An introduction: Talking NFL
When I last spent a full year in the Philadelphia area, the Eagles were a team on the rise.
They put together an 11-5 record, and Donovan McNabb started all 16 games at quarterback. He was the team's leading rusher with 629 yards as the Eagles were forced to play several different running backs, including Darnell Autry.
Despite a loss to the Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs that year, the future was bright.
That was 2000. Since then, there have been good times and bad, and now, nobody seems too sure of what the future holds for this franchise.
As for me, I've had mostly good times since that season. My name is Sheil Kapadia, and I handle sports content for philly.com. I have been in and out of the area for the past seven-plus years, but am happy to return and am excited to be blogging about the NFL.
This is not an Eagles blog, but rather a forum to discuss the latest happenings in the NFL. Will that include Philadelphia? Sure, but the conversation will go beyond what the Birds are doing. For the latest updates from Lehigh, check out Eagletarian and Birds' Eye View. And don't forget our redesigned training camp section.
So what exactly will you find here?
Weekly picks – I can't guarantee that they'll do you any good, but you'll get weekly selections with the spread once the regular season begins. There will more than likely be times when I encourage you to pick the opposite of me.
Fantasy football – That time of the season is rapidly approaching. You've probably recently received an e-mail from your league commissioner trying to set up a draft date. And in the next six weeks, you'll gather with friends, make fun of each others' selections and embark on a fantasy season that you will spend too much time on. I can't wait. Look for my player rankings in the next few weeks.
News roundups – I'll take a look at what's going on around the league and link to prominent articles that might be of interest to fans. For example, The Arizona Republic reports that Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin is not expected to hold out even though he wants a new deal.
And that's just a sampling. We'll also do a ton on the NFL draft in the offseason, have Q&As with various football people around the country, and I hope to include a mailbag. Please feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts, questions, ideas, etc. or just comment at the bottom. This works a lot better if it's truly a discussion.