Reid Agrees

On the biggest problem in these minicamps not being McNabb's shoulder or Lito's non-appearance:

Reid said he was more concerned about Jackson than Samuel's missing time at the Eagles' final spring camp. Both players sat out the final five practices with hamstring injuries.

"DeSean has a lot of work ahead of him both mentally and physically," Reid said. "When you're young like that, you can't afford those kinds of things, because the game passes you by real fast. We were working him into the offense, but he's got to get himself right and healthy. The hamstring isn't something that has bothered him before."

Jackson said he would recover from his injury by training camp.

This is honestly, potentially by far the biggest story since the draft.  Who knows if the rumors about Jackson not being a player who loves to practice are actually true.  What we do know is:

1. It's virtually impossible for rookie wide receivers to master the whole playbook even under the best of circumstances.
2. Missing OTA time with a strained hamstring is not the best of circumstances.
3. A hamstring strain seems like a "conditioning" type of injury that happens to guys who haven't been working hard enough -- especially at his age.
4. A strained hamstring during OTAs is the quintessential prima donna wide receiver injury.  (see Owens, Smith, etc.)

Comments

[George]

So are you worried that Asante is a prima donna as well? If not, why not?

[Me]

Totally a reputation thing. Asante has never been rumored to be that kind of guy, as far as I know. He was a mid-round draft pick who worked his tail off and made it to the top.

Now, maybe since he's arrived, he'll ease off and never be the same guy again. That's always a concern. But the track record isn't there.

The track record on Jackson being a little Iverson-esque in his sense of the importance of practice and hitting the weight room certainly seems to be well-established.

Also, please note that I didn't say Jackson was a prima donna. No idea on that yet. I'm just saying that that particular injury coming at this particular time of year is the kind of injury that other prima donna wide receivers who don't feel like running 100 routes a day in June typically come up with.

The injury itself is far less worrisome than the missed reps for learning the offense.