Riley Cooper is making noise early and often in his rookie camp. Photo from gcobb.com

BETHLEHEM: Every year a middle or late round draft pick or a free agent surfaces to capture the attention of fans and observers.

This year that distinction may go to rookie wide receiver Riley Cooper. Drafted in the fourth round out of Florida, Cooper made noise in his first “live” practice Saturday morning when he mixed it up with veteran defensive back Ellis Hobbs.

Much to the delight of the standing-room only crowd, Cooper did not back down to the physical play of Hobbs, who was selected by the New England Patriots in the 2005 draft and signed by the Eagles before the 2009 season.

The fight produced a bench-clearing brawl. Hobbs said Cooper stepped over the line in his reaction to getting bumped off the line of scrimmage.

“I ain’t going to accept no cheap shot,” Hobbs said. “I legitimately jammed him up, and he didn’t like it. He’s new. I guess he doesn’t know the rules yet. I get five yards. This is ‘The League.’ We get paid a lot of money. If you can’t handle a jam, don’t be cheap about it, turn your back on me like that and then hit me.”

When Cooper fought back, Hobbs admitted he saw a little of himself fighting for a job in his first NFL camp. 

“I am not surprised at all,” Hobbs said. “I did the exact same thing when I was a rookie. Why would you come out here and take crap from anybody? This is a league of what-have-you-done-for-me now. If you can go out here now, and he’s not afraid on this stage to take on anyone, I’ll take him on my team any day.”

Cooper dwarfs Hobbs by about 30 pounds, when he saw the mismatch, linebacker Stewart Bradley, jumped in to protect his teammate and took a shot at Cooper.

“You got to,” Bradley said. “Ellis is like 110 pounds. We’ve got to watch out for him.”

Bradley, like most of the veterans, seemed to get a good laugh out of the fight.

“That’s just camp,” Bradley said. “It’s good. We get hot, and we get tired and tempers flare and it’s fun. I don’t mind it, I’m sure everyone’s cool and shaking hands afterward, but that’s just kind of the way it goes.”

Ellis said he may have been hit with a cheap shot on the play and said he had no time for that but said he was impressed that Cooper would not back down from a challenge from a proven veteran.

“As far as standing up for himself and not taking any crap?…by no means do I have any beef with that,” said Hobbs.

Cooper said he wanted establish with the defense that he was not going to be intimidated.

“I don’t go out there with that attitude, I’m an easy-going guy,” Cooper said after practice “But I am not going to take and crap from nobody.”

Cooper also said it was over and time to move on.

“He’s a good dude,” Cooper said. “He didn’t mean anything by it, I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s in the past…so…it was nothing.” 

Hobbs said he knows Eagles fans now. He said he know Philadelphia sports fans know their athletes. 

”Philly fans, they’re just real nutty they love to see a good fight but they know the hard workers and they enjoy seeing those kinds of things,” said Hobbs, who missed the end of the 2009 season due to a neck injury. “Here it’s a blue-collar team that at the end of the day is going to out work you. The fight was kind of a pop corn thing. As far as playing the game I think he is going to a real asset as far as playing hard and making plays.”