There's something about second-year defensive linemen that seems to engender trust in the Eagles' coaching staff.
Two years ago, defensive tackle Mike Patterson was installed as a starter in his second year after earning his way to playing time as a rookie. Then last year, defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley stepped into a starting role as a second-year player despite an abjectly disappointing rookie season.
Now, it appears to be Victor Abiamiri's turn.
"I know Mike Patterson did it and I saw Bunkley do it,"
the 6-4, 265-pound second-year defensive end said Thursday. "I want to make the same jump."
Abiamiri was the Eagles' other second-round pick in 2007, out of Notre Dame. Though he saw more time than second-round quarterback Kevin Kolb, he got a lot less ink, even as the team's pass rush struggled for consistency in an 8-8 season.
His rookie showing was too slight to call a Patterson-esque success, but pound-for-pound, it was more than a Bunkley-caliber failure.
Abiamiri sat on the shelf for the first five games of the season, was active for the Bears game in Week 7 and then deactivated for two more weeks.
In Week 10 at Washington, he made his first start. However, that may have been more about the team's frustration with Jevon Kearse than anything else, because he was a backup again the next Sunday against the Dolphins, and the Sunday after that, he was back in street clothes.
Over the last three games of the season, he finally began to get on the field, and by the season finale against Buffalo, he was even showing the Eagles coaching staff a little something.
Abiamiri made two tackles against the Bills, equaling his career high, and hurried the quarterback twice as well.
"I said that towards the end of the year that I thought he was coming around,"
defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "He's showing it this year in these camps. He's a different person. He plays with a lot of confidence and he knows the defense."
"He's going to be on the field quite a bit."
By the end of the season, he'd seen action in six games and made seven tackles, two of which were solo. Though the frustration was visible in Abiamiri's body language in the NovaCare Complex locker room during the second half of the 2007 campaign, those vibes are gone now.
He knows there's no changing his rookie year, so he might as well assume it was all for the best.
"I definitely understand their whole mentality of kind of grooming guys, you know watch and learn' and things like that,"
he said. "I was definitely champing at the bit to get in there a bunch of times last year, but I definitely understand where they were coming from, grooming me and take their time to prepare me and give me more of an opportunity in the following year."
That following year is now, and those opportunities are beginning to materialize in the form of first-team reps during the Eagles' full-squad Organized Team Activities, which continue today.
Though Johnson said incumbent Juqua Parker remains at the top of the depth chart on the left side, the term "starter" means something different than it does on the right side, where Pro Bowler Trent Cole holds court.
"I think (Abiamiri) is an excellent first- and second-down run player,"
Johnson said. "I think he's a physical guy, but he's also getting better on his pass rush. I could see him a lot on first and second down, and rotating some other guys, and sometimes even playing tackle in the nickel."
Given his 13.5-sack, 103-tackle campaign in 2007, it's probably safe to assume Cole will be on the field whenever he's fresh enough to go.
But the rest of the snaps at defensive end will be divided among a crowded group via Johnson's famed rotation, which includes Parker and Abiamiri, as well as free agent pickup Chris Clemons, Darren Howard and rookie Bryan Smith.
On the mend: The early indications are that the hamstring pulls suffered Wednesday by cornerback Asante Samuel and rookie wide receiver/returner DeSean Jackson were both relatively minor.
Jackson said as much in the NovaCare Complex after Wednesday's practice, and on Thursday Johnson said he was "not concerned"
about Samuel's long-term availability.
"I hated to see him get hurt yesterday because he is going to miss those reps,"
the defensive coordinator said. "He's still going to learn the defense while he's here, but he's going to miss reps."
