rehabbed through the off-season and training camp, Cole stayed at center. Andrews, meanwhile, was penciled in as starting right guard, the position the Eagles felt he would secure for several years when they signed him to a six-year, $38.9 million deal in February 2008.

For Cowboys nose tackle Jay Ratliff, going against an inexperienced center would seem to be a mismatch. Then again, it's usually a mismatch, no matter who lines up across from Ratliff. The Eagles' Nick Cole will be nose-to-nose with Ratliff when he makes his first NFL start at center Sunday. If Ratliff dominates the head-to-head battle the way it appears on paper, the Cowboys' defense could have a field day. "His role is critical every week, whether he's playing against a Pro Bowler or the next guy," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said.

Standing and observing his fellow offensive linemen, Jamaal Jackson looked as healthy as he has been in several minicamps. But when the group of linemen would move and the Eagles center had to walk, the steps were laborious and the limp noticeable. As they are with all injuries, the Eagles have been ambiguous about Jackson's recovery from the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in December. Of course, with knees, there is no exact science. In March, Eagles coach Andy Reid said that Jackson would likely miss training camp and the preseason, and that he expected him back "in the beginning of the season.

The Eagles' second offensive play Sunday was a run. Who knows exactly where it was designed to go because it ended before it started with Brian Westbrook thrown for a 5-yard loss by Fred Robbins, the New York Giants' supersize defensive tackle. Nick Cole, playing in place of the injured Max Jean-Gilles, was to blame for the negative play. "I took some bad steps, and I took a bad angle," Cole said. He never got close to Robbins. That might have been the start of a bad day for Cole and the Eagles' offensive line, but the third-year undrafted reserve center turned starting right guard remembered an important rule.

STACY ANDREWS isn't sure what the Eagles' acquisition yesterday of veteran guard Reggie Wells means for him, but Andrews knows he doesn't like hearing in the media that Wells might take Andrews' right guard spot, and that Andrews might be traded or released. "I felt like I was pretty solid in there [against Kansas City, his last preseason action], but I guess they felt otherwise," Andrews said. He said he hasn't gotten any indication from coaches he is on shaky ground. Andrews said he thinks he is making progress learning to play right guard, but "I would not have signed here from the jump" to be a guard.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Agent Drew Rosenhaus avoided the question as well as his top Eagles client evaded pass coverage during the season. Asked about DeSean Jackson's contract situation, the agent said he wasn't inclined to discuss it as he continued to head upfield yesterday after the NFC squad's Pro Bowl practice at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Comcast SportsNet cited two sources as saying Rosenhaus is getting...

UP NEXT Who: Cleveland (4-9) at Eagles (7-5-1) When: Monday, Dec. 15, 8:30 p.m. Where: Lincoln Financial Field TV: ESPN, 6ABC Radio: WYSP (94.1-FM), WIP (610-AM) Last meeting: Eagles won, 34-31, in overtime on Oct. 24, 2004. Series history: Browns lead, 31-14-1. The Eagles have not beaten the Browns in Philly since 1967, having lost the last four meetings here. EAGLES INJURY REPORT -- Kevin Curtis, concussion. Will be monitored this week.

Andy Reid said Kevin Kolb and the starters will play the first half tomorrow night at Cincinnati. Mike Vick is scheduled to play the third quarter and Mike Kafka the fourth. Not playing this week are centers Nick Cole (knee swelling) and Jamaal Jackson (still recovering from ACL surgery), left guard Todd Herremans (foot), corner David Pender (illness) and defensive end Victor Abiamiri, who remains on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from microfracture surgery.

The Eagles' flurry of free-agent signings at the end of the lockout garnered deserved attention. The Birds, however, have always been a player in free agency, just in a less compressed time period and with fewer big names. Here are the key free agents by year in Andy Reid's tenure as coach: 1999 David Akers Charles Johnson Sean Landeta Lonnie Palelei Doug Pederson Torrance Small 2000 Jon Runyan Mike Bartrum Carlos Emmons Paul Grasmanis Brian Mitchell 2001 N.D. Kalu James Thrash Josh PArry (R)

The Eagles' flurry of free-agent signings at the end of the lockout garnered deserved attention. The Birds, however, have always been a player in free agency, just in a less compressed time period and with fewer big names. Here are the key free agents by year in Andy Reid's tenure as coach: 1999 David Akers Charles Johnson Sean Landeta Lonnie Palelei Doug Pederson Torrance Small 2000 Jon Runyan Mike Bartrum Carlos Emmons Paul Grasmanis Brian Mitchell 2001 N.D. Kalu James Thrash Josh PArry (R)

"It's not multiple choice. " - Howard Mudd, April 6, 2011 During the dog days of the NFL lockout, a little more than two months after he was named the Eagles new offensive line coach, Howard Mudd gave a 75-minute dissertation on the correct way to block. The choices were: a. Mudd's way. b. Juan Castillo's way. c. Any other coach's way. Answer: a. After a month of training camp, the Eagles offensive linemen are learning what a reporter found out four months prior only because the irascible Mudd didn't have any players to coach.

BETHLEHEM - The Eagles have done some impressive things in the last week that have convinced even their biggest detractors that they are really, really serious about this whole Super Bowl business. They have gone out and reshaped a defense that let them down in a big way last season. Even if Asante Samuel ends up being traded, the additions of cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie have definitely improved a secondary that gave up a franchise-record 31 touchdown passes last season.

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.

IRST THINGS FIRST. Yes, if the NFLPA finally ratifies the new labor agreement today, the league year and free agency should start on Saturday, which is when the Eagles apparently would be free to trade Kevin Kolb. But before you get too wrapped up in the merits of the Eagles' signing cornerback Johnathan Joseph vs., say, defensive end Charles Johnson, remember this: Teams will have 72 hours to sign their own free agents before the jamboree begins. There is no way of knowing exactly who will still be available at the end of that period.

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.

The Eagles tendered contracts to two more restricted free agents on Thursday, securing rights to running back Jerome Harrison and punter Sav Rocca. If another team was to make an offer for Harrison the Eagles would receive a second-round draft pick if they chose not to match. They have the right of first refusal for Rocca but would receive no compensation if the punter were to sign with another team. On Wednesday, the Eagles tendered linebacker Stewart Bradley (second round)

By his own admission, Mike McGlynn was a work in progress this season. The same could be said for the entire Eagles offensive line. Right to the bitter end, when King Dunlap replaced Winston Justice at right tackle in the second half of Sunday's 21-16 wild-card playoff loss to Green Bay, the Eagles' offensive line was unsettled and unsteady. One constant in the lineup was McGlynn, a third-year player who took over the starting center position from the injured Jamal Jackson in Week 2. But McGlynn's situation underscored the shaky state of the offensive line as the former University of Pittsburgh athlete was playing center for the first time in his career and was forced to learn on the fly. "You can't replace experience," McGlynn said.

David Akers was dealing with a lot more than just kicking field goals on Sunday. The Eagles' kicker missed two crucial field goals in the Eagles' 21-16 playoff loss to the Packers. But Akers' mind may have been elsewhere. Several of his teammates said after the game that the kicker was dealing with personal matters in the week leading up to the game. His agent, Jerrold Colton, said Monday that the matter was a "family health concern. " "David makes no excuses," Colton said.