Aussie to vie with Johnson for Birds' punter

"Saverio Rocca" - that's Australian for punter.

The Eagles officially announced yesterday that they have signed Rocca, a 33-year-old Australian who played 15 seasons in the Australian Football League. Rocca will be in competition for the punting job with veteran Dirk Johnson, who struggled early last season after signing a six-year contract extension in late August.

Johnson, 31, finished strongly for the Eagles with a series of solid games during the team's six-game winning streak before the playoff loss in New Orleans and has to be considered the favorite to retain his job next season.

Rocca, however, makes for an interesting story just because he's from Australia and he has never played the NFL's brand of football before. He does, however, have some role models.

Darren Bennett came to the United States in 1994 from Australia and spent 10 seasons punting for the San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings, and Ben Graham made the switch from Aussie football in 2005 and has been the New York Jets' punter the last two seasons.

Rocca played in 257 games and scored 748 goals during his 15-year career in Australia, while playing for the Collingwood Magpies and North Melbourne Kangaroos. He was Collingwood's top goalkicker from 1993 to 1999 and led the Kangaroos in scoring in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

In other Eagles news, the team signed cornerback Dustin Fox to a one-year contract yesterday. Fox, a third-round draft choice of the Vikings in 2005, spent most of the 2006 season on the Eagles' practice squad. He did participate in one game against Green Bay, registering two special-teams tackles, but was then released and re-signed to the practice squad.

The Eagles also lost defensive assistant/quality control coach Mike Reed yesterday. Reed, who had been with the Eagles for four seasons, was hired as the defensive-backs coach at North Carolina State.