The Eagles moved practice over to the Linc on Wednesday morning for a session that lasted about an hour and a half in pads.
This was the second of three straight practice days for the Eagles. Overall, this was Day 9 of training camp practice.
Let’s get to the observations:
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1. As always, we’ll start with some housekeeping:
• DeVonta Smith was not at practice on Wednesday, excused for personal reasons.
• Here’s the injury report provided by the Eagles at the start of practice:
Did not practice: LB Patrick Johnson (ankle), WR Deon Cain (ankle)
NFL
Limited: Nakobe Dean (ankle), Devon Allen (calf)
• Dean didn’t participate in team drills on Wednesday but went through individual drills and worked on special teams. Dean missed three full practices so it was a good sign to see him back on the field at all.
• James Bradberry didn’t take all the first-team reps but he did participate in team drills and was removed from the injury list.
2. Some depth chart notes:
• For the second straight day, newcomer Myles Jack got first-team reps at linebacker. Jack and Nicholas Morrow worked together on the first team but when there was one linebacker on the field with the starters, it was Christian Elliss. Because the Eagles are low on numbers at LB, Jack also got some third-team reps.
• Fellow newcomer Zach Cunningham worked with Shaun Bradley on the second team for the second straight day.
• The Eagles gave their older offensive linemen some breathers on Wednesday. When that happened, Cam Jurgens went to center for Jason Kelce, Tyler Steen replaced Jurgens at right guard and Jack Driscoll took over for Lane Johnson at right tackle.
• The second-team OL for the second straight day: Steen, Josh Sills, Josh Andrews, Sua Opeta, Driscoll.
• During one period of 11-on-11, the Eagles’ DL looked like this: Fletcher Cox, Jordan Davis, Derek Barnett, Haason Reddick. Interesting look.
• Without Smith, Quez Watkins took over the No. 2 receiver role and Olamide Zaccheaus worked in the slot.
• The Eagles used Britain Covey, Olamide Zaccheaus, Greg Ward Jr. and Quez Watkins as their punt returners today. Covey still looks like their top punt returner. Got a chance to see his focus well before practice began.
3. It wasn’t exactly a fight but we did see our first extra-curricular scuffle in today’s practice. Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown on a receiver screen and Landon Dickerson hit Derek Barnett with a crack-back block that wiped Barnett out of the play.
Barnett picked himself off the grass and was heated. He marched right up to Dickerson and shoved him in his back to the ground. They were quickly separated by teammates.
“That’s not a scuffle. Come on, man,” Jordan Mailata said after practice. “There’s nothing to it. There’s nothing to it. There’s nothing to that.”
Barnett is often a participant in training camp fights so it’s not a surprise that he was involved in the first kerfuffle of this training camp. He has earned that reputation by his practice habits and his history in game. But he wasn’t the only defensive player who took exception to the block from Dickerson.
Mailata downplayed the whole situation.
“I mean, they’re hugging in the locker room right now,” Mailata said.
Are they?
“I hope so,” he answered.
4. Right after that mini scuffle, Hurts had his best throw of the day, hitting A.J. Brown on a deep ball of about 40-50 yards down the left sideline. Brown got a step on rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo, who was notably getting a first-team rep and was in good position. But it was a perfect toss and catch from Hurts and Brown.
Overall, it was a sloppy day for the Eagles’ first-team offense and it wasn’t Hurts’ best day of camp either. But they erased some of those bad vibes with one deep ball. Remember that if and when they get off to a slow start in a game this season.
5. One of the trickle-downs of Smith’s missing practice was that Covey was bumped up to second-team slot receiver and he made the most of it. Marcus Mariota hit him on a slot fade of 30+ yards over the coverage of Zech McPhearson, who trailed on the throw. Covey has made a few plays this summer but that was his highlight.
6. It’s also worth nothing that Mariota had his best day of the summer. Through the first seven days of practice, Mariota’s accuracy was pretty bad but he had a pretty good day on Tuesday and followed it up with a strong performance on Wednesday.
It should be noted that the Eagles made a switch to their second-team center recently. This position had belonged to Brett Toth, who really struggled to snap the football in shotgun. The Eagles brought in veteran Josh Andrews and Juice has taken over that role. That seems to have really helped Mariota.
7. Rookie QB Tanner McKee led the Eagles’ third-team offense on a long, 11-play touchdown drive. His most impressive throw was on a slant to new receiver Johnny King. It was about as tight a window as possible and McKee absolutely burned it in there, showing off his arm.
McKee eventually hit King on a slant for a touchdown on 4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line.
8. The Eagles practiced a new situation on Wednesday: Backed up. The offense got the ball from the 2-yard line and came out in 13 personnel with Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra on the field. The defense combatted that with this line: Haason Reddick, Jalen Carter, Marlon Tuipulotu, Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, Josh Sweat.
After a quick 5-yard run from Kenny Gainwell, Cam Jurgens was flagged for a false start, setting up a 2nd-and-10 from the 2. On the next play, Davis got through Kelce for a tackle after a 2-yard run. The 3rd-and-8 ended up being the screen pass to Brown that led to the scuffle between Dickerson and Barnett.
9. The Eagles care about ball security and work on that element of their game in many different ways. Running backs coach Jemal Singleton has a strong right jab.
But a later in practice third-stringer Kennedy Brooks fumbled a handoff into the end zone.
10. I haven’t mentioned safety Justin Evans very much this summer. I came into camp thinking he was battling Wallace for a roster spot but Wallace has clearly been ahead of him.
It has been a pretty quiet training camp for Evans, who has worked mostly with the second team, but he had two nice pass breakups on Wednesday. The first came against Covey in the middle of the field and he had another one later in the day on a pass attempted for running back Trey Sermon.
Stupid Observation of the Day: Since the Eagles practiced at the Linc, I had to drive back to the NovaCare Complex after the final horn. As I waited at the stoplight to turn left onto Pattison, I saw a guy on a bike ride across the street in team-issued workout gear. It was Howie Roseman. On a beautiful day, I guess a little bike ride back to the facility beats waiting for a bus.
(I resisted the urge to lay on my horn.)
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