Quintin Mikell

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - There are plenty of uncomfortable situations that come with sharing dorm suites at training camp, but splitting one with the primary player you're competing against can be first-date awkward. Kurt Coleman and Jaiquawn Jarrett share a four-man suite, along with cornerbacks Jorrick Cavlin and Trevard Lindley, but the Eagles vying for the starting free-safety position have rooms directly across from one another. In some circumstances, doors might be closed most of the time.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Football-starved media members captured every step of Mike Vick's trot from the training camp check-in building to his white SUV Wednesday on Day 1 of Eagles training camp. A gang of photographers waited for him, snapping pictures, jockeying for position because football is finally back, and Vick is the Eagles' biggest star. "I'm ready," Vick said when he was engulfed by media members on all sides. He was probably referring to the questions about to be asked, but he could have meant playing football, too. He answered four questions and spoke for a whopping 75 seconds.

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.

Even with signs of optimism coming from not-so-secret confidential meetings between the NFL and the former NFLPA, this continues to be one of the most trying NFL offseasons in league history. And for free agents like Quintin Mikell, it has been nothing short of a test of patience. With player movement on hold, Mikell is among the hundreds of free-agents-to-be who are not only waiting to find out when they will get back on the field, but for which team. As the weeks and months continue to pass since the NFL locked its doors, Mikell has trained himself to think not of the uncertainty that dominates his life, but to simply let things play out as they will.

TODD HERREMANS has a video Howard Mudd gave him earlier in the offseason, featuring Herremans' play and images of Colts offensive linemen Mudd coached. Fellow Eagles lineman Austin Howard has one like it. The idea is to give the now-locked-out players an idea of what the new o-line coach wants, since he isn't able to instruct them in person right now. "He sent me a film, clips of myself in the past that he likes, and he'd like to see more of, clips of his guys from over in Indy, so I've been watching that.

Lehigh dean of athletics Joe Sterrett said yesterday that school officials and the Eagles have decided to make the call around mid-June on the viability of holding 2011 training camp in Bethlehem, where it has taken place every year since 1996. Previously, Sterrett had said Lehigh would like to know what's up by early June, so the school could schedule a sports festival or something to fill the gap if the Eagles weren't going to use their late-July through mid-August dates because of the NFL lockout.

On the afternoon before the Eagles selected Temple safety Jaiquawn Jarrett with the 54th pick in the draft, Quintin Mikell took advantage of the temporary lifting of the lockout to swing by the NovaCare Complex. There were things in his locker he wanted. Pictures. Footballs. Cleats. Memorabilia. Workout gear. As he was waiting for a security guard to collect his belongings, Mikell bumped into Howie Roseman, then Andy Reid. They exchanged pleasantries, nothing more. Mikell heard them loud and clear.

If you told Andy Reid he tabbed both his draft selections last night higher than they'd figured to go, Reid probably wouldn't disagree. But the Eagles' coach contended that the nature of this draft, after the first round, led to teams targeting players and grabbing them, even if they might be taking them above their strict grades. The Eagles went for Temple safety Jaiquawn Jarrett with the 54th selection in the second round. Then the Birds completed their night with unheralded Utah State corner Curtis Marsh in the third round.

NOTE TO the next Eagles' defensive coordinator: If you trip and fall around your players next summer, get up quickly. Otherwise you're likely to be on the bottom of a big pile. Maybe it's just Rex-envy, but don't the playoff-eliminated mouths seem noisier than usual this January? Quintin Mikell, Trent Cole, Ellis Hobbs, Jeremiah Trotter all got their licks in on Sean McDermott over the last few days. Wait, Jeremiah Trotter? A qualifier: I'm not sure Mikell was piling on McDermott, or piling on those who made his job more difficult than it needed to be. Same with Hobbs.

Kurt Coleman knows the drill for the first off-season of his NFL career. "I have to get bigger, faster, stronger, and learn to understand the game a little more," Coleman said. The Eagles' rookie safety might have been speaking for all of the team's young players. They gained some experience this season, but their development could be the key to the team's future. "We were able to play young players who were able to get experience," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "Some of those young guys are going to be leaders on this team.