Today, the Eagles placed rookies Trevor Laws, Bryan Smith and Jack Ikegwuono on the Physically Unable to Perform list, meaning they are all ineligible to play in the first six regular season games of the year. Ikegwuono makes perfect sense. The guy is coming off ACL surgery and was expected to miss the entire season. The Birds knew full well of that situation when they drafted him.
But Laws, the Eagles' first pick in the draft, and Smith are, according to Reid in the article, scheduled to return to practice in the next few days. Laws' injury is listed as a foot injury while Smith has an injured hamstring. The fact that they're both coming back in a few days clearly indicates these are not serious injuries that require any sustained period of inactivity.
Smith I can understand. The Eagles are deep at defensive end with Victor Abiamiri, Chris Clemons, Trent Cole, Juqua "The Artist Formerly Known as Thomas" Parker, and the decaying corpses of Darren Howard and Jerome McDougle. Plus he's an undersized (listed at 217 lbs.) defensive end to say the least. It's hard to make an impact as a rookie when you're giving up that much weight. But he was a third-round pick, which isn't exactly the same as a seventh. Many third-rounders (Brian Westbrook) become impact players. Still, with the depth at DE combined with Smith's size, I can understand not needing him for six weeks, if at all this season.
But Laws? I mean, the guy was the team's first draft choice. He's 295 lbs, and he's been touted for having tremendous strength and drive. Defensive tackle is arguably the easiest position for a rookie to learn, and there have been plenty of defensive linemen that have made major contributions in their first seasons.
So why would Andy Reid put him on the PUP list and lose him for the first six games? Simple. Fatass Andy hates rookies, evident by his reluctance to play them even when they are clearly superior than the players starting in front them (see: Bradley, Stewart : Spikes, Takeo; Lewis, Michael : Bishop, Blaine). Laws was supposed to step right in and be part of a young, talented rotation with Mike "Weedhead" Patterson and Broderick "Andy didn't play me as a rook either" Bunkley. Instead we have to wait until game 7 at the earliest to see the Birds' first draft choice do things like this.
I blame this all on his kids. Those dope-pedaling gingers probably have had Big Red soured on youngsters for a while now. Guess it's hard to blame him.
OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, but come one Andy. What's the deal here? You afraid Trevor will take too much of your share at the buffet line? It's either that or you truly believe you'll get more out of Montae Reagor and Kimo von Oelhoffen (who, oh by the way, made a combined ZERO big plays last season) than Laws.
Get with the times Andy. Second round picks are supposed to not only make the team, but play and contribute as well. Well, that is, as long as their name isn't Matt McCoy. That guy's awful.
