BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) -Nate Allen’s brief holdout didn’t have any impact on his status with the Philadelphia Eagles. His sleep pattern is another thing.
Coach Andy Reid said the team’s second-round draft pick from South Florida will remain the starting free safety – a position he earned during minicamps.
But Allen didn’t get much rest before his first day of camp.
After missing the first day of training camp, Allen was unable to sign his contract – a four-year deal – until the final details were hammered out early Wednesday morning. He arrived at Lehigh University at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, but wasn’t able to check into his dorm room until 2:30 a.m.
Allen arose at 6:15, and took part in the morning practice at 8:45 – in which he promptly dropped a ball in a drill and did a few push-ups as punishment. And that, he said, was “a wake-up call.”
A much-needed one, apparently.
Philadelphia recently, and that he had been working out, studying his playbook and “getting pretty antsy.”
“Every rep counts,” he said. “I knew that sitting at home. I was ready to get up here and start working. I’m glad to be up here, finally.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
With the addition of Allen, the Eagles’ only unsigned draftee is first-rounder Brandon Graham, a defensive end from Michigan. Calls to his agent, Joel Segal, have not been returned, and all indications are that the sides remain far apart.
“Brandon, we’re working on that,” Reid said. “There’s not a lot of first-round picks signed right now. There’s a little stall going on. … Nothing’s taken place so far, and he needs to be here.”
The Eagles, looking to shore up a porous defense, used nine of their 13 draft picks on defensive players in April. And in the minicamps Allen became a starter after veteran free agent Marlin Jackson tore an Achilles tendon, ending his season before it started.
That is a position once manned by perennial Pro Bowler Brian Dawkins, whom the Eagles lost to Denver in free agency before last season. Quintin Demps, Macho Harris and Sean Jones were all used at that spot in 2009, without much success. The Eagles finished 17th in the league in pass defense and allowed 27 touchdown passes, the most they had yielded since 1987.
Enter Allen.
said. “He has very good ball skills. Somehow he got labeled (in college) as not being a physical guy. He’s a very physical player.”
His acumen was immediately apparent in the team’s minicamps, Reid said. Again and again Allen made the right coverage calls for the rest of the secondary. And according to the coach, the veterans developed an immediate respect for him.
“They knew he knew how to make the adjustments,” Reid said.
Allen will look to take the next step now.
“I know I’ve got to come in and not hold anybody back, as far as knowing the plays,” he said.
And, he added, “It’s an opportunity. I’ve got to run with it.”
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