Everyone is getting along. Everyone is excited to be back. Everyone is in career-best shape. Everything is fine. Better than fine, actually. It’s good. No, wait, great. Things are great. You know it’s true because they all said so.
Our friends at Around the NFL like to issue “Trope Alerts” during this stretch in the NFL calendar. That’s a good idea. Sound the alarm. Warn people. You can never be too safe around this time of year. Minicamps are happening all over the league right now, but players and coaches and front office executives seem less concerned with football than with pushing propaganda. It’s how these things go. It’s unavoidable. Look at the Eagles.
It’s June. They just got done with OTAs. Minicamp is wrapping up. Training camp is still a while off. The preseason and regular season are beyond the horizon. As far as interesting on-field football is concerned, there isn’t much to go around. Instead, thin observations masquerade as “reports.” We’re left with that and talking points. So many talking points.
Let’s see, Fletcher Cox didn’t participate in voluntary OTAs because he wants a new contract. While he was out, he made excellent and entertaining use of his Twitter feed. Things felt kinda tense with him, but nope. Not to worry. He reported for mandatory minicamp and immediately issued a statement that he’s “happy to be back in Philadelphia,” he’s “excited for the upcoming season” and he “can’t wait to get on the field.” Oh, and he’s gonna “do whatever I can to help our team win.” There’s a crisis cliché handbook somewhere. Cox and his agent definitely have a copy.
Meanwhile, Doug Pederson said he talked to Cox and told him “how excited” he was to have him back. Cox is excited and Pederson is excited. It’s exciting. Pederson was also excited to have Darren Sproles back. Like Cox, Sproles didn’t attend OTAs and there were reports that he might want a trade. You might be a bit nervous about their situations, but don’t be. Someone asked Pederson this week if Sproles and Cox are “happy and on-board with everything.” (I don’t want to spoil it, but you might be able to guess the answer.)
“They are,” Pederson replied.
Glory day.
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But are they excited?
“They are so excited to be here,” Pederson replied, “to be around their teammates, the players, the guys and the coaches.”
What a relief.
What else? Oh. Right. The quarterbacks. Man, that could be a messy situation, what with Sam Bradford holding out for two weeks and demanding a trade, only to return to the fold, rescind his trade offer and have to make nice with the guy who will replace him sooner than later. That has to be awkward. Or, no, not awkward. Wrong word. Turns out it’s “great.”
“They’re great dudes,” Bradford recently told the media. "We have a really good room. Having Chase [Daniel] in the room for me and Carson [Wentz] both has been great just because he’s been in this system. This is his fourth year in the system. Carson has been great. He’s a great kid.”
That’s great that they all get along so great. And Carson? How’s it gone for you?
“So far it’s been great,” Wentz said. “Working with Sam, working with Chase, we have an awesome quarterback room. A lot of really good discussions about the playbook, about life. It’s been great. Then on the practice field, they’ve been great for me. We’ve had a really good relationship. Nothing but really good things to say about those guys.”
He really means that last part. Which is great. Bradford and Wentz are just like Tom Hanks and that other guy he used to cross dress with on TV — they’re bosom buddies. And just like Hanks and that other guy no one remembers, they’ll probably be best buds forever and they’ll share laughs on syndicated cable television in perpetuity.
That’s how it goes in June. You can’t fault them for it, I suppose. As one of the helpful deep thinkers in the comments section will no doubt cry, “what do you expect them to say?” And, of course, we expect them to say exactly what they’ve been saying — that everyone is getting along, that they’re all excited, that they just want to help the team. Things are good at the NovaCare Complex. Actually, they’re better than good. They’re … what’s a word for better than good? I’m sure it will come to me.