Wake Up Call: John Moffitt Is Looking Forward

John Moffitt feels good. No, scratch that, he feels really good. Twenty-one months after leaving the Super-Bowl-bound Denver Broncos, he’s happy to be clean and playing football again.

“It feels really good, It’s nice to be back. Obviously, I’m still knocking the rust off,” Moffitt said.

After attending rehab in California, Moffitt spent the offseason working out and getting in shape with some of his new teammates at Jay Glazer’s MMA gym.

“We went out to Jay Glazer’s gym and we were doing a lot of wrestling and MMA, it was really good training,” Moffitt explained. “I had the luxury to be there for about four months straight because I started on April 1st, so I just feel really good.

“I think a lot of what Jay preaches is a mentality, a tougher mentality and a fighter mentality which I think is really useful for football and on top of that, just getting into the best shape I’ve ever been in so it was just very helpful.”

Lane Johnson gave more insight into what Moffitt did while working out with the Fox Sports analyst.

“I think he was like 283 [lbs], he was just starting to train again, so after a few months he’s definitely progressing, he’s got his weight up to 310, he’s got good lower body strength,” said Johnson. “Right now he’s just trying to learn the playbook. We run so many plays so fast, it’s hard for him to grasp it all in a few days, but he’s learning and getting a lot better.

“He’s pretty strong in his lower body, so at first he wasn’t up to par because he hadn’t done [MMA], plus he was out of football for so long, so it took him a while to get good at it, but right before I left he was pretty good.”

During the first two days of training camp, Moffitt has been working exclusively with the third-team offensive line, but he isn’t too concerned with depth chart positioning yet, he’s just focused on the playbook and acclimating himself with Chip Kelly’s culture.

“Right now, I just want to dive in and this is the deep end, obviously because it’s so fast, the style of football, so really every day, I just want to become a better football player,” Moffitt said.

“I was pretty excited when I came out to visit because I really liked Chip, I really liked the organization and what they’re doing here. I thought it was really unique. There’s a lot of different things, it’s a different culture. Obviously every NFL team is different so every organization has a different vibe to it, but I really enjoy coach Kelly’s style and it’s really a lot different than I’m used to.”

Some eyebrows were raised when Kelly stepped out on a limb to sign Moffitt, considering the coach’s perceived need for players to walk the straight and narrow, but Kelly believes Moffitt is a changed person.

“Obviously he’s gone through some things, but we felt confident when he came here and visited in June and met with myself and Jeff Stoutland,” Kelly said.

“He made some mistakes in his life, I think he understands them and he owns them. He didn’t deflect them, he didn’t blame them on anybody else. He took full responsibility for everything that has gone on and I feel like after meeting with him that he deserves a second chance.”

Moffitt also believes that he isn’t the same person that made those mistakes.

“I’ve moved on from the past, it’s not something that I try to look back on,” he said. “I really do look at myself as a new person, a transformed person and a healthy person.”

WHAT YOU MISSED

Kelly says Mychal Kendricks is sticking around for the entire season.

Bill Davis explains the thinking behind trading Brandon Boykin.

Eyebrows were raised at DeMarco Murray’s absence from Sunday’s practice, but the running back says he is completely healthy.

Sheil gives a rundown of what happened at yesterday’s practice in his running diary.

LB Travis Long tore his ACL for the second straight season.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Paul Domowitch of the Daily News checks in on rookie cornerback JaCorey Shepard:

During yesterday’s first training-camp practice, Shepherd, a rookie sixth-round pick, took all of the first-team nickel reps and appears to be the leading candidate to replace Boykin. He didn’t play a single down of nickel at Kansas but has been a quick study.

“We’re really, really impressed with him,” Kelly said. “We’re excited about his development and his growth.”

“It’s mostly [learning] the run fits,” Shepherd said of the adjustment to playing nickel. “You have to know the play call as far as when you have run fits and when you don’t. And I have to be a lot more aware of who I’m working with [at nickel]. If I’m working with a linebacker or a safety or a corner. At corner, usually just a corner and safety work with each other. But a nickel, I could be working with one or two or all three.

Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice thinks Tim Tebow has a good shot at making the 53-man roster:

Of course, Tebow will have to beat out incumbent third-string quarterback Matt Barkley. A strong argument against Barkley is that the Eagles have been willing to trade him for well over a year now, and according to a source, they’re not exactly looking for much.

The argument for Barkley is that he is a more “traditional” quarterback. With two quarterbacks with histories of serious injuries ahead of him on the depth chart, there is logic that says Barkley is more likely than other third stringers to see game action, like he did in 2013. While Tebow is a more versatile player who could potentially be used in certain game situations, there’s an argument to be made that Barkley would be a better option if he had to play, say, two or three quarters of football.

Then again, once you get down to your third-string quarterback, you’re kinda screwed anyway.

COMING UP

First day with pads on. The team will practice in front of the fans at Lincoln Financial Field at 12:05.