You always know training camp is in full swing when fights break out, and it didn’t take long in the Eagles first practice. Tempers flared during the first live scrimmage, with Riley Cooper and Ellis Hobbs squaring off after battling for position off the line of scrimmage.
Hobbs suggested that Cooper gave him a late shove he wasn’t going to stand for, “I thought I was legit in jamming him up, he’s a young guy so I don’t know if he knows all the rules yet, but I get five yards so I gotta punish him within five. I do my best to let you go, but I ain’t going to accept no cheap shots.” The Eagles cornerback went on to say it wasn’t a big deal, that it happens and the players move on.
Cooper echoed that sentiment, “He’s a good dude though, he didn’t mean anything by it, I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s in the past, so it was nothing.”
Stewart Bradley also jumped into the scrap to defend Hobbs, but it wasn’t so much an offense against defense mentality that drove the middle linebacker to get involved. “Ellis is like 110 pounds, so.”
A few minutes later, it was again some youthful energy that erupted into a fight, this time in the one on one drills between the offensive and defensive line. Defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and offensive tackle Jerraill McCuller squared off after a one-on-one drill, with teammates piling on to pull McCuller (6’7, 320 pounds) off of the smaller Te’o-Nesheim (6’3, 263 pounds).
Reid was clear that he does not encourage fighting in camp, but knows that a competitive camp will lead to a few quarrels. ”With competition comes fighting. Now listen I told the players, I said those things do happen, I understand that, but don’t make it a habit. We’re not ultimate fighters, we’re football fighters.”
Tags: fights, Philadelphia Eagles, Training Camp





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