FanHouse ShawnAndrews

Last offseason, the Bengals franchised offensive tackle Stacy Andrews, the team's 2004 fourth-round pick, even though he had just 17 career starts. He started 15 more times last season, but a Week 17 knee injury convinced Cincinnati to let him walk this time around.

The Eagles, who are in need of reinforcements along the offensive line due to age and, ironically, injury, wasted little time in signing Andrews. His younger brother Shawn just finished his fifth year with the Eagles, and has 47 career starts at guard and tackle. Stacey's addition means that 34-year-old Jon Runyan's Eagles' career is likely over.

It's shaping up to be a completely lost season for Shawn Andrews of the Philadelphia Eagles. The guard missed a big chunk of training camp with what was described as a clinical bout of depression and then injured his back the second week of the season. Originally the Eagles said that surgery wasn't a possibility to help fix the injury but, several weeks later, Andrews has indeed undergone surgery to repair a herniated disc.

He's expected to miss at least six weeks and could be out for the remainder of the season. Andrews, by coach Andy Reid's own admission, hadn't improved since the injury occurred and one wonders why he didn't pursue the surgical option more vigorously. It wasn't the first time Andrews had an issue with the disc and if he'd had the surgery earlier, he could be back with the team sooner to help them make what they hope will be a push for the playoffs in the season's final weeks.

It appears they'll have to make such a push with Max Jean-Gilles occupying the Pro Bowler's spot at right guard. The good news for the Eagles is that they expect to have Brian Westbrook, Reggie Brown and Kevin Curtis in the lineup this Sunday which should mitigate the gaping hole left by Andrews on the offense.

Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Shawn Andrews has still not reported to the team's training camp, and the reasons have remained mysterious, with rumors about health problems, personal problems, or discontent with his contract.

Now Andrews has finally explained: He's depressed.

Shawn Andrews has still failed to show his face at Eagles training camp at Lehigh University and some of his teammates aren't exactly happy with The Big Kid's absence.

"It's not helping us and it's not helping him sitting out," right tackle Jon Runyan said. "The longer he holds out, the longer it'll be before he gets in there. So it's going to be a tough situation. If you keep giving reps to the guy who's backing you up, at some point, he's going to pass you."

Over the weekend when this whole Shawn Andrews mystery started to come to light, Runyan made a comment about Andrews taking a "really expensive vacation." At $15,000 or so a day, the Eagles lineman has surpassed the six figure mark. Could Andrews really be that lazy that he'd rather pay 100 large than have to work hard twice a day in the Pennsylvania humidity? I'm thinking there must be deeper issues.

The guy stepping in for Andrews is third-year guard Max Jean-Gilles who by all accounts is quite a large man. Reports from camp keep talking about just how gigantic he is. (yet agile!)

In other Eagles camp news, DeSean Jackson returned to the field on Wednesday after his "tweaked" hammy kept him out of drills on Tuesday.

Eagles offensive tackle Shawn Andrews did not report to training camp last week, and he's still not there. Andrews has not said why he's not in camp, but it doesn't seem to be a contractual matter. The Philadelphia Daily News offers this from Andrews' agent, Rich Moran:

"We're working on taking care of things," Moran said last night. He would not elaborate on the "personal situation" that has kept Andrews away from Lehigh, even when a reporter referenced some of the more outrageous rumors floating around the Internet, and suggested that the truth could hardly be more damaging.

Without getting into those "outrageous rumors," Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes that if, as some hypothesize, Andrews has some type of emotional or psychological issue, a medical examination could protect Andrews' rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act -- including the right not to be fined $15,000 a day for missing camp, which is what the Eagles are currently doing.

Andrews is a talented player and a player the Eagles want back soon. But for now, there's no sign that his return will come soon.

While Brian Wesbtrook has made it very clear in the past few weeks that he is unhappy with the current contract he is under, the star running back reported to Lehigh this evening on time as all veterans were scheduled to do. The other question mark was whether or not corner back Lito Sheppard would show up on time. He did.

The somewhat surprising news is that one of the games best offensive linemen, Shawn Andrews, failed to report on time and was not at Lehigh University. Andrews is currently under contract until 2015. That's quite a while.

To get you ready for Week 16, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is your New Orleans Saints/Philadelphia Eagles preview.

2007 Records:

Philadelphia Eagles: 6-8 (4th in NFC East)
New Orleans Saints: 7-7 (2nd in NFC South)

Last Week:

Eagles 10, Cowboys 6
Saints 31, Cardinals 24

Why We Care: These two teams played two great games last year under different circumstances. The first was an early matchup of conference heavyweights, the second a second-round playoff game. Both ended 27-24 in favor of the Saints. This year, New Orleans needs to win out with help just to make the playoffs and the Eagles are out. Still, as a byproduct of three games in two years, the teams have developed a nice little snarl, and the Eagles still have something to play for -- instilling the same misery they're feeling into other teams.

With the Saints on tap to play the Eagles for the third time in two years, let's take a trip in the way-back machine to September, and revisit a quote from Eagles guard Shawn Andrews:

"It's one game at a time, but I definitely have that one on my calendar," Andrews said of this year's Dec. 23 rematch with the Saints. "There were just some things that went on with the opposing team. There was one player in particular that did some things that I didn't appreciate. . . . I won't say any names, but hopefully you'll get a chance to see when we get that far down the schedule."

Andrews is referring to the second-round playoff game between the two teams back in January. The Saints won that one, and the one before, both 27-24. But that's not what bugs Andrews (well, it probably does, but it's not the sole reason for his violent revenge fantasies). What's got Andrews twisted is the neck injury he suffered in that playoff loss, which required him to spend the second half in a hospital.

His words, though more veiled than Terence Newman's desire to decapitate Jon Kitna, are clearly a threat nonetheless. Who knows what player he's referring to -- my guess is either Hollis Thomas or Will Smith -- but the point might be moot anyway; Andrews is questionable and missed practice today. This injury is not the Saints' doing.

The media can twist stories anyway they want. It happens all the time. Even here on blogs we create stories out of nothing. Teams can also twist stories how they want. It's well known that most coaches despise the injury report and use it as a smoke screen almost as much as they use it to tell us who is really hurt. Who says players can't get in on the action?

Shawn Andrews has been hurt for much of training camp. In an interview with reporters he said that after meeting with specialists that the conversation was a "tear jerker." Wow, that must mean a season ender? God forbid, career ender?