PFT is reporting that the Eagles and Brian Westbrook have agreed to a new deal.

We’re hearing rumblings out of Philly that the team has struck a deal with running back Brian Westbrook.  Specifically, we’re told that Westbrook is telling others that an agreement has been reached.

The report comes on the heels of Jeff Lurie's state of the team address early this week where he spoke in a very positive way about his willingness to get something done with Westbrook.

''I don't have a problem [redoing a contract] when a player outperforms his contract,'' Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said Monday in his annual training camp press briefing. ''My philosophy, and I think it's the organization's philosophy, is to try to always be fair and adapt to where things are at.''

Westbrook has stated that he'd like to get a deal done before the first preseason game of the year, which is tommorow against the Steelers. "...you would want the contract before the game starts. That's how things work. Hopefully, that's how things will work out.''

When asked about Lurie's statements about him, Westbrook was pleased and said he was optimisitic about the talks between his agent and the Eagles.

"He's the owner, so it definitely makes you feel good," Westbrook said yesterday, when asked about Lurie's comments. "Hopefully, things get done sooner than later. I'm positive, I'm really optimistic about how things have been going."

So unless PFT again "misunderstood" the source and Westbrook is NOT telling people a deal is done, we hopefully should haev something to celebrate soon. It certainly seems from what both Lurie and Westbrook have said this week that both sides want this to happen.

It was nice breezy day at Lehigh and some cloud cover provided relief from what would have been the oppressive heat. A crowd of over 6,000 showed up on a Sunday to watch the second to last day of live hitting at camp. Later on, considerably less people stuck around for the special teams session...

Brian Westbrook returned from the viral illness that held him out of the previous days practice. He didn't take a ton of reps, but the previous reports from camp have said that Westbrook hasn't been taking a lot of reps period. When he caught his first pass the crowd a cheered and one guy yelled "Andy, give him his money!" drawing laughs from the stands and the sidelines.

After the jump catch my full report and observations

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*Throat clear* First, injuries *cough*

Good news on the injury front as Chris Clemons returns to practice, rookie DE Bryan Smith makes his first appearance on the field after getting over a strain, and the word on Asante Samuel is that he could be back by the weekend.

Na Brown Award - A new contender emerges

So far the darlings of the 2008 camp seem to be RB Lorenzo Booker who has put on a show with his speed and arsenal of moves and WR Jason Avant who caught anything thrown  in his general direction. However, neither really qualify for the Na Brown award since Avant was already here and Booker was higher pick. There is one guy who is turning heads, and being a 4th round pick like Na himself Quintin Demps just may get the prize.

Demps was advertised as a "ballhawk" coming out of school having led the nation in interceptions. So far in camp he's done nothing to disprove that moniker. Demps has had more than one "pick 6" and excelled in practice again yesterday

Earlier, Booker dazzled rookie safety Quintin Demps after making a catch, but Demps had a pick and a "sack'' in the same sequence. Andy Reid noted that Demps has shown the same nose for the ball that led the Eagles to draft him.

Demps has been working as both a safety and a corner in camp and has left  Andy Reid impressed

"You can see that he had a lot of interceptions in college, and you always want to see if that carries over to the pro game," Reid said yesterday. "In these practices, you see him getting his hands on the ball and making catches."

Not everyone's hands are impressing

Free agent TE Kris Wilson was advertised as a good player who was both misused in Kansas City and stuck behind a future hall of famer in Tony Gonzales. Out of Tony G's shadow and back at his natural position TE Wilson was going to challenge for a starting job with LJ Smith on just a one year deal... So far, Wilson has failed to impress.

Wilson was given a chance to make the roster and possibly build himself a future because Smith is on a one-year contract. But like so many passes over the last two weeks, it may have already slipped through his fingers.

"Obviously, nobody wants to drop the ball, but that's part of the game," Wilson said Thursday. "That's something that you constantly work on. Every day you come out and tell yourself to try to have a perfect day.

"You don't want to have any balls on the ground, but from time to time, it happens."

Reports from camp make it fairly clear that Wilson has slipped behind both Celek and Wilson on the depth chart at TE. In all likelihood the Eagles will only keep 3 TEs, so at this point Wilson looks like the odd man out.

Westbrook contract situation

Andy Reid was asked in his press conference if there was any news on the Westbrook negotiations and there was not. However, one Eagles rival feels like Westbrook is worth everything he wants.

"To be completely honest with you," Umenyiora said, "if Philadelphia really understood his value to that team, they would never even have allowed him to get upset with his contract. You take Westbrook off that team and nobody would fear them. I don't think they truly understand that.

"He should be one of the highest-paid players in the league. Period. I'm not saying this as a friend of his. I don't even know the guy that well. I'm just saying it because it's the truth."

I think they understand it just fine Osi...

Quote of the day

Andy Reid was asked how entering his 10th year as coach he maintains his energy level and enthusiasm for the job?

"I change my diet," he said.

What are you eating? "Too much."

AJ Feeley has earned his own place in the Urban dictionary. His name now has something to do with couches and hoes... (Hugging Harold Reynolds)

HHR also has an interesting take on the Brian Westbrook contract situation. Really, who owes who here? (Hugging Harold Reynolds)

Is it possible that we could see the fade pass entered into the Eagles offense this year? (Iggles Blog)

We all know how Eagles web guy Dave Spadaro feels about the Eagles... but what about entertainment and politics? (Poor Sports)

The word is that Victor Abiamiri's wrist injury could end his season, but what happened to the days of putting a club on your hand and playing? (Eagle Scout)

I'm sure Winston Justice really appreciated Osi Umenyoria's kind sentiments... (Bounty Bowl)

Just because you're a multi millionaire pro football player, doesn't mean you don't need online dating to find love. Right Mr Herremans? (Eaglesville)

At least we know that Desean Jackson knows how to take a hint. (Bleed Eagles Green)

If this year was last year... The Eagles would have won the Bears game thanks to a new rule change. (700 Level)

Santa may have deserved it, but LJ does not. (Santa Deserved It)

Here's a headline about Brett Favre I think we can all agree on. (Huge Tiny Mistake)

Speaking of Favre... if he went to Tampa Bay, Madden 2009 thinks he'd lose a playoff game to the Eagles (SI.com)

If Shawn Andrews is especting sympathy from his teammates at Lehigh, he's not getting it. At least not from Jon Runyan. (Eagletarian)

You know how I titled this edition of The Linc "Pacman forgot something?" Well what forgot was how to cover a WR.  Seriously, I don't know if I've ever seen someone faked this bad! (With Leather)

Finally. hands down no possible argument can be made... This is the hottest Bar on earth. (WWTDD)

Some highlights from Brian Westbrook's press conference at Lehigh today.

- Says he has no specific timetable for when a new deal gets done. He just knows that currently his agent and the Eagles are working on it and that they're going back forth with numbers.

- Says he wants to work out a deal that both he and the Eagles will feel comfortable with.

- Asked whether he would play in a preseason game without a new deal, he said that's a bridge you cross when you get there.

-Talked about other RBs who played a long time in the NFL and stayed productive.

- Asked whether he was looking for a contract extension or whether he was simply looking for more money over the next 3 years of his deal. He says his agent and Joe Banner are exploring several different ways to make the numbers work but haven't found one yet. He's not looking for any specific way.

- Said several times he wants to "compensated like a top RB in the NFL should be"

- Said he was impressed with Booker and thinks he can only help the team. The more athletes the offense has the more of an advantage they have and Booker will help there. Doesn't know whether Booker's presence will affect the amount of touches he'll get. Says he just has to be productive as he can with the touches he gets.

- Asked whether he's talked to Shawn Andrews(this is straight from the Eagles site) "'ve talked to Shawn. Shawn's a great player, and just like I was saying before, you want to get the 11 best players on the field at one time to be the best team that you can be. I think that we definitely need him here. He's a great player, he's a great guy, he's a Pro Bowler. For us to miss him, we're going to miss a lot, and I'm hoping he gets back home."

So we get no closer to figuring out this Shawn Andrews saga...

34 year old Jon Runyan was downright giddy in his assesment of Andy Reid's newly formed "30+ plus club" which is intended to give some older veterans extra rest.

"Can I get my years retroactive?" he said, jokingly. "I wouldn't have to practice at all; I'd take the whole year off."

"Just going through it myself, there's a limit to what your batteries have left in them," Runyan said. "You liken it to the whole rechargeable battery. You keep trying to recharge it too many times, it doesn't come back the same."

Kevin Curtis was also happy, having just celebrated his 30th birthday

"I just turned 30" on July 17, Curtis said. "I never thought I'd be so happy to be 30."

Curtis was asked whether Reid knew he had just turned 30.

"If he doesn't, I'll remind him," the Eagles' No. 1 receiver said.

Brian Westbrook showed up on time for camp, but left no doubt as to his unhappiness with his contract

"I'm here," Westbrook said. "Whether I'm reluctant, I'm still here. I'm coming here to be here with my teammates, to compete for a job, and do everything I can to help this team win."

Shawn Andrews' reason for not showing up to camp remains a mystery, but his agent is adamant it has nothing to do with his contract. It also seems that the Eagles do know what that reason is.

"It's for personal reasons," agent Rich Moran said. "He's been in contact with the Eagles, and we're working on getting him there. This has absolutely nothing to do with his contract. He talked to Andy Reid, and we're working through it."

Andrews also missed the final week of the Eagles' spring camp at the NovaCare Complex for what the Eagles described as personal reasons.

"I can say this is a little bit related to that," Moran said. "It's not 100 percent related, but there's a little tie-in."

Sheldon Brown spoke about the crowded corner situation.

From my standpoint, the key is coming out of training camp with three guys," Brown said of the logjam at cornerback. "There's always injuries. You need depth. That's how I look at it from my personal standpoint."

"You have to put your ego aside," he said. "It depends on the player and how long the player will accept that. Anything's possible as long as we continue to communicate."

I couldn't agree with Sheldon more. The last thing we want is a failure to communicate.

Breath your sigh of relief... Brian Westbrook is in the house.

I just wanted to give my agent … the opportunity to talk to (team president) Joe (Banner) and get something done," Westbrook said. "I think that the agents that I did not hire have put out a lot of vicious rumors that are trying to ruin my credibility, and all those things that I read definitely are not all true."

Westbrook said holding out was a possibility, but he wanted to create the best opportunity for renegotiating his contract.

Westbrook also backed off his earlier assertion that he was looking for upwards of $30 million guaranteed in a new deal.

"I didn't mention that as a number that I was necessarily looking for," Westbrook said in a comparison with the contract San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson received in 2004. "It was an extreme example, but that's just how contracts work, usually, over the years."

For now, all is well at Lehigh.

Donovan McNabb held his first press conference of training camp and nearly every member of the local media wrote about it... #5 was his typical optimitic self

"A lot of people have picked us to win the NFC and rightfully so," McNabb said. "It's not that hard to see the type of team we have. You don't win NFC East

championships, or you don't win the NFC, period, on paper. You put it out on the field. And our team hasn't changed that much where we can't win the NFC again. We've beaten our teams in the NFC; now we just have to do it twice for each team."

It's always good to hear a confident McNabb, but John Smallwood reminds us just how long it's been since Donovan has actually played a playoff game.

Should the Eagles qualify for the playoffs this season, and McNabb is healthy enough, the game that will be played in January 2009 will mark almost 4 calendar years since his last postseason appearance.

McNabb was asked about the Westbrook station and decided to take the Sgt Schultz tact...

"I didn't hear about the whole situation until pretty much the day before I got here," McNabb said. "That part is none of my business."

Speaking of Westbrook, Pro Football Talk says they have a source with knowledge of the Westbrook contract situation and ha some disturbing news about what his demands might be...

Per a league source, Brian Westbrook is looking for a new deal that pays him $30 million over the first three years.

We’re told that Westbrook picked his new agent, Todd France, based on the fact that France was the only one who would guarantee that he could get Westbrook a certain level of compensation.

Per a league source, multiple other agents withdrew from the running once it became clear that Westbrook was treating the process like a hand of high-stakes Texas Hold ‘Em.

No team, the Eagles or otherwise are giving Westbrook that kind of money... I hope this is just a negotiation, because if he's firm on that demand this could go bad fast. That said, the feeling around most of the local media is that the Eagles are very motivated to get a deal done with Westbrook. With his new agent, who also represents Omar Gaither, also motivated hopefully something will be worked out by opening day. Either way it seems very unlikely that Westbrook will not report to camp.

It's interesting to see the local reaction to the two outstanding contract situations currently facing the Eagles. First, there's Lito Sheppard who pretty much everyone acknowledges has little to no leverage and despite Rosenhaus "in the haus" won't be all that much of a problem.

Brian Westbrook is another story. Kevin Roberts of the Courier Post illustrates it well.

Sheppard's situation probably won't be much more than an annoyance, because he's got perilously little leverage. Sheppard is a terrific player, but he's had trouble staying on the field, and the Eagles signed Asante Samuel to play left corner.

Westbrook, on the other hand, has to be dealt with. He's plainly unhappy about his contract (he works in a statement to that effect just about every fourth or fifth sentence). He's not above holding out of camp (he did it in 2005). And he's got so much leverage, he's practically Archimedes.

Westbrook is the Eagles' best player. He's coming off the best offensive season in team history.

For those not up on their history of great greek thinkers, Archimedes was a mathemetician and physicist. For my money, I'll take Westbrook's punt return against the Giants over Archimedes explanation of the principle of the lever anyday...

I do take some umbrage with Roberts article on the whole however, because his point is more or less "just fix this Eagles." While I share his sentiment, the situation is a little more nuanced than that. Westbrook wants the kind of money teams just don't pay running backs pushing 30. Les Bowen hammers it home,

Westbrook said in a Sunday Inquirer story that he should get $30 million guaranteed, because, Westbrook said, the only NFL back currently in Westbrook's production class, San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, got $25 million guaranteed when he signed his last deal in 2004, time has passed, the cap is larger, etc.

One very large problem with that logic: The Tomlinson deal was signed 4 years ago. The Chargers were giving $21 million guaranteed - not $25 million - to a 25-year-old running back, not a 29-year-old running back, which is what Westbrook will be when the regular season opens. There is no NFL position where age matters so much. Nobody, anywhere, is giving $30 million guaranteed to a 29-year-old running back.

Bowen reminds us of the Shaun Alexander situation in which he signed an 8 year deal with $15 million guaranteed at the age of 29 and was released 2 years later... It's interesting to hear Bowen make this point because he's advocated that the Eagles should be giving Westbrook a new deal. Most people following the Eagles would likely agree that he's earned a raise, and most reports suggest that the Eagles agree and are willing to to do a deal... but sources say they aren't even close

Forget Lito Sheppard. Anthony Gargano says the Philadelphia Eagles and star running back Brian Westbrook are at least $15 million apart in contract talks.

Gargano said the Eagles were offering $15 million in guaranteed money to Westbrook, while his agent was asking for $30 million.

There's been some suggestions that the reason Westbrook fired his agent, Fletcher Smith, was partly due to the fact that Smith thought the Eagles offer was reasonable and had urged Westbrook to take it or at least lower this demands. Les Bowen thinks Westbrook might have trouble finding an agent that disagrees.

An Eagles source yesterday said the team still has not heard from anyone representing Westbrook. A source close to the situation suggested Westbrook is having trouble making up his mind.

If Westbrook is waiting for an agent who will tell him he can get $30 million guaranteed, at his position, at age 29, this might take a while.

The simple fact is that this is not a case of the Eagles being cheap or not wanting to reward players for great play. If reports are to be believed the Eagles offer appears to be more than fair and Westbrook's demand of $30 million guaranteed seems to be outrageous even by today's crazy standards.

We all love Westbrook and every Eagles fan appreciates what he's done on the field and the way he's carried himself off it. I'm sure we'd all like to see him get a raise and be rewarded for his service to the club... but could there be a point where public opinion starts to go against him? Has that already begun?

Here's something I didn't know... Brian Westbrook owns a horse farm in maryland.

The first indications that you're nearing Brian Westbrook's other place of business are the yellow road signs that warn of horse, deer and tractor crossings.

These are country roads in suburban Washington, and as you wind your way around them, you eventually come upon a rickety wooden address post that lets you know you have arrived at "WESTBROOK FARM."

Westbrook says he rides 2 or 3 times a week and often brings less fortunate kids out to the farm to ride as well. It's a real working farm with people that pay to board their horses there and everything... but apparently the extra income from the horse farm isn't quite enough to make up the gap between what Brian is paid by the Eagles and what he thinks he should be paid...

"It is a business," Westbrook said. "You won't get rich owning a boarding facility like this, but I enjoy doing it. It's more a labor of love. When people get off work, they come out and relieve some of the stress. We have some show horses here, and you'll see kids come out and do some jumping and things like that."

In a separate article also done at his horse farm Westbrook addressed his contract situation directly.

"The contract thing is a sour point for me because when you deserve something you deserve something," Westbrook said. "What's right is right, and what's fair is fair."

"I tried to get this thing done in the middle of last year," he said. "I tried to get it done from January until now. It still hasn't gotten done."

He was pretty direct about what he thinks he's worth and just how good he is.

If LaDainian [Tomlinson] got paid $25 million guaranteed in 2003 and now it's 2008, the next person needs to be paid $30 million guaranteed," Westbrook said. "It works its way up. You can't sit here and say, 'I'm as good as LaDainian right now, and I'm getting paid five years after him. . . . So I'll take $15 million.' That doesn't make any sense."

The article is full of quotes and definitely worth checking out, but one last thought kinda bothered me..

"To me, it comes down to whether the team respects you," Westbrook said. "I look at it in dollars and cents. If you think you have a coach who is doing a great job, you pay him - the same way they did with Andy Reid a couple of years ago

The Eagles extended Andy Reid and gave him a raise in late 2004 for a job well done. Less than one year later they did the same for guess who?

Brian Westbrook. So if the Eagles extending Andy Reid in 2004 was an example of the team doing right, how is the Eagles extending Westbrook a year later a sign of disrespect? Not a great example there Brian. Kinda makes you like a horse's... well you know.