That left one last hurdle to get past and the Eagles have handled it flawlessly as 1st round pick Brandon Graham signed on the dotted line late last night and is expected to suit up for Friday afternoon’s first full squad practice, scheduled for 3:30 pm.

The Eagles, who traded three draft picks to move up to to the 13th overall pick to grab the Michigan product, are counting on Graham to be that elusive compliment to Trent Cole at the left defensive end position.

Graham signed a 5 year deal and financial terms were not disclosed. He became just the seventh first round pick top sign this year. With the threat of a lockout next season it has become increasingly difficult for teams to sign their picks this off season and there was concern that Graham could have missed significant time. To his credit, Graham was determined to not let that happen.

“It feels good, because I really wanted to get to training camp and Coach Reid really wanted me in camp. Now it’s time to show everybody why they picked me,” Graham said in a statement released by the team. “I have a lot of work to do, but I’m ready to go.”

Nate Allen heard the call. The second round pick out of South Florida agreed to a 4 year contract late last night and will be on the practice field bright and early Wednesday morning following a 1 day holdout to begin his quest to become the Eagles starting free safety.

Allen was effectively anointed the starter this spring after free agent signee Marlin Jackson went down to a season ending injury. However, since veterans do not report until tomorrow afternoon we may have to wait until Friday at the earliest to see where Allen stands on the depth chart. His main competition should be Quintin Demps who is looking to bounce back after spending much of last season in Coach Reid’s doghouse.

Allen’s signing leaves one remaining unsigned draft pick, first round selection Brandon Graham. With the lack of first round picks signing league-wide, it is realistic to think Graham’s holdout could be a lengthy one and we all know how Andy Reid feels about holdouts. The Eagles run complicated schemes on both sides of the ball and it doesn’t do anybody any good to miss time at camp.

To make room for Allen on the roster the Eagles released linebacker Alex Hall. This is notable if only for the fact that Hall was acquired, along with 2 draft picks, in the deal that sent Chris Gocong and Sheldon Brown to Cleveland back in April.

This year there will be no such decisions needed.

The Eagles have scheduled a press conference for 3 p.m. today at the Nova Care Complex where they plan to unveil several new fan-friendly endeavors.

The first of which will be that the photos on this year’s season tickets will not be of players. They will be of 10 die-hard season ticket holders (I must not of been home when they called my house). The back of each ticket will tell the story of the “superfans” featured. “Obviously we have the players, but the stars that never change year in and year out are the fans,” said Tim McDermott, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Eagles. “They’re really the centerpiece of who the Eagles are. I felt the fans are the ones that really own the team, and it’s our responsibility to manage a public trust.”

Another aspect of this new strategy will be the creation of a 30 fan advisory committee. This panel will meet once a month with members of the Eagles marketing team. Fans will be able to fill out applications via the teams website to be considered for this committee shortly. “It’s something not to be taken lightly,” McDermott said. “It provides everyone a chance to hear directly from the fans on different items that may come up. It helps us have a sounding board.”

Additional projects to be announced include a new 12 issue digital magazine filled with video and audio polls. A halftime in-studio show to be shown on the big screens at the Linc during all home games hosted by former Eagle Hugh Douglas and Don Tollefson reviewing the first half, discussing keys to the second half and reporting scores and highlights from around the league.

Finally, four new TV shows are set to debut this season. Eagles Confidential will take a behind the scenes look at players and coaches at the Nova Care Complex. The Players Show will examine the lives of players away from the football field. Tony Luke’s Eagle Mania will be an offbeat skit comedy program and Fandemonium will focus on the passion of the Philadelphia Eagles’ fans.

OK, so it may not be on the gridiron. They will appear together tonight on Spike TV’s “Pros vs. Joes” television show. The two, along with Chargers tight end Antonio Gates will take on former NBA stars Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith and Rick Fox in a variety of contests including 3-on-3 basketball.

Below is a sneak peek at the episode…I have to say, Donovan looks pretty good here, take a look…

http://www.spike.com/video/sneak-peek-playing/3435005

The Eagles are the only NFL team to have worked out Windsor, who is 6-2, 205 pounds, according to the newspaper report.

If Windsor is offered a contract by the Eagles, “We’ll be happy for him,” Rattlers coach Kevin Guy said. “If there is an opportunity to play in the NFL, we’ll do everything we can to help him.”

The move is curious in the sense that wide receiver seems to be one position of strength for the Eagles. With starters DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and a supporting cast of Jason Avant, Hank Baskett and newly signed 5th round draft pick Riley Cooper all but assured of making the team there doesn’t seem to be any spots open…

Training camp starts Monday for rookies and selected veterans.

Windsor in AFL action

The Eagles quarterback was interviewed by a detective Monday about a shooting that took place outside a nightclub where he had celebrated his 30th birthday, a Virginia Beach (Va.) Police spokesman said.

The spokesman, Adam Bernstein, said Vick is not a suspect, and no arrest has been made in Friday’s early morning shooting. One man was wounded.

Vick was accompanied on the police interview by his attorney, Larry Woodward.

“He said he wasn’t involved,” Woodward said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “He was gone before the shooting took place, and he doesn’t know who did the shooting.”

Police have not officially identified the shooting victim, but several news outlets identified him as Quanis Phillips, one of the defendants in the dog fighting case that landed Vick in federal prison for 18 months.

A local hospital confirmed that Phillips was admitted to the hospital Friday morning and discharged that afternoon but refused to disclose his injuries, instead choosing to invoke patient confidentiality.

The story “on the street” is that Vick did not invite Phillips to the party. Instead, Phillips allegedly crashed the party on his own. After entering the club, witnesses say that Phillips was immediately asked to leave but several of Vick’s friends, including his brother Marcus.

When Phillips refused to go quietly, hearsay is that he threw cake in somebody’s face, possibly Vick’s. It was that incident that allegedly escalated the confrontation.

Vick remains on three years’ probation and is not allowed to associate with anyone convicted of a felony unless granted permission to do so by his probation officer.

An NFL spokesman said Monday the league is looking into the shooting and had no further comment.

Woodward said Vick left the club Guadalajara at Town Center shopping center at least 10 minutes and perhaps as much as 20 minutes before the shooting, which occurred just after 2 a.m. The shooting victim and witnesses at first were uncooperative, according to police, but Bernstein said detectives have now interviewed several people.

Police have said witnesses described the shooter as a black man wearing a white tank top and driving a white Escalade.

Whether or not Vick was not directly involved in the shooting, to me, is completely irrelevant. This is just another in a seemingly endless string of events that proves that this guy just doesn’t get it.

The Eagles agreed to give this guy five million dollars and all he has to do in return is stay out of trouble or anything that resembles trouble. Why would he think that throwing an advertised birthday party for himself in the exact neighborhood where all of his troubles began would be a good idea?

Vick does not care about anybody but himself. He is unrepentant and comes off as someone who thinks he has gotten over on everybody else by getting back into the NFL.

I am not begrudging the guy for wanting to celebrate his birthday, but he needs to use better judgment and it is apparent he has no desire to do so.

I can only hope that this latest incident will, once and for all, show the Eagles that they need to cut ties with this man and chalk it up to an experiment that didn’t work out. However, something tells me that there are five million reasons why they won’t do that.

-Contributed by Mike Bergen

Johnson had signed with the Bills as a free agent immediately following the NFL draft but was subsequently released last Friday.

Johnson, a former teammate of Desean Jackson at Cal, is a 6-foot-1 194 pounder who was a two year starter for the Golden Bears. He finished his college career with 107 tackles and 3 interceptions.

The Eagles continue to stockpile defensive backs heading into what should be an extremely competitive training camp. Nate Allen seems to be the guy at free safety, but there is plenty of opportunity for a young guy, like this Johnson kid, to step up and make the team as a backup.

1,100 people aged 13 and up were polled and 69 percent named Vick as someone they “dislike a lot”, “dislike”, or “dislike some”.

Choices were limited to players, coaches, managers, broadcasters, agents or owners who are currently active in sports.

Vick finished a top the list just ahead of Oakland Raiders eccentric owner Al Davis (66%). In a distant third place was Pittsburgh Steelers often accused, never convicted quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (57%).

Rounding out the top 10 (in order) were Tiger Woods, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, St. Louis hitting coach Mark McGwire, NFL star Terrell Owens, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, former Sixer Allen Iverson and Washington Wizards sharp shooter (get it…?) Gilbert Arenas.

Personally, I never was, am not and never will be in favor of Michael Vick being a member of the Eagles roster. Ideally, Jeffrey Lurie, Joe Banner and Andy Reid will all feel the same embarrassment when hearing the results of this poll and take the appropriate, and in my opinion overdue, action.

Well, one can dream, can’t they?

-Contributed by Mike Bergen

The pick of Te’o-Nesheim was much maligned among draft experts at the time, however, Andy Reid cited his intelligence and love of the game as reasons for the selection.

That leaves the Eagles with 3 unsigned draft choices left with nearly 6 weeks until training camp.

Unfortunately, the remaining 3 are the ones projected to make the biggest impact. First round pick Brandon Graham, 2nd rounder Nate Allen and fifth round pick WR Riley Cooper.

Te’o-Nesheim started in every game (49 total) in his four-year career with the Huskies, and finished as the school’s all-time sacks leader with 30. A two-time second-team All-Pac 10 selection, Te’o-Nesheim posted 14 tackles for loss and 11 sacks as a senior in 2009.

All of which can be nothing but beneficial to newly anointed starting quarterback Kevin Kolb. The longer we can prolong the inevitable microscope that Kolb will eventually be placed under, the better.

Not that I think Kolb is looking to avoid the scrutiny, in fact, all indications thus far suggest the opposite. There will be nothing easy about replacing the face of the franchise for the last 10 years and Kolb knows it.

When you make a change as significant as this one you have to expect and accept the critiques that come with that decision, whether they be good or bad.

There are those of us who have already made up our minds that Kolb will be the next coming of Aaron Rodgers and be the savior of a team looking to earn it’s first championship in 50 years. Conversely, there are those among us who think he will fall flat on his face and the Eagles will rue the day that they sent #5 packing down I-95.

This is a plea to all Birds fans to keep an open mind at this early juncture of Kolb’s tenure. It is imperative for us as fans to stay tempered when it comes to the topic of our new field general.

Could Kolb lead the Birds all the way to Cowboys’ Stadium in February? Possibly.

Could he fall short of expectations and wind up with a losing record? Another possibility.

The point is we just don’t know enough about his abilities as an NFL starting quarterback to make any true determination yet.

Whatever your opinion may be, one thing needs to be made clear. This wasn’t a change made solely for change’s sake. Joe Banner was once quoted as saying, “…insanity is repeating the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.” This seemingly applied to all aspects of the Eagles on-field operations with the notable exception of the quarterback position.

I have said many times over the last decade that the Eagles could only go as far as Donovan McNabb could take them. I still believe that today. Problem is, he DID take them as far as he could and guess what? It wasn’t far enough. Ten years is an eternity in the sports world. With the influx of so much young talent on the offense over the last 2 years (DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy, Brent Celek, etc.), the time for a change was now.

For any shortcomings he may have, Andy Reid knows more about football than you or I and he saw something in Kolb that others did not. As a result, the Eagles wagon is now firmly hitched to the back of the kid from the University of Houston.

I, for one, can’t wait for July 29th and the start of training camp and I am hopeful that Kolb will eventually make people forget about McNabb and not remember Bobby Hoying.

-Contributed by Michael Bergen