Eagles Rookie WR Damaris Johnson Trying To Make The Best Of A 2nd Chance
BREAKING NEWS, Eagles, News, Wide Receivers Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Eagles head coach Andy Reid and General Manager Howie Roseman are looking at players, who have made mistakes in their lives but learned from them a little differently nowadays. They want make sure they’re avoiding guys with real problems, but not turning down talented players, who may have made a youthful mistake, but aren’t bad kids.
“Yeah, we have a couple guys that we’re giving a second chance to,” head coach Andy Reid said when camp ended Monday. “They goofed up and we felt through our evaluation process that they’re not bad kids and we’ll give them a chance. They know they goofed up, and that’s important. And they admitted they goofed up, which is really important. We’ll see if there’s a change that takes place.”
The most talented of those youngsters this weekend seemed to be rookie free agent wide receiver Damaris Johnson. He was very impressive during the rookie camp. He did a good job of getting open and he caught the football nearly all the time it hit his hands.
This young man is as quick as a cat. His quickness and speed jump out at you. Johnson’s got a tremendous burst when he comes off the line of scrimmage plus as I pointed out previously he can catch the football.
Johnson is only 5’7″ and he told me yesterday that he weighed 175 pounds. He’ll have to prove he can take the poundings that are dished out on this level or as he told me, “he’ll need to prove he can avoid the poundings that are dished out on this level”.
Remember that Johnson broke the record for the most all-purpose yardage gained by a player in NCAA football history and he did this without playing his senior year. From the moment I saw him on the Youtube video I could tell that he’s the type of player, who catches the eye of Andy Reid.
Johnson ran for over 1000 as a running back at Tulsa, caught passes for 1000′s yards, while returning punts and kick offs. Any time you put the ball in his hands, he makes things happen.
Johnson talked about the big mistake he made which cost him his senior season at Tulsa University. The rookie received about $2,600 of goods from the Macy’s store in Tulsa where his girlfriend worked, but he paid only about $13 for it. He received a felony embezzlement conviction and has the chance to have that conviction expunged from his record, if he does a certain number of hours of community service.
To say the least, the young man is thrilled about the Birds giving him another chance and he’s eager to show that he has learned from his mistake.
“I’m very thankful for the Eagles giving me the opportunity”, Johnson said after the workout yesterday. “That’s why I go out every day and try to show them everything I got. I couldn’t be in a better place.”
I could see him giving Chad Hall a run for his money. Johnson has to prove he’s big enough to play on this level. Can he learn this offense and will he hang onto the football?
I can guarantee you that he’s fast and quick enough to make tacklers miss.
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Posted by GarryCobb
on May 15 2012. Filed under BREAKING NEWS, Eagles, News, Wide Receivers.
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Let me get this straight. Vinnie. Maclins never done shit but the jury is out on Cruz and Austin who have actually done it? lol yeah that makes sense.
The Eagles have announced that McCoy has agreed to terms on a new deal, and a league source tells PFT’s Mike Florio that it’s a five-year, $45 million contract, which goes through the 2017 season, with $20.765 in full guarantees.The contract includes a signing bonus of $8.5 million and base salaries of $615,000 in 2012, $3.25 million in 2013, $8 million in 2014, $10.25 million in 2015, $7.15 million in 2016 and $7.85 million in 2017.
You are talking about the VIctor Cruz who had 3 catches as a rookie (compared to 55 for Maclin’s rookie year) then followed it up with an out of the blue 2nd year at 82 catches (with a much better QB than Maclin has had) He’s “done it” once. One year.
All I’m saying there is I’m always cautious with guys who suddenly have great seasons out of nowhere, they often fall back to their mean (see: Vick, Michael) Perhaps Cruz will keep up the production…I think he might, but the jury is still out. I’ll take Maclin’s steady progress over first 2 seasons, followed by injury filled setback. If Maclin had Cruz’s QB his #s would be better than they are.
As for Austin….are you talking about the guy who went 0 catches, 5 catches, 13 catches, 81 catches (contract year) and has followed that up with 69 and then 43 catches (injured)….Sorry…again, there’s another case of a guy who BAM! roars out of nowhere and then fades away….NFL littered with guys like that. I’ll take Maclin any day over Austin.
Or Austin who
So really a 3 year contract for McCoy. Dubtful he’ll be seeing that 2015 the way its structured.
Smart the Birds are the way they set their contracts. Always short, and always with an easy out.
Shadey is only 23 vinnie….he would be 26 in 2015…..I’ll bet he is still with us
He very well might be with the Eagles in 2015, but he’ll have to be signing a new deal then for that to happen….
Its the way nfl contracts work. The “total” $$ is always irrelevant. Just for show. The only important # is the guaranteed $$.
In this case, its basically a 3 yr deal at 7 mill/season.
Nice – get MAclin locked up – the last two draft picks and I am happy – sign Bell and I could have one of those Dcar joygasms
You know what I would not give Maclin and extension just yet, let’s see how he play’s thru the first half of the season then the Eagles should resign him if he is having the great year you guy’s claim he is going to have. To me that’s fair