Glad to be working out, Eagles' Avant is joined by Sinorice Moss

Nobody knows how much NFL play will suffer from a locked-out spring, but after running pass patterns for about an hour yesterday at a South Jersey high school with a dozen or so teammates, Jason Avant said he really needed the work.

"It's a very tough thing for my position," the Eagles' slot receiver said. "What you see on Sundays in October is [the result of] a lengthy rehearsal throughout the summer for the performances during the year. Getting timing down is the hardest thing. You need timing, with bodies."

Avant said workouts like the one Michael Vick organized yesterday in Burlington County help, but "you need to be able to have guys' hands in your face." The players have decided against anything resembling full-squad workouts right now because injuries suffered in this setting could void contracts, they said. But Avant said if the lockout continues, at some point such risks will be necessary.

"This is the offseason where you have to depend on guys' work ethic," Avant said. "Those teammates that don't work, this offseason will show that, more than any other year," absent the usual push from coaches at minicamps and OTAs.

"We've all called each other, tried to get more guys, but you can understand - if a guy says, 'I'm in California, and I've paid a trainer,' you can't get on a guy for something like that," Avant said. "We just have to go with the numbers that we have."

Those numbers were enhanced yesterday with the arrival of Sinorice Moss, the former Giants wideout the Eagles signed in January. Moss, a second-round Giants selection in 2006, reached an injury settlement with the Giants last season after suffering a sports hernia, his third major injury.

Moss said the lockout has made changing teams a bit tricky. He was meeting several of his new teammates for the first time yesterday, trying to pick up what he could about the Eagles' offense. Moss quickly attached himself to Avant, whom he knew from being in the same draft class.

"Just being out here with him, him telling me what I need to know as far as some of the routes and depths, some of the key things I need to know so that when we do get a chance to return, I can be on top of my game," Moss, 27, said when asked what he got from the session.

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(philly.com)

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