Eagles veterans adjust to life without Donovan McNabb

BETHLEHEM, PA. -- In some ways, it seemed that little had changed as the Philadelphia Eagles took to the practice fields at Lehigh University on a pleasantly mild and breezy Saturday morning for their first full-squad practice of training camp with the players in pads.

Coach Andy Reid stood at midfield, talking to a trainer as he watched his three quarterbacks in red jerseys take snaps near the outset of practice. The stands were filling with fans hopeful about a new season and another possible run at an NFC East title. Veteran kicker David Akers jogged on a sideline as the team's offensive and defensive players began to perform drills on the fields around him.

But so much has changed. Reid and Akers are surrounded by far fewer familiar faces these days, as the Eagles have spent the past two offseasons overhauling the roster of a team that has been one of the NFL's most consistent winners for a decade. And when Reid began yelling instructions to his quarterbacks Saturday, he was yelling at Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick and rookie Mike Kafka rather than Donovan McNabb, who was a couple hundred miles away in Northern Virginia after the trade in April that sent him to the Washington Redskins.

"I've had a chance to kind of get used to it," team president Joe Banner said as he stood on the field Saturday. "But you are used to coming out on the field and looking and seeing number five, long enough that you can't look out there now and not realize that it's changed."

The Eagles have had nearly four months for the ramifications of the McNabb deal to sink in, and Kolb had a series of offseason practices to begin establishing himself as the team's new starter at quarterback. He kept the transition process inching forward Saturday morning by drawing roars of approval from the crowd with a pair of on-target deep throws to wide receiver DeSean Jackson.

"It hit me back in minicamp," wideout Jason Avant said as he walked off the field following the morning practice. "It's old. You're used to it. Kevin is doing a great job. . . . I think everything is going to be fine."

But for others who were around to witness more of the McNabb era in Philadelphia first hand, coming to grips with the parting has been a more gradual process.

"He was the face of this team for 11 years," said Akers, who's entering his 12th season with the franchise. "But that's the way the business runs. Management made a decision.

"Kevin is a good guy and a good quarterback. He works hard. He's a fantastic leader. I think he's doing all the things you need to do in his situation. . . . [McNabb] was a great quarterback here, maybe the greatest in the history of the franchise. But you have to go on, all of us."

The Eagles reached the NFC title game five times in 11 seasons after Reid was hired in 1999 and made McNabb his first draft pick. They endured much together as coach and quarterback: four losses in the NFC championship game and a Super Bowl defeat; the tempestuous stay of wide receiver Terrell Owens; season-ending injuries for McNabb and one benching but quick reinstatement by Reid; the regular calls by the team's demanding fan base for the franchise to move on with someone else at quarterback.

But for Reid and his players, Saturday was mostly about getting back to work with Kolb as the offensive centerpiece, not about reflecting on McNabb's tenure and the trade.

"We went through the minicamps, so we had a lead-in to this," Reid said. "So I'm used to that part of it. . . . Listen, I appreciated every day that I had Donovan McNabb, as [Redskins Coach] Mike Shanahan will. He's tremendous, tremendous, tremendous. . . . I can't talk to him now, by league rule. But there are no hard feelings between Donovan and me. I think the world of the guy."