Eagles sign TE Cornelius Ingram to practice squad

In a move that had me doing a double-take into my BlackBerry, the Eagles have brought back tight end Cornelius Ingram, signing him to their practice squad.

After all, the Eagles had Ingram through training camp, and didn't see enough to warrant keeping him then. After two knee surgeries in two years, he still had the athletic frame, but he looked slow and unable to break free from linebackers during practice. Knee problems kept hampering him, and after he was cut, no one else picked him up, sending a message that he was considered damaged goods.

It looked like a sad departure for a cheerful, engaging player whose considerable talent was undermined by injury.

Ingram, you'll recall, was a once promising athlete: he etched his name into Florida's high school sports lore, became a Florida Gator as a prospect in football and basketball, and became a star tight end when the team got a quarterback by the name of Tebow.

Then an ACL tear ruined Ingram's senior season and he fell to the fifth round of the draft, where the Eagles took a chance. For a few weeks of 2009 training camp, it looked like a great move, until he blew out the same ACL. He worked hard to play again in 2010, but his explosiveness never returned.

A job on the practice squad is hardly a return to big time football. Players regularly rotate on and off the squad, picked up and discarded as the Eagles' needs change. But he'll be back in the building, back at practice, perhaps with one more chance.

The Eagles had a practice squad spot open after they released defensive end Pannel Egboh. Egboh was seemingly cut to make room for running back Joique Bell, who was waived from the active roster to make room for safety Colt Anderson. Bell, though, but picked up by the running back-needy Colts.