Eagles Notes: Market for Kolb shrinks

About 12 teams went into the NFL draft in need of a quarterback, each of them once potential suitors for Kevin Kolb.

Of those teams, six selected quarterbacks in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. Four went in the first round on Thursday. Two more were snapped up in the second round on Friday night.

That leaves six or so teams conceivably still in need of a quarterback that they can sell as a starter for next season. Because quarterbacks rarely start in their rookie seasons, that number is potentially larger.

"Right now you can kind of eliminate that from your mind because there's nothing you can do about it," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "Do I sit there and go, 'Oh, my goodness, that guy went here?' I don't do that."

The bottom line: The Eagles still have plenty of possible partners once they are permitted to trade Kolb, should they choose to do so. The big question in the should-they-or-shouldn't-they-trade-Kolb debate: When can they?

Monday is the earliest possible answer. The owners were granted a temporary stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Friday, and a final ruling won't come until next week. The stay resumed the lockout - after a Monday ruling effectively ended the work stoppage - and shut down league business, even though business was kept to a minimum.

Teams opened their doors to the players, and coaches were permitted to talk to and meet with them as of 8 a.m. Friday. That brief reprieve lasted all of 12 hours.

A dozen or so Eagles took advantage of the opening and showed up at the NovaCare Complex. Among them were quarterbacks Michael Vick and Mike Kafka, running back LeSean McCoy, tight end Brent Celek, wide receiver Jason Avant, guard Todd Herremans, and tackle Winston Justice.

Kolb is at his offseason home in Granbury, Texas. He did not respond to a text message asking if he had spoken to Reid or the Eagles.

"Kevin reached out to me," Reid said.

On Thursday, Reid said the Eagles had been talking to teams that were interested in Kolb, before they were no longer permitted to, and that "we know where we left off there."

Rumors persisted that the Eagles had made wink-and-nod deals with other teams for future considerations. But those types of agreements are not permitted by the league and would be extremely risky for the Eagles.

Some of those teams may no longer be interested in the 26-year-old, however. Carolina took Auburn quarterback Cam Newton No. 1 and still has Jimmy Clausen. Tennessee surprisingly selected Jake Locker eighth overall. Blaine Gabbert fell to Jacksonville at No. 10 and Christian Ponder went to Minnesota at No. 12.

In Friday night's second round, Cincinnati took Andy Dalton with the third pick of the day and San Francisco traded up to grab Colin Kaepernick with the next pick.

That left Seattle, Arizona, Miami, Washington, Buffalo, and Cleveland as teams seemingly still in need of a quarterback.