During the first day of full training camp several Eagles suffered injuries, sidelining them for portions of the workouts.
Shawn Andrews (back), roommate Jason Peters (quad), and cornerback Asante Samuel (hamstring) all had to sit out Thursday afternoon's workout after suffering injuries during the day's earlier workouts in the brutal Lehigh Valley heat.
The three of them join three other Eagles on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Andrews, Peters and Samuel join Brian Westbrook (ankle), Victor Abiamiri (pec), and Trevor Laws (hamstring). Players can be listed on the PUP list only on the first day of training camp, but can be removed at any time.
Another casualty from Thursday's workouts was wideout Kevin Curtis, who suffered a thigh contusion when he collided with safety Quintin Demps.
In light of the injury to Samuel, cornerbacks Sheldon Brown and Ellis Hobbs have been practicing as the right and left corners, as opposed to both practicing at the right corner, both their natural position. Since there is no clear display of who is considered the starter, there has been speculation that Brown, who has voiced his displeasure with the front office over a contract dispute, and Hobbs were competing for the starting right corner job. Coach Andy Reid put that to rest Thursday, stating that unless he is persuaded otherwise, he considers Brown to be his starter. That does not mean Hobbs won't start the season as the starter, but Reid considers it Brown's job to lose.
Coach Reid also sounded off on another player controversy, showing his displeasure over the absence of rookie holdout Jeremy Maclin, who has yet to sign a contract with the team.
"You can't buy back that time," Reid said yesterday at Lehigh University after the Eagles' first full-squad practice. "He's going to have to be playing a catch-up game. It's important that he's here; that's the bottom line."
If Maclin is absent from all of Friday's workouts, it will be the fifth day of practice missed by the rookie wideout. It was one thing for him to miss the first three days, which were mandatory only for rookies. But now the entire roster has reported, even the disgruntled Brown, and Maclin's absence is going to set him back more and more with every missed day.
"It's not a very complex deal. If you have more opportunities to work in the offense and with your starting quarterback, then I think you want to take advantage of it. It comes down to playing the game. It's that simple."
When asked where the two sides were in negotiations, Reid responded that they were "not as close as we need to be." It is somewhat surprising as the Eagles are regarded as being very fair with their rookie draft picks, so it seems that Maclin is asking for a lot.
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