Te'o-Nesheim explains "ceiling" comment
Daniel Te'o-Nesheim's introduction to Philadelphia was a peculiar one.
Selected in the third round of April's draft, the new Eagles defensive end had a roomful of reporters bent over in laughter when he told them during a conference call what he was doing when he got the congratulatory call from the Birds.
"I was just lying down and looking at the ceiling," Te'o-Nesheim said then.
Soft-spoken and shy, Te'o-Nesheim (pronounced tuh-OH NESS-ime) didn't realize what kind of reaction his comment would generate from the Philadelphia media.
"Hugh Douglas said, 'What were you smoking? Weed?'" Te'o-Nesheim said Thursday after a workout in training camp-like heat. (And, no, he said he wasn't smoking weed.)
Actually, the Washington product had a pretty good explanation for turning off the draft and spacing out. Te'o-Nesheim's aunt was driving him bonkers.
"My aunt came over for the draft and couldn't stop talking about it," he said. "She just blew the whole draft out of proportion. Oh my God. She kept going, 'This is the one. This is the one.' So I just went upstairs. I turned on the TV and nothing else was on so I just laid down."
And then the Eagles called. Many draft prognosticators didn't have the 6-foot-3, 263-pound going much earlier than the fifth round.
"Some people were like, 'Oh, he didn't think he was going to get drafted at all. So he wasn't even watching,'" Te'o-Nesheim said. "I was like, 'Wow, the stuff people come up with.'"
Like top pick Brandon Graham, Te'o-Nesheim has a had a solid rookie camp thus far (at least as much as one can gauge from watching players practice in shorts). He's a hustler and isn't afraid to mix it up, although he's on the smaller end of the scale (like Graham).
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A two-minute drill toward the end of Thursday's practice provided a few noteworthy plays. Quarterback Kevin Kolb ran the first unit but was stopped short when one his passes was tipped by cornerback Dimitri Patterson and intercepted by cornerback Geoffrey Pope.
Backup quarterback Michael Vick heaved a nice 40ish-yard TD pass to wide receiver Dobson Collins against the second team. And a Mike Kakfa pass to rookie wide receiver Riley Cooper in the back of the end zone was swatted away at the last second by rookie cornerback Trevard Lindley, thus ending the drive.
Linebacker Moise Fokou was back at practice the last few days after sitting out the first two workouts this week. Fokou is penciled in as the starter at strong-side linebacker, but played a few snaps in the middle.
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The Eagles signed safety Ryan Hamilton, a product of Council Rock North, who was recently waived by the Saints. Cornerback Josh Morris, an undrafted rookie out of Weber State, was released after Thursday's practice. They also formerly announced the addition of Daniel Jeremiah to their college scouting staff. Jeremiah will scout the west coast.