The Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday afternoon reached agreement with first-round draft choice Jerome McDougle, ESPN.com has learned, striking a deal hat successfully ends the camp holdout of the former University of Miami defensive end.

As the 15th player selected overall, McDougle, 24, is expected to challenge quickly for playing time on a defensive front that lost standout end Hugh Douglas to Jacksonville in free agency.

While he lined up primarily as a backup at the strong-side end position in the offseason, McDougle will be used to help compensate for the loss of Douglas' pass rush skills and should immediately contribute in the Eagles' "nickel" packages.

McDougle will sign a six-year contract that voids to five seasons if he merely reaches the standard minimum playtime thresholds established by the league. The "base" contract is worth $8.542 million but can escalate to $12.592 million if McDougle were to trigger all of the escalators. Over a five-year period, McDougle could earn more than several of the players chosen ahead of him.

The initial signing bonus for the deal is $3 million, with a second-tier option bonus of $2,662,500 and a reporting bonus of $460,000. So the total bonus package is worth a bit more than $6.122 million. The base salaries are $225,000 (2003), $305,000 (2004), $475,000 (2005), $625,000 (2006) and $790,000 (2007).

In two full seasons with the Hurricanes, McDougle started 21 games and had 110 tackles, 13 sacks, 67 quarterback pressures, six pass deflections and four forced fumbles. He is the younger brother of Detroit Lions offensive lineman Stockar McDougle, who was also a first-round draft choice.

The agreement with McDougle means there are only four first-round picks still unsigned.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.