Trent Cole

BETHLEHEM — It never will be normal here again. Garrett Reid was found dead at training camp Sunday morning. Nearly every significant player and every single coach at Lehigh University forever will connect this school and its dorms and the practice fields and the locker room with the shocking death of a 29-year-old who, a team statement issued last night implied, could not escape his past drug use. His family never judged him. It only...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - They arrived in Lehigh on a July afternoon in 2005, a few months removed from Donovan McNabb's scoring drive in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and a few weeks away from Terrell Owens' performing crunches for television cameras on his front lawn. They were the new batch of players joining a franchise approaching the apex of the NFL, members of an 11-man draft class on a team that had won four consecutive NFC East titles. After seven completed seasons, Mike Patterson, Todd Herremans, and Trent Cole remain.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - If you want to know what Jim Washburn thinks of one of his defensive linemen, stand next to him on the sideline during team drills at training camp. The Eagles don't allow reporters covering the team to write, blog, or tweet what coaches or players say during practices at Lehigh University. But all you need is a VIP invitation to camp to obtain a sideline pass and you, too, can hear an old-school football coach cuss out his defensive linemen. Since Washburn joined the Eagles a year ago, coach Andy Reid has stocked the front four with loads of talent.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - On one side of the defensive line knelt Brandon Graham, a former first-round pick determined to rid himself of the label of draft disappointment. On the other side hunched Darryl Tapp, determined to keep a spot in a crowded pass-rushing rotation after six seasons in the NFL. All around them stood mostly first-team defenders. These were not the pass-rushers penciled in on the Eagles' starting lineup, but they were the lead pass rushers on Wednesday. The defensive line that led the NFL in sacks last season lined up for practice Wednesday afternoon without two defensive ends who led the team in sacks.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - One player who won't be seen on the Lehigh University practice fields is Albert Haynesworth, the former Pro Bowler/malcontent who is now a free agent. Haynesworth often is linked to the Eagles because of his close relationship with defensive line coach Jim Washburn, who coached Haynesworth in Tennessee. Even with Mike Patterson sidelined, it didn't sound as if Washburn was pushing for a Haynesworth reunion. "I think he's finished," Washburn said. "His back's degenerative.

As we count down to the beginning of training camp, the Daily News will answer a Big Eagles Question each day. In Part II, how will the defense — and the wide-nine — fare with its additions, subtractions and mainstays under second-year coordinator Juan Castillo? SO, CAN THE wide-nine defensive line scheme progress in its third iteration in less than a year? Yes … assuming Trent Cole remains healthy and productive. Any defense, even Juan Castillo's, works with Cole as its fulcrum.

IT'S BEEN almost a month since Brandon Graham called himself "a bust. " Back in May, amid a week of high-octane work in which he showed his old speed and a new, svelter frame, Graham said he was well aware of the tweets and social media taunts that have accompanied his long return from microfracture surgery to repair a torn right anterior cruciate ligament, and the stunning emergence of Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who was taken a few...

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.

JIM WASHBURN WAS telling a story the other day, a story about himself, laced with equal parts down-home, self-deprecation and what-the-hell. It is what the Eagles' defensive line coach does. It was a story from back in 1999, when Washburn was interviewing for a defensive line coach job with Jeff Fisher, then the coach of the Tennessee Titans. "It was me and him and Gregg Williams – ooh, I shouldn't have said that," Washburn said, smiling. Williams, of course, is the man who was banished by the NFL for running a bounty program in New Orleans.

For a two-time Pro Bowler, a top-flight defensive end on a high-profile team, a guy who has had double-digit sacks four of the last five years, we don't often hear a lot about Trent Cole. He said he's fine with that. Cole bluntly said he believes he could drum up more attention for himself if he made himself more media friendly and sought out exposure. But he'd rather hunt. "I could go out there and exploit myself, and they'll recognize. . . . It can help me out here or there.