Opening remarks: "Alright, on the injury side, the guys who did not practice were (DE) Victor Abiamiri, (LB) Omar (Gaither), (C) Jamaal Jackson, and (G) Max (Jean-Gilles). Max had a gastric band put on and we're just taking a cautious approach with that. The guys who practiced partial were (DB) Marlin Jackson, (TE) Cornelius Ingram, (CB) Ellis Hobbs, and (S) Nate Allen. All in all, it's good to get everybody back out here and work. It was good to see the young guys move around like they did. Obviously, it was good to get (QB) Kevin (Kolb) in the mix there, in his first practice as the starting quarterback. I thought they came out and there wasn't a lot of rust, they came out, practiced hard and aggressive and the new guys seemed to pick everything up. The next couple of practices we'll tell, if the new guys, as far as retention goes, they've had all night to study for the first practice, and now they're going to get handed another amount of plays for this afternoon's practice and then another load for tomorrow, but so far so good."
On Kevin Kolb's progress:"We want to make sure that he's actually getting the offense, that's the obvious. So, you saw today, where the defense had a little mix up with one of the coverages and Kevin came out and (WR) Jason Avant was running a vertical and he dotted him with the ball the there. so I'm just giving that as an example—those are indicators of knowing the offense and understanding the offense. And that's what you look in at the end with quarterbacks, the execution of the actual play. Accuracy, footwork, and so on."
On whether he has had a player have the same surgery as Max Jean-Gilles:"No, I haven't."
On whether it was the team's idea to have the surgery or Jean-Gilles': "It was his idea. (Jokingly) I probably would be the first one to get it, if it was our idea, right?
On what the surgery will do for Jean-Gilles: "I think he's going to be fine. It's not going to hinder his play, it will help him, I'd imagine, down the road, with the weight."
On what weight he wants Jean-Gilles at: "Playable weight."
On Nate Allen's injury: "Nate had the quad that he had during the workouts, so we're being very cautious with him. None of these guys got hurt today, it's just things we pulled back on. Nate tried to continue his workouts, showing the different teams that he can push through and do the workouts, when he should have been backed off. So, we're going to back him off here, just a little bit, so he can heal up."
On (DE) Brandon Graham: "We have him working with the twos right now, at the left defensive end spot. Really, this camp is to get these young guys used to the system and how we do things around here, the process. And not give them so much that they can't function out there, but that they can show a little bit of their talent and work through it."
On other injured players: "I'll get back here, because we are going to hit each guy. Hobbs had the spine surgery, Ingram had the knee surgery that he's coming off of, Marlin had knee surgery, and Max had the gastric band, and Nate Allen had the quad. They'll be coming back here for the next OTAs. Victor did have knee surgery. Omar had foot surgery, and Jamaal Jackson had a knee surgery. I'll have (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) come in and explain the whole thing to you, so I don't say something I shouldn't. Again, I'll get you all of that information."
On whether he approaches players to step up as leaders, or allows them to take leadership positions naturally: "I let it happen naturally. You can't fake leadership, you can't do that. You've got to have somebody willing to step up on their own and let their leadership ability show and we've got enough guys on this team who are good leaders, and I'll take those."
On whether he notices that the team has a "new life": "I don't know about a 'new life,' but I think the guys, they've got good energy, there's a lot of energy right now, not that there wasn't before, but there's a lot of energy and anticipation on what this crew can do as a football team and we're just kind of starting that process even though we've had most of the team up here. Now we have the influx of the young players, they seem to follow what the veterans do and it's just presented a nice energy and I think the guys will build off of that."
On whether there is a new feel around this team: "I observe and that's part of my job, to see where things are right, and where things maybe need to be tweaked a little bit, and I like what I see. A little early in the process, but for two hours, I liked what I saw."
On not seeing Donovan McNabb out on the field: "I didn't think much of it when I was out there. You kind of get caught up in it in the practice and you're looking at more details of what the guys are doing out there. I guess it was different, obviously, with him not being there. It seemed like there was still good energy and excitement from the practice."
On how LB Stewart Bradley looks to him:"I thought he moved around pretty good. He's been up here all offseason, so I got a chance to see him run around a little bit. I've liked what I've seen up to this point and I liked what I saw today in practice."
On LB Alex Hall possibly playing some defensive end: "That's what Alex played in college and so he worked a little bit with the linebackers in the offseason program, then we put his hand down here and gave him a chance to rush the passer. The thing he does best is rush the passer. He's very good at that and he's got a nice feel at the line of scrimmage. He was playing the outside linebacker in the 3-4, so it gives us the flexibility to go either way with it. I think this gives him even a little bit more of an opportunity to do what he does best."
On G Mike McGlynn playing snaps at center and whether he is going to give him every opportunity at that job:"(G/C) Nick (Cole) is the starting center as long as Jamaal (Jackson) is not in there. We've got to find out about McGlynn, got to find out about (C Dallas) Reynolds, and (C A.Q. Shipley), so that's what we're doing. We're just giving them as many opportunities as we can. At the same time, it gives us the flexibility with Nick to let him play a little guard and the center as well."
On DE Ricky Sapp playing some linebacker: "Well, again, he's a guy that they kind of created a position for there where they let him cover tight ends and they let him cover running backs and do those things. We wanted to give him an opportunity there so we could see what he can do. We know he can rush the passer. Just like we did with Hall, we had given him a shot to move around there and it gives us a little flexibility."
On having too many defensive ends: "I don't think you can have enough of them. I think that's a pretty important part of this game. You also have to be able to play the run and so I think we have guys who can do both; a good combination of guys."
On WR Riley Cooper fitting in with the team: "It looked like he had a pretty good day today. He had some nice catches, he's a big body, and he plays very physical. So I think he fits in very well with this style of offense and we'll see how he does down the road here."
On expectations of RB LeSean McCoy: "I think LeSean has had a very good offseason. He has gained some strength which he needed to, both upper body and the core area. He's worked very, very hard this offseason. Obviously I'm looking for good things from him. I do appreciate how hard he has worked over the last few months here."
On rotating LBs Ernie Sims and Akeem Jordan at the WILL position during camp: "We'll probably have Sims working with the ones and then Jordan with the twos now. When the reps get all out of whack, then we'll make sure that Jordan gets enough. Akeem gives us some flexibility, he can do a few different things for us. He can play really all three spots."
On giving S Macho Harris and LB Moise Fokou every opportunity: "I told you before, Macho, the thing is, he can play safety. In college, he was very physical – he was a very good corner, actually. (General manager) Howie (Roseman) and I, we actually went back and reviewed him playing corner and we kind of compared it to the draft picks, the guys coming out in the draft. He was a heck of a corner. So, he gives us a little flexibility there to play the safety, corner and move inside and play the nickel spot. For this camp right now, he's got to stay at safety. If we need to move him around, we have that flexibility to do so. Fokou, again, he hasn't missed any workouts this offseason. He's gotten himself stronger; he always uses his hands very well. You talk about heavy hands with those linebackers, the guys that play the game out in front of them, keep separation and really jolt a tight end or a running back. He has that ability. It's just a matter of him maturing one more year in the defense and, right now, he's working with the first group there."
On S Nate Allen: "We'll start Nate off at safety, that's what we'll do. He did some of the individual stuff and group install, we just kept him out of the team things."
On Allen in mini-camp this weekend: "We'll keep him in the same role throughout the weekend, unless something crazy changes here. Right now that's kind of the role we're going with."
On managing Stewart Bradley and how much time he plans on seeing in him: "Right now he's strong. He had the other leg done before, so he kind of knows what to expect. That first one you're a little bit hesitant and you don't rehab quite as hard because the unexpected happens every day, I'm saying after the first surgery. After that second surgery, you attack the thing and you get after it. Normally that rehab happens a little bit quicker as long as it's on a different leg, not like (TE) Cornelius (Ingram). What we'll do is we'll monitor him. He's been doing very well, feels very good, very strong in all of his tests. We'll keep an eye on him and make sure that he doesn't overload that leg."
