When Danny Watkins saw a notice last week at the Novacare Complex for a mandatory rookie event, his first instinct was to tell his teammate, Jason Kelce.

But then, Watkins remembered: He’s not a rookie anymore.

Unlike a lot of athletes, Fletcher Cox was not afraid to throw his personal goals for the season right out there.

“My goal is to be Defensive Rookie of the Year,” said Cox. “It’s probably every rookie’s goal, but that’s one of the goals I want to set for myself.”

Does he have a sack total in mind?

“Five, six sacks as a rookie, that would be great,” he said.

The 12th overall pick out of Mississippi State will try to chase down those ambitions beginning Sunday in Cleveland.

The only two players who have been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Browns are wide receiver Riley Cooper and safety Colt Anderson.

Cooper’s absence means a chance for rookie Damaris Johnson to get on the field.

Reaction in the Eagles locker room was almost identical from player to player when the question about replacement referees came up. There would be a telling smile followed by an involuntary groan, both indicating a nerve was struck. Michael Vick literally let out an, “Ahhh!” before conjuring up a politically correct response.

Jason Avant went through the same process, waited a beat, and chose to let his real feelings seep through the crack.

“This league is all about — our commissioner is all about — player safety,” said Avant. “And with the deal not being done, there’s a definite compromise, kind of an oxymoron so to speak, when it comes to player safety with the refs not being there. A lot of guys are kind of concerned about it. That’s a big deal for us as far as player safety.”

This afternoon, I posed a simple question to players in the Eagles locker room: Based on what you’ve seen, which teammate do you think is poised to have a really good year?

Selection was based simply on who was available. But it just so happened to be four defensive players and four offensive players. Here are their responses.

Throughout the course of the week, we’ll be providing position-by-position previews of the entire Eagles roster. We start with the defensive line.

With the established veteran out the door and the job handed to a fourth-round rookie, it is fair to ask what the contingency plan is at nickel corner, and how this all might affect Nnamdi Asomugha‘s role. Brandon Boykin has essentially been handed a starting gig, as the Eagles were in the nickel almost half the time as a defense last season.

The decision to part with Joselio Hanson (now with the Raiders) and ride with Boykin was driven by both performance and finances, as general manager Howie Roseman explained.

Bovada released  a list of Eagles props Tuesday, which includes the chances of Michael Vick staying healthy and Andy Reid getting fired in-season.

Take a look:

With national predictions rolling in fast and furious, it’s time to once again round up what people are saying about the Eagles.

When Chris Polk saw the number on his phone, he figured his time in Philadelphia was up.

The Eagles running back sat around and waited Friday. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. He made sure he had his ringer on loud.

About 16 hours earlier, Polk was in the end zone, celebrating a 3-yard touchdown in the Eagles’ final preseason game against the Jets. Now, he was waiting to find out if it was time to turn in his playbook.

“It didn’t ring until Coach Duce [Staley] called me from his office phone, which I didn’t have stored,” Polk said. “It’s a 2-1-5 number, so I was like ‘Oh man, I’m cut.’ I waited until the last ring to actually answer it.”

An update on the former Eagles backup:

Mike Kakfa worked out for the Patriots Tuesday, according to a source.

Several teams inquired about the signal-caller upon his release Friday, including New England, Kansas City, Green Bay and Cleveland.

Of those teams, it appears the Patriots and Browns are two of the more interested parties.

The 25-year-old Kafka, entering his third NFL season, has appeared in parts of four regular-season games, going 11-of-16 for 107 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. The Eagles felt comfortable enough in him to head into the season with Kafka backing up the high-flying Vick. However, Nick Foles and Edwards proceeded to have dynamite preseasons while Kafka was forced to sit out because of a fracture in his non-throwing hand.

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has stated publicly on two different occasions now that last season was unacceptable and a repeat performance would not be tolerated. On Thursday, during his annual state-of-the-team address, he said that he needs to see “substantial improvement” in 2012.

Michael Vick was asked what that means to him.

“It means he wants to see significant improvement,” said Vick with a laugh. “I didn’t need to hear that because I know exactly what we’re facing, what we want to accomplish this season. If that’s not the goal, then what is it?”

Brandon Boykin was checking Twitter Friday afternoon when he got the news.

“People were saying ‘Congratulations on winning the slot position.’ And I’m like what? What’s going on? Did somebody make an announcement or something?” Boykin said. “I checked my Twitter, and it said Joselio [Hanson] had been released or whatever, and like 10 minutes later, he called me.”

The Eagles rookie cornerback played with the second team for all of training camp, but in the preseason, he mixed in with Hanson and the starters. The coaches liked what they saw and decided the athletic fourth-round pick was ready to get on the field right away.

You may be concerned, but DeMeco Ryans is not.

A good portion of the fan base is growing anxious about their new middle linebacker following a quiet preseason. After such a long wait for a bona fide MIKE to step in, there is trepidation that the two-time Pro Bowler might not live up to the billing.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Ryans of the doubters. “I don’t take it into consideration. My job is to be credible to my teammates, to go out and be accountable to what we’re doing in our defense and our scheme, and that’s the only thing that matters to me.

If NFL personnel people were starting a franchise and had their pick of any coach in America, who would they choose?

That was one of the questions Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com (a former scout for the Eagles) posed to 20 personnel people, and none of them chose Andy Reid.