Sunday, July 28, 2013

Eagles' Roseman says team will look within to replace Maclin

PHILADELPHIA - Saturday was like a long night at the bar for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Birds woke up on Sunday morning with a nasty hangover in the form of Jeremy Maclin's potential season-ending ACL tear and there was no time to lay around and convalesce.

A previous engagement with 65,000 invitees was already on the schedule in the form of the team's first full-contact practice at Lincoln Financial Field.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman addressed Maclin's injury minutes before the Eagles hit the field.

"We have a lot of faith in our skill position players as a whole and that’s how we look at it," Roseman said when asked how he could replace the productive fifth-year receiver.. "We're not only looking at just our wide receiver group, we're looking at the running backs, we look at the tight ends, and those are the guys we have high expectations for, That’s what camps for --the competition -- and that’s why we brought in people to compete."

Roseman singled out the Birds' two new tight ends first -- rookie, second-round pick Zach Ertz and free agent pickup James Casey -- before talking up running backs Bryce Brown and Chris Polk, indicating Chip Kelly's perceived ability to morph his system around his talent in Plan A.

It was also somewhat of an indictment to the receivers the Eagles currently have on hand who could replace Maclin, players like Jason Avant, Riley Cooper and Damaris Johnson.

The street, meanwhile, isn't exactly filled with impressive options either with former Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd likely the top alternative. One NFL source called Lloyd "a bad teammate and a bad guy," however.

"We're always going to explore options and see if there are ways to improve our roster, but right now we're excited about some of the young guys we have at those positions we just talked about," Roseman said when asked if he would look outside the Eagles locker room for help.

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