August 04, 2017
Last season, Malcolm Jenkins protested racial inequality during the national anthem of every Eagles game in his own way (with a raised fist), following former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s lead.
Kaepernick is still somehow a hot button issue around the NFL, as he remains unsigned despite reports that coaches and general managers want to sign him. And because of this, Jenkins had strong words for NFL owners according to the Delaware New Journal’s Martin Frank:
"This is just some other teams being, quite honestly, cowards, to say that they’re afraid of backlash to sign someone to make their team better when fans’ input has never been in the equation when it comes to signing people in the past," Jenkins told delawareonline.com Thursday.
"It’s certain owners’ way of making an example out of [Kaepernick] to discourage anybody else from doing what he did."
If there continues to be injuries to starting quarterbacks like Ryan Tannehill in Miami, the first question in everyone’s mind will be if one of those owners decides to sign Kaepernick.
We had a bunch of Eagles content for y’all yesterday. Here ya go:
1. Practice notes: The Eagles goal line package weighs a combined 1.6 tons. How bout them apples?
2. Running angry: Wendell Smallwood came into camp just trying to make the Eagles roster, but with the way he’s playing, he might deserve some regular carries.
3. Stock up, stock down: What Eagles player has improved his stock the most in training camp? Who has struggled? Jimmy polled 30 anonymous media members (well, 29, one was me), and my answers ended up being the most popular.
4. Red zone talk: Alshon Jeffery and LeGarrette Blount should help the Eagles in the red zone, but they haven’t been able to practice this week.
5. Trade chatter: Keep the Kyle Fuller Eagles trade rumors alive!
6. Put up or shut up: Nelson Agholor has played legitimately well during training camp, which is some serious progress for the former first-round draft pick.
7. Corey Graham: The Eagles’ cornerback issues are solved! OK, maybe not.
8. This Bud’s for You: Lane Johnson now has Bud Light involved if the Eagles do the impossible.
Tricky Situations Coming Up for Five Teams and Six QBs: Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated
There wasn’t much Eagles-related writing on the Interwebs yesterday, but I thought this was somewhat related. We definitely have a long way to go before safely saying that Carson Wentz (who has looked good in practice!) is a franchise quarterback, but hey, some other teams have very tough decisions to make:
Both Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater are in contract years, and there’s only one franchise tag between them. When I asked GM Rick Spielman about it, he said, “We haven’t made any decisions yet. But I know through our roster planning and our cap planning, we have plans in place to have that position taken care of.” If Bridgewater sits out the year and his contract tolls—there could be a dispute over that down the line—Minnesota may be able to delay a long-term decision another here. At least for now, it seems that chances would be that one or the other will be a free agent.
Eagles Add a DB: Tommy Lawlor, Iggles Blitz
Lawlor is a little confused about the Corey Graham signing:
No matter what this move means, don’t think of this as the Eagles looking for a magical solution. They would simply be trying to improve the depth at CB. It is possible this move has nothing to do with CB and the Eagles simply wanted another S to add to the mix. Graham is a veteran player and also a good STer. He is the kind of guy you can add to the mix in August and still get some production out of him. He’s played for Schwartz before. Graham also has a connection to Joe Douglas from a stint together in Baltimore.
It will be interesting to see what Doug Pederson and/or Schwartz have to say about the signing and how they want to use Graham.
Eagles' Nelson Agholor rolls a strike: Paul Domowitch, Philadelphia Daily News
On the last play of practice, the Eagles got a head start taking advantage of the NFL’s new celebration rules. I was wondering why Carson Wentz and all of the linemen sprinted after Agholor:
Right after Nelson Agholor caught a touchdown pass from Carson Wentz over rookie cornerback Rasul Douglas on the final play of the Eagles’ nearly three-hour live contact practice, Wentz and the other nine offensive players sprinted down the field and lined up in the end zone in a bowling-pin formation. Agholor then rolled the football toward them and all of the players fell to the ground.
And finally, this is pretty cool:
Check out these Eagles drawings by local artist @phillywordart https://t.co/Mo1ixOWpdM pic.twitter.com/6takT92nZC
— BleedingGreenNation (@BleedingGreen) August 3, 2017
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