Eagles football blog

Kolb, contract in hand, is eager to get to work

Kevin Kolb and his wife, Whitney, showed up at the NovaCare Complex yesterday as the honeymoon continued for the newlywed couple.

Their latest gift came from the Eagles, who gave Kolb a four-year deal worth more than $2.5 million, including a signing bonus. Kolb, a quarterback selected in the second round of the NFL draft out of Houston, will receive base salaries of $285,000 this season, $370,000 in 2008, $460,000 in 2009, and $550,000 in 2010. Continue

Kolb agrees to four-year deal

The Eagles today announced they have agreed to terms with quarterback Kevin Kolb on a four-year contract. Kolb becomes the eighth and final player from the Eagles 2007 draft class to reach an agreement with the club.

"I'm pumped, Kolb said. "It was getting down to the wire, and I think everyone was getting a little bit antsy. I'm very excited, and I know my family is as well, and I hope the Eagles are just as excited as we are." Continue

Eagles sign two draftees

The Eagles signed defensive end Victor Abiamiri and running back Nate Ilaoa yesterday, leaving quarterback Kevin Kolb as the only remaining unsigned player on the roster as the team prepares to open training camp Friday at Lehigh University.

Abiamiri, a second-round pick from Notre Dame, and Ilaoa, a seventh-round pick out of Hawaii, received four-year deals. Abiamiri will compete for a place at defensive end, where the Eagles have five other players with significant NFL experience: Jevon Kearse, Darren Howard, Trent Cole, Juqua Thomas and Jerome McDougle. Abiamiri's arrival could make it difficult for McDougle, a former first-round pick, to remain on the roster.

Ilaoa is part of a crowded depth chart at running back; the Eagles also have Brian Westbrook, Correll Buckhalter, Ryan Moats, and rookie third-round pick Tony Hunt. Continue

Eagles' Abiamiri a confident pick

For now, Victor Abiamiri is the Eagles' other second-round draft pick. He's the guy who doesn't play quarterback and didn't receive all that much attention after being selected by the Eagles last month. These things can change, of course. In fact, it's highly probable that Abiamiri will have more impact on the fate of the 2007 Eagles than quarterback Kevin Kolb, the second-round pick who has been closely scrutinized at the team's never-ending minicamps. Continue

Deep pigskin roots

At first glance, it might not look like the best place to prepare for handling the unique pressures of quarterbacking the Philadelphia Eagles, this town of 15,565 people in west-central Texas. It's a landscape dominated by rolling prairie and super-sized pickup trucks, where the most famous local pro athletes are bull riders. But appearances can deceive.

For one thing, if you can hunt wild hogs with a couple of dogs and a 12-inch bowie knife, the way Kevin Kolb and his friends have, maybe getting booed or being lambasted on talk radio won't seem like such a big deal. "It's not just [about] killing an animal," says Kolb (pronounced Cob), taking a lunch break last week after a workout at the University of Houston. He didn't want to come off like some bloodthirsty savage to the non-hog-hunting fans of his new team, the Eagles, who shocked everyone from Allentown to Atco by taking Kolb with their first selection in the 2007 NFL draft, 36th overall. "A lot of times you've got to work before you reap your reward." Continue

New QB can handle boos

Kevin Kolb understands your puzzlement. Kolb heard the boos when his name was announced as the Eagles' initial selection in the 2007 NFL draft.

"It didn't bother me at all,'' Houston quarterback Kolb, whose name is pronounced "Cobb,'' said yesterday, his first day in residence as the Birds' quarterback of the future. "To be totally honest, I was a little bit shocked, so why wouldn't they be? I think they just were not expecting [the team] to take a quarterback that high. I think they need to trust coach [Andy] Reid's opinion and his decision. He senses something that can fit well. They have a plan for the future, and now it's time to go on with that plan.'' Continue

Eagles' Day 2 picks: cornerback, tight end, safety, RB

With the 22nd pick of the fifth round (159th overall) of this year's NFL Draft, the Eagles took Clemson cornerback C.J. Gaddis. It was the Eagles' first pick of the second day of the draft, and one of the three picks acquired from Dallas yesterday in the trade for Philadelphia's first-round pick this year.

Last season, the 5-foot-11, 203-pound Gaddis played in 12 games for the Tigers, pulling in two interceptions for an average of 13.5 yards each. He also recorded 33 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for losses that totaled 41 yards. Later in the fifth round, with the 25th pick (162nd overall), the Eagles took 6-foot-3, 248-pound. Cincinnati tight end Brent Celek. Continue

Eagles take QB Kolb with first pick, in second round

After trading away their first-round selection in the NFL Draft today, the Eagles took lightly regarded University of Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb with their first pick of the second round, No. 36 overall.

The Eagles selected Notre Dame defensive end Victor Abiamiri with their second pick in the second round, 57th overall. The selection of Kolb, generally rated no better than fourth to sixth among quarterbacks in this year's draft by the so-called experts, had television analysts shaking their heads. Continue

Until pick, it's all talk, nothing certain

The Eagles haven't selected higher than 14th overall in the first round of the NFL draft since 2000, Andy Reid's second season.

When a team consistently chooses well into the first round, it's hard to zero in on a player whom the team covets. It's hard for observers, and it's even hard for the team. General manager Tom Heckert spoke recently of a group of players the Eagles expect to be available when their turn comes this afternoon, 26th overall. Unless you trade up, you can't possibly know which of those players you're going to take. You can like one more than the others, you can hypothesize that he probably will be there because you hear this team likes that guy and that team likes the other guy, but until the team directly ahead of you picks, you can't know for sure. Continue

Eagles have clear target: Linemen

The Eagles like to draft linemen. This, of course, is not breaking news. It's a philosophy that the team adopted the instant it hired Andy Reid to be its head coach. Since that day in 1999, the Eagles have used 41 percent of their picks (27 of 66) on either an offensive or defensive lineman. No other team has taken more than that during Reid's tenure. Fifteen of the Eagles' picks have been offensive linemen, which is also a league high.

The Eagles have used five of their eight first-round picks during the Reid era on linemen, including three on defensive tackles (Brodrick Bunkley, Mike Patterson and Corey Simon), and one on a defensive end (Jerome McDougle). "They're tough to find," Eagles general manager Tom Heckert said when asked about the team's penchant for picking linemen. "Your odds are against you if you think you're going to come up with Trent Coles every year. That's great if you can do it, but you can't count on that." Continue