The Eagles held a one-hour, 46-minute practice on a perfect morning with temperatures barely reaching 70 degrees.
This was a shorts and t-shirt workout before what should have been a more intense, fully padded workout on Wednesday morning. This workout featured several two- and four-minute positions.
Let’s get to the notes:
1. As always, we start with housekeeping:
Not practiced: Matt Hennessey (back), Albert Okwuegbunam (abdomen), John Ross (concussion), Tyler Steen (ankle), Kaden Stearns (knee), Johnny Wilson (concussion)
Back to practice: Gabe Hall (hamstring), EJ Jenkins (knee), Joseph Ngata (ankle), Moro Ogumo (hip).; Mickey Pickton also trained after leaving Sunday’s training session early with an undisclosed injury.
Other notes: Rookie guard Trevor Keegan left practice early with a trainer. Saquon Barkley was stretching with a trainer and then did not participate in any other team drills. Dallas Goedert did not participate in team practice Tuesday and it appeared Josh Sweat did not participate either.
2. Some depth chart notes:
• The Eagles again started the day with Devin White and Zach Bowen at linebacker, but then combined with Nakobi Dean and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Oren Burks, who missed most of camp with a knee injury, got some second-team reps at linebacker.
• The top defensive linemen who started Tuesday were Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell. The rookie bumped players in the middle in an attempt to pull them off the field and was replaced by Isaiah Rodgers. Kelly Ringo got some reps with the first team later in practice.
• Cooper Degen got more work on the second team at the nickel and also outside.
• Parris Campbell and Britton Coffey continue to share reps at WR3. Keep in mind that Johnny Wilson and John Ross will miss the game with concussions.
• During the team’s play, the Eagles took out Lane Johnson and Becton after about half of the reps. They were replaced by Fred Johnson at right back and Brett Tutt/Nick Gates at right guard.
• With Goedert absent from team practice, Grant Calcaterra and CJ Uzomah were the tight end linebackers on the 12-man team. They were joined by EJ Jenkins on the 13-man team.
3. The highlight of the day was a deep pass from Jalen Hurts to AJ Brown on the left sideline. Brown was able to get ahead of newcomer Quinyon Mitchell and Hurts passed the ball perfectly in a long stride for a goal. After the play, Brown kicked the ball in celebration. Earlier in practice, Hurts-Brown had missed a deep pass to Eli Ricks, so he made up for that here.
Incidentally, Hertz has now completed 15 full training sessions this summer without registering a single interception.
4. C.J. Gardner-Johnson took the “hit” element of practice seriously today. During a two-minute drill, C.J. Gardner-Johnson pushed Grant Calcaterra across the middle of the field and then danced his way back to his position in the deep post. Gardner-Johnson is definitely playing with intensity.
5. Some notes from 1 to 1:
• Lane Johnson successfully stopped Nolan Smith. No wonder.
• Another strong performance from Mekhi Becton against Jalen Carter. He put in a good performance against the Eagles’ top DT.
• It’s tough for Cam Jurgens going up against Jordan Davis every day, but at least he slowed him down and that’s all you can ask for.
• Trevor Keegan had a strong reputation for getting Milton Williams wide receiver at QB.
• Jordan Mailata put his hands a little higher than Bryce Huff, which was likely a penalty. We give Huff the win here.
• Several reserve defensive linemen were able to overcome the offensive linemen. Moro Ogumo, Julian Okwara, Gabe Hall, Terrell Lewis and Thomas Booker IV all picked up wins. But credit must be given to rookie Dylan McMahon, who stopped the big P.J. Mustipher, a great win for a rookie facing a much bigger player.
• On other plays, receivers faced quarterbacks and running backs faced quarterbacks. So I didn’t see everything. But Aeneas Smith had a good route against Avonte Maddox to create some separation. Kendall Milton and Will Shipley got open routes against Nakobei Dean and Ben Van Someren, respectively, and dropped passes.
6. Jalen Carter made another TFL on or behind the line today against Saquon Barkley. Despite the talk about Carter’s rushing ability, he’s been no less annoying against the offense. I expect a lot of TFLs this year.
There were a number of other defensive plays worth noting: Patrick Johnson was able to take out midfielder CJ Uzomah. Jalex Hunt was able to take out the second offensive lineman. Brandon Graham was able to take out the midfielder as well. Jordan Davis was able to pressure Hurts to force him out of the box. That puts a lot of pressure on the midfielders, which is good for one offensive line and bad for the other.
7. Devonta Smith scored two big touchdowns Tuesday. One came on a deep ball from Hurts against Kelly Ringo’s coverage. Ringo was flagged for DPI but Smith fought through contact to catch the ball from 35 yards out in the end zone.
Smith also did well against Quinyon Mitchell in two previous games. Smith was able to get Mitchell to lean outside and was able to run through the middle for big gains.
8. Backup linebacker Fred Johnson (6-7, 326) is a big man, but he looks good getting to the second level, and he was crushing defenders once he got there. Eli Rex’s body may still be there at the 40-yard line.
9. Fifth-round pick Aeneas Smith has started to turn around. After a rocky start to camp, I’ve noticed Smith has looked more comfortable in recent days. Maybe his position in the end zone for a two-point conversion in the second preseason game has boosted his confidence. It wasn’t like he did anything spectacular Tuesday, but Smith made the moves you’d want him to make. In one in particular, he caught a pass and Cooper Degen immediately got past him. It feels like earlier in camp, he dropped that ball.
10. Junior fullback Will Shipley found some space to run behind the second-team offensive line today and took full advantage of it. Although Shipley’s strength may still be catching passes out of the backfield, he was able to get into the gap more than I expected.
Stupid note for today: During the first 13 practices at Novacare Complex this summer, the offense wore green and the defense white. That flipped Tuesday, perhaps because the Eagles will wear white for their final preseason game on Saturday. (The offense typically wears the same color during the season as the Eagles for the next game.)
No problem, right? Wrong. That ruined my appearance this morning. I saw No. 47 in white walk off the field and crossed out the number to midfielder Brandon Smith. No. It was actually midfielder Armani Rogers, who also wears No. 47.
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