PHILADELPHIA — The NFL scouting season is in high gear. Hundreds of scouts are on the road right now filing reports on draft-eligible college seniors.

Officially, they're supposed to turn a blind eye to underclassmen. Unofficially, they are paying more attention to them than ever.

That's because league people and agents think the persistent talk of a rookie wage scale will prompt a record number of underclassmen to declare for the 2009 draft.

Last year, 53 underclassmen were eligible for the draft. The year before, the number was 40. Many think the number could exceed 80 this time around.

"I'm planning for that," said an NFC personnel director. "We're doing some things differently this year. I told our guys we have to start looking quicker (at the underclassmen) and start putting lists together of people in their areas. I told them, 'When you're at the school, pay closer attention than usual' to the underclassmen.

An agent who regularly represents multiple first-round picks echoed the personnel man's sentiment.

"That's totally the buzz I'm hearing," he said. "I'm hearing this guy wants to come out and that guy wants to come out. They want to come out mainly out of the fear that something's going to be done about the rookie wage situation."

The uncertainty over who will replace Gene Upshaw as the executive director of the NFL Players Association has added to that fear. The league's owners have been clamoring for a rookie wage scale for a while now. Even many of the league's players have advocated the need for one. But Upshaw had been opposed to it.

"When you consider the impact (rookie contracts) have on the (veteran) market, you've got to keep that piece there," Upshaw told me in an interview shortly before his death.

"The owners are the ones paying this money. No one put a gun to (Falcons owner) Arthur Blank's head when he decided to pay Matt Ryan ($34 million in guarantees). I didn't sign that check. He agreed to that. Now he wants me to stop him. He wants me to fix what he did. Well, the union isn't in the business of stopping the owners from paying players."

Last month, the NFLPA hired a search firm, Reilly Partners of Chicago, to assist the union in its search for a new executive director.

"I've had a number of inquiries through family members and friends (of underclassmen) on the subject" of a rookie wage scale, said longtime agent Jerrold Colton, who is based in South Jersey. "At this point, it's completely uncharted territory. A wage scale certainly has been a subject that's been discussed in league circles the last several years, and it's something that Gene resisted tremendously. But since we don't know who his successor is going to be, we don't know whether he's going to feel as strongly about it as Gene."

Colton said any player who comes out early purely because of the possibility of a rookie wage scale is making a huge mistake.

Thirty-seven of the 53 underclassmen who came out this year were drafted in April, including a record 30 in the first three rounds.

According to scouts, this is not a particularly impressive or deep senior class. For a team like the Eagles, who have two first-round picks — their own and the one they acquired in a trade with Carolina — both of which are likely to be in the bottom third of the round, a larger-than-usual exodus of underclassmen clearly would benefit them.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

—Former Eagles linebacker John Bunting, who was fired two years ago as the head coach at the University of North Carolina, is back in the NFL. Bunting, a former assistant with Kansas City, St. Louis and New Orleans, was hired last month by the Chiefs to help coach their linebackers.

—In a Wednesday online chat with fans on nfl.com, commissioner Roger Goodell said it's "realistic as the fan base grows" that the league could have a franchise in London someday. Isn't that special.

—The Patriots miss Asante Samuel in a big way. With Samuel as their left cornerback last year, the Pats held opponents to 6.43 yards per attempt. Through the first eight games this year, that number has shot up to 8.02, the fifth highest in the league. The Patriots initially tried to replace Samuel with veteran Fernando Bryant, but he was released before the season. They picked up Deltha O'Neal after he was cut by the Bengals, but he also was inadequate. Last week, they turned to rookie second-round pick Terrence Wheatley, but he injured his wrist and could be out for a while.

—Browns WR Joe Jurevicius announced this week that he plans to play again in '09. He has missed the entire season with staph complications in his left knee. He had a routine arthroscopy in January and has since had to have five more operations to clean out the staph infection. He's one of six Browns players who have had staph infections since '04. Five of Jurevicius' six surgeries have been at the Cleveland Clinic, which many think is the source of the Browns' staph problems. Jurevicius said if he needs another operation, he won't have it at the Cleveland Clinic.

"There's been some numbers here and it does make people open their eyes," he said. "I've seen enough of the Cleveland Clinic."

FROM THE LIP:

—"I woke my daughters up last night. They know who Barack Obama is. It was about 10 o'clock and we were watching television and they were clapping. I said, 'He's the president.' I wanted them to know that our country is great. You can accomplish anything if you're just given the opportunity. When they have children, they'll be able to say, 'I saw that happen. I didn't read it in a history book.'" (Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, on Barack Obama being elected president)

—"You always seem to have great chemistry when you're winning. If we'd won some of those close games, we wouldn't be talking about whether we have the right chemistry." (Jaguars QB David Garrard, on whether his 3-5 team has a chemistry problem)

—"It is great, as long as it isn't the swimsuit issue." (Titans LB Keith Bulluck, on being told that defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week)

—"It's frustrating for me, because I'm on the sidelines. You can't do nothing on the sidelines. That's frustrating for me. I'm on the sidelines waiting. I feel like I'm in high school." (Cowboys WR Roy Williams, who has just three catches for 38 yards in three games since being traded by the Lions)

BY THE NUMBERS:

—Jets QB Brett Favre is 34th in the league in interception percentage. He's averaging a pick every 21.9 attempts. The Redskins' Jason Campbell is first in the league in interception percentage. He's averaging one every 136.5 attempts.

—With 220 points in their first eight games, the Eagles are on pace to score a franchise-record 440 points. The current record is 415 in 2002.

—The Giants are averaging 162.6 rushing yards a game. If they maintain that average, it will be their highest since the '56 NFL champion Giants averaged 177.4 yards per game.

—The Jaguars will become the first team ever to play two 0-8 teams on back-to-back Sundays when they take on the Lions. They lost to the previously 0-8 Bengals last week.

—The Ravens haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 27 games. That's the longest streak in the league.

—In his last seven games against the Patriots, Bills WR Lee Evans has just 14 catches, no TDs and just one 20-plus yard catch.

—Terrell Owens hasn't had a 100-yard receiving performance in 12 straight regular-season games. That's his longest drought since going 24 games without one in 1996-98.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT:

—The Chiefs have lost seven of their eight games, yet have the third best turnover ratio (+7) in the league.

THUMBS DOWN

—To cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who blamed the Raiders' defensive scheme for his poor play, which led to a pink slip from Al Davis this week, just eight games into his first season with the team. According to STATS, he gave up 40 completions out of 66 passes thrown in his direction for 566 yards. That's the most yardage given up by any cornerback in the league this season.

"As bad as people may think I played, I didn't play all that bad," Hall told NFL.com's Steve Wyche. "I'm feeling good. I think if I get in a scheme that fits me, that will benefit me." Hall collected $8 million in bonuses and salary for those eight games.

—To ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer, who broke the story earlier this week that the Browns were benching quarterback Derek Anderson and replacing him with Brady Quinn against the Broncos, then ripped the Browns for doing so. Nothing wrong with that, except that Dilfer hardly is an impartial observer. For starters, he still holds a grudge against the Browns for benching him in favor of Charlie Frye 11 games into the '05 season. Dilfer and Anderson also share the same agent, David Dunn, who is the guy who tipped him off to the QB change.