Prospects and Suspects in Eagles Camp…

It's a tough reality to swallow for some of these athletes. You've been labeled an "NFL Prospect" during all of your high school and college careers, and then suddenly—you are a "Suspect"…

90 guys make the TC roster— but in 3 or 4 weeks, 37 of 'em will be given plane tickets home or at worst an "injury settlement"— which on average is about $40 grand.

No worries. Right now, all of 'em are being paid to study, prepare for and to play football. Not a bad summer job for a young man, if you ask me. $1400 a week plus room and board? I would have jumped at it if they asked me…

 

Here's the complete training camp roster. We'll try to identify the guys we think are the "Suspects"…

Some of the "suspects" have been on the Eagles roster before—and some are rookies…

It's a cruel numbers game—but it must be played out.

Here's the roster going into TC, in alphabetical order:

Emmanuel Acho, LB, Texas

Nate Allen, S, South Florida

Colt Anderson, S, Montana

Jason Avant, WR, Michigan

Michael Bamiro, OT, Stony Brook

Allen Barbre, OT, Missouri Southern State

Matt Barkley, QB, USC

Connor Barwin, LB, Cincinnati

Arrelious Benn, WR, Illinois

Brandon Boykin, CB, Georgia

Bryce Brown, RB, Kansas State

Everette Brown, DE, Florida State

Derek Carrier, TE, Beloit

James Casey, TE, Rice

Brent Celek, TE, Cincinnati

Jamar Chaney, LB, Miss. State

Patrick Chung, S, Oregon

Kurt Coleman, S, Ohio State

Trent Cole, DE, Cincinnati

Riley Cooper, WR, Florida

Fletcher Cox, DT, Miss. State

B.J. Cunningham, WR, Michigan State

Vinny Curry, DE, Marshall

Antonio Dixon, DT, Miami (Fla.)

Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon

Jon Dorenbos, LS, UTEP

Zach Ertz, TE, Stanford

Bradley Fletcher, CB, iowa

Nick Foles, QB, Arizona

Clifton Geathers, DE, South Carolina

Brandon Graham, DE, Michigan

Clay Harbor, TE, Missouri State

Alex Henery, K, Nebraska

Todd Herremans, OT, Saginaw Valley State

Brandon Hughes, CB, Oregon State

Phillip Hunt, DE, Houston

Emil Igwenagu, FB, UMass

DeSean Jackson, WR, California

Damaris Johnson, WR, Tulsa

Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma

Donnie Jones, P, LSU

Felix Jones, RB, Arkansas

Jason Kelce, C, Cincinnati

Dennis Kelly, OT, Purdue

Mychal Kendricks, LB, California

David King, DE, Oklahoma

G.J. Kinne, QB, Tulsa

Jake Knott, LB, Iowa State

Matt Kopa, OT, Stanford

Joe Kruger, DE/LB, Utah

Trevard Lindley, CB, Kentucky

Bennie Logan, DT, LSU

Jeremy Maclin, WR, Missouri

Curtis Marsh, CB, Utah State

Evan Mathis, G, Alabama

Casey Matthews, LB, Oregon

Chris McCoy, DE/LB, Mid. Tennessee State

LeSean McCoy, RB, Pittsburgh

Nate Menkin, G, Mary Hardin-Baylor

Nick Miller, WR, Southern Utah

Ifeanyi Momah, WR, Boston College

Will Murphy, WR, Oregon

Jason Peters, OT, Arkansas

Jason Phillips, LB, TCU

Kenny Phillips, S, Miami (Fla.)

Chris Polk, RB, Washington

Jordan Poyer, CB, Oregon State

Nic Purcell, OT, Golden West

Isaac Remington, DE, Oregon

Dallas Reynolds, C, BYU

DeMeco Ryans, LB, Alabama

Greg Salas, WR, Hawaii

Will Shaw, TE, Youngstown State

Russell Shepard, WR, LSU

David Sims, S, Iowa State

Isaac Sopoaga, DT, Hawaii

Damion Square, DE, Alabama

Matt Tennant, C, Boston College

Cedric Thornton, DT, Southern Arkansas

Matt Tobin, OT, Iowa

Matthew Tucker, RB, TCU

Julian Vandervelde, G, Iowa

Michael Vick, QB, Virginia Tech

Daryell Walker, DE, Hampton

Ed Wang, OT, Virginia Tech

Danny Watkins, G, Baylor

Eddie Whitley, CB, Virginia Tech

Cary Williams, CB, Washburn

Brad Wing, P, LSU

Earl Wolff, S, N.C. State

First big "Suspect" of the day— "If-He-Any-Good" Momah, the 6-7 receiver from Boston College. JB-Sage-Lion and Dr. Funt did a nice analysis yesterday of why Momah will NOT make this team. He's a huge "Suspect".

Nate Allen and Kurt Coleman are "Suspects"  at safety. Kenny Phillips is a "Suspect" due to his injury history— kinda reminds me of the Ellis Hobbs experience, although Hobbs played at CB.

Now Earl Wolff is a "Prospect" at safety— put some meat and muscle on this guy, and watch him deliver! He's a natural…

Sadly, Vinny Curry at DE is a "Suspect"— nobody loves the Eagles more than Curry, and nobody wants to succeed at being a productive Eagle more than Curry—  but his game may be better suited for another kind of defense than the Birds have planned.

Colt Anderson is still a "Prospect", because he flies on special teams—and he can be a serviceable backup at safety. Kurt Coleman at safety?—major "Suspect"…

Curtis Marsh is an interesting case at cornerback— he is a combination of "Prospect" and "Suspect". That's the quality of player he is. You may never know what you got until you plug him in there on a regular basis. And that makes him a tough judgement call for the coaches.

Danny Watkins is a "Suspect" at guard until proven otherwise. He shows up a lot on the lately departed GK Brizer's "Big O" contest ballots as the likely guy to start the season at RG for the Birds.

All-Pro Jason Peters is suddenly a "Suspect" at left tackle. How can you really depend on this guy after not one but two torn Achilles injuries on the same tendon? As a form of respect for Brizer, I will repeat what the GK said—"I foresee hammy and knee issues with Peters" continuing throughout the 2013 season. This will make Peters a huge unknown if it develops that way. Maybe you can stockpile him for a playoff run, the way Harbs did with Bryant McKinnie for the Ravens last year? Hate to say it, but Peters is a "Suspect".

At quarterback?  Vick = "Suspect".  Foles = "Suspect". Barkley = "Prospect"!!!. Dixon = "Suspect"… Kinne = "Suspect"…

You can pretty much go down the roster and pick out the rest of the "Prospects" and the "Suspects".  This is not brain surgery.

And now a word about the "First" (or Home Run Count) controversy that has driven my mentor Brizer away from this site.

I refuse to engage in a lynch mob against DDD, who has been tearing it up over at  PE.com's OTI (Dave Spadaro's column) with his HR count. Trips is one of the original "Four Horsemen" over at OTI— along with Brizer, JB-Sage-Lion, and Woody. (Later, Leo Pizzini became the "5th Beatle")…

3D is accused of manipulating the mechanism whereby Dave turns over a new article. Traditionally Dave will break his column on the Message Boards, then do a final edit—

Apparently you can set up an auto-alert when Dave posts a new column. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. It's something any poster can do when he or she wants to know when Dave is posting.

DDD does that. He's not the only one, I'm sure.

But the allegation that 3D then somehow wipes out all other posters when Dave's edited or corrected article finally hits the PE.com Forum is completely unproven.

I don't see, and it has NOT been proven, that DDD has the editorial power to wipe out other posters.

Unless DDD really is Dave, it doesn't seem feasible.

There is no hard evidence to support the theory that somehow DDD is doing anything more than taking everything the sport has to offer.

There's your legal challenge— prove with hard evidence that DDD erases other posters in order to get the "First"…

I haven't seen it. I know when Dave makes even the slightest change to his first draft, the article I.D. changes and the early posters drop out of the archived version.

I will miss Brizer. He has changed my life for the better. But this has been a rush to judgement. It is a pity to lose greatness from Brizer on account of a judicial disagreement. This site will suck without him.

But I believe with every conviction of truth in my veins that Brizer and his disciples have not proven without a shadow of a doubt that DDD is cheating.

Justice. It's a hard thing to administer. Brizer has been my Moses. He found me floating in a reed basket in the Nile. But for the sake of Justice, I must stand up to Brizer. He is not "she who must be obeyed". He is a man. And he is a good man. And I am a man who must preserve justice at all costs. Even when it means defending the right of Triple D to a fair trial.