Amid the hocus-pocus of NFL football in the spring (do you believe what you see?) is the reality of the most important position on the field: The Eagles have some good things going at quarterback, with Donovan McNabb in the lead and a second-year man making the most of his opportunities.

Going into the off-season, the Eagles felt very good about the position. They made it clear internally as they prepared for free agency and for the draft that they weren't going to go fishing in the ponds. The well-documented rumors that the team was intent on trading McNabb were just that, rumors. Nonsense. Filler for the fans to discuss.

The reality was the Eagles planned all along to move forward with McNabb, who endured a taxing season last year -- both mentally and physically. It wasn't easy, with everything going on around him. But by season's end, the story became not McNabb's future, but his way he had turned the corner on the field and looked more and more like the Donovan of recent years. McNabb had regained his mobility, his burst, and his performance down the stretch highlighted a 3-0 finish to the otherwise-disappointing campaign.

Now we're in the middle of June. The Eagles have a week's worth of OTA's remaining before everyone takes a breather prior to the July 21 opening of training camp. McNabb looks terrific on the field, and he seems very relaxed and confident off the field. It is, clearly, a different season than the one of 2007. The wolves are no longer holding notepads and tape recorders and knocking at McNabb's door. The questions are football related, not of future scenarios. The only question that matters is wins and losses and capturing the first Super Bowl in the franchise's history.

Most of the spring's focus has been on the surrounding cast, one that McNabb has repeatedly talked in lavish tones about. He has a good group around him, for sure, with a strong offensive line, a good array of playmakers, some youth sprinkled in among the veterans of the Eagles scheme.

McNabb reported to spring practices in tremendous physical condition and, as expected, has reaped the rewards of an off-season spent conditioning and improving his body instead of recovering from an injury. McNabb is not the least bit of a physical question mark now, and it's been quite a while since that has been the case.

The position doesn't end with McNabb, of course. Second-year man Kevin Kolb has demonstrated a readiness to take control of the offense, if called upon. He doesn't have game experience, true enough, but Kolb has taken a ton of reps in the offense as the Eagles have promoted him to the No. 2 position and Kolb appears to have a good command of things.

With a big, live arm, with good mobility and with the cool exterior you like to see in the position, Kolb is off to a good, nurturing start to his career. The Eagles haven't had to rush him. They have seen this play out as they hoped in terms of allowing Kolb to mature at the proper pace. He is now ready for some serious playing time in the preseason. He needs to play against some more complicated defenses to see how he reacts.

So far, though, Kolb has been everything that the Eagles wanted when they used their first pick in the 2007 draft and shocked everybody. The backup quarterback job is his to lose, and to date in the spring he has been outstanding. That said, let's understand that the quarterbacks fly in the no-touch zone, so the coaching staff looks for other things like timing and recognition within the scheme and accuracy and so forth. Kolb has graded highly on every front.

The third quarterback is A.J. Feeley, and he is as fine a quarterback for that role as anybody in the league. Feeley has the team-first mentality in everything he does, so should he end up as No. 2 or No. 3 behind McNabb, so be it. Feeley just want to win football games. He is a good quarterback, and, yes, he has things he needs to improve in his game. There were just too many mistakes last year, and Feeley knows it. He felt the fans' pain from near-win games against New England and Seattle. He can't go back in time, though. Feeley moves forward as an experienced hand, a productive player, and a great locker room presence.

Casey Hanson is a spring long shot, a tall and long-armed kid who is in the category of "prospect" for the Eagles' coaching staff. I can imagine that Andy Reid and his coaches look at Hanson and wonder if he can be something down the road, a player with whom they can work and develop and make into an NFL quarterback. I do not know, honestly, if Hanson has elevated himself to that level. He just comes out day after day and practices and takes his reps and learns and absorbs everything around him.

Lost, for now anyway, is the mystery and the intrigue and even the drama of the position. It is simply about playing quarterback and winning games now. It is about performance and finding a way to defeat St. Louis on September 7 and then moving on. 

That quarterback has been such a quiet position this spring is a positive for the Eagles. The position is in good hands, all the way down the line.