To my surprise, there was no Sean Considine or Brodrick Bunkley at the camp, today. I was especially surprised to not see Bunkley, since he did absolutely nothing a year ago, other than put on his uniform and stand on the sideline.
This camp is supposed to be for youngsters who need some focused work before the real training camp starts in a couple of months. I saw 2nd year defensive tackle LaJuan Ramsey there but didn't see big Bunkley. I guess they figure he's not going to get a lot out this camp,because the defensive tackles normally don't. Also he's been in here since the season finished so there's not much left to go over with him.
You could see rookie QB Kevin Kolb has been hard at work trying to digest this offense. The kid looked sharper and there were no balls on the ground today from center-quarterback snaps. You could appreciate his ability to take instruction then go correct his mistakes. For instance the Eagles were running some red zone routes with the receivers catching balls in the endzone. The midget, little Jeremy Bloom, ran kind of get open route where he fakes inside then outside then back inside. On the first throw, Kolb's pass sailed high over Bloom's head. Mornhinweg talked to him for a moment, then they ran the route again and bang the ball was there.
Most of his throws throughout the workout were 1,2, 3, release which is what you want in the short passing offense. He even did some scrambling during one of the passing drills and connected while rolling to his left for an across the body TD throw. Most of the things they did today was vintage Andy Reid prior to Terrell Owens. There were a lot of throws downfield into the teeth of the defense. Kolb and Kerry Holcomb made a lot of throws to short crossing receivers. Kolb made some dangerous throws during 7 on 7 drills, but I like it because it's what you need to do, in order to be a productive QB. He threw a ball across his body into triple coverage that could have and should have been picked off. I like the daring but he can't those type of Bret Favre-like decisions.
I mentioned Jeremy Bloom earlier but the little guy is doing an outstanding job. He's as quick as lightning and you could see Reid and Mornhinweg getting the balls in his and giving him a chance to do something, if he makes the team. Remember they're just in shorts. We'll find out about Bloom when he gets pounded in the preseason.
It was draw day for the Birds run offense. Tony Hunt and Nate Ilaoa must have ran 50 draws a piece from the individual drills, to offensive team drills to the offense versus defense team drills. They ran every kind of draw you can imagine because Andy Reid loves the play and Brian Westbrook is very good at running it. Hunt seems to have the patience which Westbrook employs only he's much bigger but not nearly as fast. Ilaoa has good feet and seems to be a very instinctive runner. He built like short and wide storage freezer. It's going to be fun watching defensive backs try to tackle him.
Outside linebackers Chris Gocong and Torrance Daniels were there working. Daniels has raw skills that you don't normally see lot of. He's an impressive looking, big, fast and quick athlete. I'd like to see him on the field on nickle situations, if possible.
Kevin Curtis, Shawn Andrews, Ryan Moats and Matt McCoy were put through a tough speed, agility and conditioning workout on a side field as the younger Birds got a chance to get some detailed work with the coaches.
I like what I'm seeing out of free agent Bill Sampy. Sampy is very comparable to Reggie Brown in both size and speed. For lack of a better comparison, I would say he is a "poor man's Reggie Brown". Sampy doesn't have much experience but I give him a shot of taking Greg Lewis' spot. Lewis is also in question because Bloom or Johnson are return men and receivers. One of them could move Greg Lewis out of that fourth or fifth receiver spot.
The young offensive linemen worked on punching while pass blocking. Winston Justice is still waiting in the wings behind William Thomas. He's put on some muscle which was needed, now he needs to get some work.
I'll have more for you shortly on the first day of camp for the youngsters.
