Eagles kick off free agency by extending Herremans, Cole

The NFL free agency period began today and the Eagles started it off by making sure two of their better players were going to remain with the team for several more years.  Both Todd Herremans and Trent Cole signed contract extensions today, with Herremans being extended through 2016 and Cole's exact contract not yet announced but expected to be for about the same number of years.

Herremans was rewarded for his versatile play along the line as the deal could give him about 20 million dollars of guaranteed money.  Cole also is much deserving of more guaranteed money given how valuable he is as one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

What the Eagles do next in free agency isn't clear, though there have been some rumblings about LB's and backup running backs being on their wishlist.  With DeSean Jackson getting good money with the franchise tag and the Eagles giving extensions to a few of their own, there likely isn't a ton of money left for the Birds to make a big splash.  In other words, don't expect anything like what happened last year.

Jackson and Herremans activated as the Eagles are suddenly getting healthy

There was a lot of good news coming out of Lehigh today when it comes to injured Eagles making their return to the field:

Jamaal Jackson and Todd Herremans activated from the PUP list The Eagles o-line has been a question mark all offseason but the return of these two expected starters will help to clear things up. While Jackson still isn't likely to be playing the first few weeks of the season, the fact that he's practicing again shows he's well ahead of schedule. As for Herremans, he appears on schedule to play in at least one preseason game and should be good to go when the season starts.

Mike Bell, Macho Harris, Hank Baskett and Antonio Dixon also return to practice All four missed the preseason opener but are healthy enough to get back out on the practice field. Baskett needs to be out there and giving it everything he's got if he wants to make the team over Kelley Washington. Bell's return to practice was short lived as he had to be carted off the field with a calf strain.

Safety Antoine Harris placed on the IR After suffering a Lis franc injury against the Jaguars, Harris' season is over. Harris was signed just a few weeks ago to compete for a backup safety spot but probably wasn't going to make the team before the injury. The Eagles will be looking to bring in another safety now and worked out Terrell Skinner and Jamaal Fudge after practice today.

Amongst all the injury news, the Eagles also made one cut today, dropping punter Ken Parrish. Heading into camp, Parrish seemed like he had a decent shot of unseating Sav Rocca but clearly the coaches didn't see enough from him to make a change.

Eagles/Panthers Week 1 Inactives

The Eagles and Panthers have announced their inactive players for Week One:

Eagles: RT Shawn Andrews, DE Jason Babin, WR Reggie Brown, WR Brandon Gibson, OL Todd Herremans, S Sean Jones, LB Joe Mays, G Mike McGlynn

Panthers: FB Tony Fiammetta, DT Ra'Shon Harris, QB Matt Moore, OL Duke Robinson, RB Tyrell Sutton, DE Hilee Taylor, OL Garry Williams, DB C.J. Wilson

As expected, 2/5ths of the Eagles projected starting offensive line will be sitting out this week as Shawn Andrews and Herremans deal with injuries. That forces Nick Cole and Winston Justice into the starting lineup. While Cole should do just fine, whoever lines up against Justice for the Panthers (Julius Peppers) will be licking his chops. Not very many other surprises for the Eagles, I figured they would only dress 5 wideouts and that Brown and Gibson were the odd ones out. Jason Babin, everyone's favorite preseason defensive end, will have to wait to make an impact. The Eagles did not declare a third QB because they don't have one!

None of the Panthers inactive players are surprising, nor have I really heard of any of them. Sutton is the 3rd running back and his benching means that Jonathon Stewart is healthy enough to be the backup.

Just under an hour now until the Eagles season kicks off! Go Birds!

Herremans to have surgery, will miss a "couple of games"

Remember that Eagles starting offensive line that looked so promising in the offseason? Yeah, you are going to have to wait a few weeks to see it. And, no, this time, it isn't Shawn Andrews' fault.

Todd Herremans, who has been sidelined for the last few weeks, will be out indefinitely after he has surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot. Andy Reid said that Herremans will miss a "couple of games", which is a vague assessment and also not very encouraging. If I had to guess, I would say there is little chance we will see Herremans on the field until sometime after the Eagles Week 4 bye.

The likely lineman to take Herremans place at left guard is Nick Cole, who is a very capable backup. While I wouldn't expect too much of a drop-off with Herremans out, it's still going to make it that much harder for this offensive line to develop into a cohesive unit. The best offensive lines in the league have played together for a while and have continuity. The Eagles offensive line is filled with talent but they have never played together. How are the pieces going to magically fit together?

Another one bites the dust: Eagles lose Todd Herremans for preseason

What would the last day in Lehigh be without another Eagles injury? On Wednesday, the last day of Eagles training camp, it was announced that yet another Eagle had suffered an injury: offensive lineman Todd Herremans has a stress fracture in his foot. Head coach Andy Reid speculated that the injury was likely a "four week injury", meaning that Herremans won't take the field again until the start of the regular season.

Many are saying that this injury isn't that big of a deal because, really, who cares about preseason games anyway? Personally, this injury worries me because it means that the projected starting offensive line will not all play together until the games start to matter. Cohesiveness counts most along an offensive line, the guys in the trenches need to know what the tendencies are of the person next to them and they need to trust each other. The preseason is a time to start building that trust, but with the way the line has been banged up throughout training camp, they have barely had any time together.

Herremans isn't the only projected starter along the line that is injured, either. Each of the Andrews brothers, Stacy and Shawn, were already ruled out for the first game of the preseason. Stacy is just being sat as a precaution, but no one knows when Shawn Andrews will be back. Again, this is good for the backups because they will get time to earn a roster spot, but it's terrible for a line that has the talent to be a top line in the league if they can just get on the field together.

According to Philly.com, the complete list of players who will not play in Thursday's game against the Patriots include: DE Victor Abiamiri, OL Shawn Andrews, OL Stacy Andrews, DE Trent Cole, OL Todd Herremans, QB Kevin Kolb, DT Trevor Laws, TE Matt Schobel and RB Brian Westbrook

At least training camp is over so now we don't have to worry about which Eagle will get hurt next. Of course, now there are meaningless preseason games to be played, so cross your fingers that no one else goes down. You can bet Andy Reid will take every precaution and have the starters on the field as little as possible.