The Eagles have their first scheduled day off Wednesday after practicing since Sunday’s start of training camp. They will reconvene Thursday at the NovaCare Complex, where they have three more days of practice until Sunday’s second and final open practice at the Linc.
The Aug. 16 preseason opener against the Colts is still almost two weeks away. Here are five observations after the first three days of camp:
1. It’s way too early to make declarative judgments about the performances of the quarterbacks. The pads just came out for the first time Tuesday, which allowed defensive backs to play more aggressively in coverage. So it’s basically been one practice of kinda-real football. What you were looking for in the first few days is whether the ball is finding receivers’ hands instead of the ground or D-backs’ hands. So far, interceptions have been held to a minimum. You’d like to see more completed passes, but remember the Eagles take more snaps at practice than most NFL teams and two of the four QBs — Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow — are running this offense for the first time. There haven’t been many touchdowns, but 7-on-7s and team drills are almost always dink-and-dunkfests until camp progresses. We’ll know much more about Bradford’s development after the first preseason game.
2. I wrote in Tuesday’s observations about some nice catches by Zach Ertz, including a leaping grab over Mychal Kendricks on a well-timed anticipation ball by Mark Sanchez. Ertz has looked spectacular throughout camp, but we already know he’s a dangerous weapon in the passing game. Now that the pads are out, we’ll see if his blocking is up to speed.
3. At some point, and maybe soon, Nelson Agholor needs to get some first-team reps. He’s very impressive. He might already be the Eagles' best outside wideout. Riley Cooper and Josh Huff get almost all of the first-team outside reps, but the argument can be made that Agholor is already better. If Chip Kelly can jog out an offense that features Agholor, Jordan Matthews (in the slot) and Ertz, that’s some pretty good weaponry right there. I think Agholor can be a phenomenal bubble screen weapon.
4. The race for right guard appears to be between Matt Tobin and Andrew Gardner. Not sure if Dennis Kelly is still in the mix. Tobin took the first-team reps Sunday, Gardner took them Monday, and Tobin went back to the first string Tuesday. Allen Barbre is taking all the first-team left guard reps and appears to be unchallenged there. This is another group that we won’t really know much about until the preseason games.
5. I really hope we see on Thursday some drills that pit offensive linemen vs. defensive linemen. The lineman 1-on-1 drills are a highlight of camp practices. The veterans tend to take it easy on each other, kind of like a gentlemen’s agreement, but there are always some battles that occasionally get heated. It’s our best chance to see the defensive front seven and offensive front five going all out.