Doug Pederson: 'I Couldn't Sleep Last Night'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's back to the future with Doug Pederson at the helm.
Things are a bit different with the new Eagles coach than they were with Chip Kelly. The team will hold nearly all of its practices early in the morning as opposed to the lunch hour under Kelly's schedule. As in the days of Andy Reid, the first few days of camp will feature rookies, quarterbacks, and selected veterans. Pederson appears to have many of the same habits as the man he worked for as a player and an assistant coach, and was ready to get to work for the first time as the man in charge.
"It was great," said Pederson. "I was excited. I couldn't sleep last night. The storm woke me up extremely early this morning. I've been through this so many times...14 years as a player and this is my eighth as a coach, so 22 years doing this, and it never gets dull. The first day is always exciting."
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The first three days are an opportunity for the quarterbacks and young players to get more individual attention. The full squad will work out together for the first time on Thursday, and Pederson said the first practice in pads will take place on Saturday. The head coach believes a lot can be accomplished before the full-squad workouts get underway.
"It's a great three days to get acclimated to the schedule," Pederson said. "It's great for the coaches to kind of get back into the swing of football and thinking football before we get the rest of the team in here and then I think thirdly, just getting the quarterbacks in here and getting their arms loose and kind of getting into a full lather before they really get cranked up Friday, Saturday and the rest of camp."
Sam Bradford was on the field on the first day of practice, and Pederson once again emphasized Bradford will be his starting quarterback. Bradford has dealt with speculation about his future even after Pederson named him the starter in the spring. The quarterback insists he is focused on the 2016 season and is not looking further ahead.
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"I'm just trying to come out here and get better each day," said Bradford. "I'll try to make this team better and try to help this team win games and do the job the best I can. That's all I can control and whatever happens, happens."
Pederson added rookie Carson Wentz is still the third quarterback on the depth chart behind Bradford and Chase Daniel. Wentz understands his first season in the NFL will be a year of learning instead of playing, but the rookie was happy to get his first training camp workout under his belt.
"It was fun," Wentz said. "It was fun to get out there with some of these guys. We're trying to get the cobwebs out with some of these guys. It's all young guys. We've got a lot to learn and a long way to go, but it was fun."
