FanHouse SeanMcDermott

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- On the side of a hill at the corner of the practice fields at Eagles training camp, "JJ" is painted in white letters on a green oval in honor of Sean McDermott's beloved predecessor. A fair-skinned redhead, McDermott wears a wide-brimmed hat and long white sleeves in deference to the hot August sun and the skin cancer that claimed former Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson two weeks ago. When he goes to work out in the morning, McDermott still half-expects to see Johnson there, having beaten him to the gym once again. When he jogs out to the fields for the morning session, he's still surprised that Johnson isn't next to him.

The NFL season is less than five weeks away, and today FanHouse is at Eagles training camp on the campus of Lehigh University. From Stop 1 and Mile 96 of Dan Graziano's five-camp, 1,100-mile road trip comes the latest news on the Birds in green and white.

UPDATE 3:20 PM -- Eagles coach Andy Reid just informed us that rookie tight end Cornelius Ingram has a torn ACL in his left knee. This likely means Ingram is done for the season, though Reid said he was just getting the news and didn't even know when Ingram would be having surgery. "Obviously it's a shame for the kid," Reid said. "He's a great kid and he was doing some good things. He was working his way in. He was a factor."

The Eagles will be without starting linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season. He tore his ACL during the first week of training camp, leaving a big hole in the middle of their defense (particularly after safety Brian Dawkins wasn't re-signed).

Compounding matters: longtime defensive coordinator Jim Johnson lost his battle to cancer and his replacement, 35-year-old Sean McDermott, is in his first year on the job. The Eagles have signed a couple warm bodies -- Matt Wilhelm and Jason Babin -- and second-year linebacker Joe Mays will also get a shot at replacing Bradley. (There was some speculation that Omar Gaither might get the nod but it looks like he'll remain the fourth linebacker, at least for now.)

In May, the Eagles announced that Sean McDermott would be the team's interim defensive coordinator, replacing Jim Johnson indefinitely while he received cancer treatments. Friday, the organization named McDermott to the full-time gig.

Johnson continues to battle cancer, and as NFL Network's Jason La Canfora writes, "If there is ever a Coordinators Wing in the Hall of Fame (and frankly there probably should be), then of this modern era of defensive coaches, Johnson and Dick LeBeau should be first-ballot entrants."

Johnson, 68, molded the Eagles into one of the league's best defenses during his 10 years in Philly, and in a 2005 interview with the Boston Globe he explained his blitz-happy philosophy.