Afternoon had already turned into evening when the final whistle sounded on a Saturday training camp practice, and most of the Eagles filed off the field.
Derek Barnett remained.
Five minutes passed, 10, 15. He didn’t leave. He stayed with Jason Peters, a potential Hall of Fame left tackle, and worked to refine his spin move until no other players were left around them. Barnett, the Eagles’ No. 1 draft choice this year, still hadn’t caught his breath nearly 20 minutes after practice finished.
It’s more notable if a player makes it to the NFL with a lousy work ethic than a laudable one; effort is often required as a price of admission. But for Barnett, there’s something intrinsic about the way he works, about the “motor” described in scouting reports that helped him break Reggie White’s sack record in three years at Tennessee, about how he didn’t balk at needing to change in a makeshift locker even though he was a first-round pick who signed a $12.8 million guaranteed contract a month before his 21st birthday.
DB will be a Pro Bowler by his third year. You can count on it.
