The Eagles’ second training camp practice of 2024 began at 10 a.m. and lasted 1 hour and 22 minutes on Thursday morning.
As they ramp up before eventually putting the pads on, this session was longer than Wednesday’s.
After two straight days of practice, the Eagles are scheduled to hold a walkthrough on Friday before getting back on the practice field at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Sunday is scheduled to be the first players day off of camp.
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Let’s get to the observations from Thursday:
1. As always, housekeeping:
• After missing Day 1 with a toe laceration, left guard Landon Dickerson did participate in a limited fashion on Thursday and even took some team reps later in the day.
• Both Oren Burks (knee) and Brett Toth (hamstring) missed practice on Thursday. Burks is an addition to the injury list and appeared to get hurt on Wednesday.
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• Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was dealing with what appeared to be a calf cramp at the end of Thursday’s practice. A trainer massaged Trotter’s left calf before the rookie popped up and then took a ride in a cart inside.
• Before practice the Eagles made a minor roster move, signing WR Griffin Hebert and waiving Gottlieb Ayedze from the NFI list.
2. Some offensive depth chart notes:
• After Parris Campbell was the WR3 to start training camp, the Eagles had John Ross out there with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in 11 personnel on Thursday. Ross hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2021, but he appears to be in the mix to win a job and also earn some playing time.
• Dickerson eventually took some team reps later in practice but Mekhi Becton began the day as the Eagles’ starting left guard between Cam Jurgens and Jordan Mailata. Aside from that switch from Becton to Dickerson, the offensive lines remained the same on Thursday (L to R):
1st team: Mailata, Becton/Dickerson, Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson
2nd team: Fred Johnson, Trevor Keegan, Matt Hennessy, Darian Kinnard, Max Scharping
3rd team: Laekin Vakalahi, Keegan, Dylan McMahon, Jason Poe, Anim Dankwah
• Grant Calcaterra continues to get most of the reps as TE2. C.J. Uzomah has the NFL experience, but Calcaterra is getting a lot of run early.
3. Some defensive depth chart notes:
• The first outside corner reps opposite Darius Slay on Thursday went to Kelee Ringo. The Eagles began Day 1 with Isaiah Rodgers in that role and then mixed Ringo in. Today, they began with Ringo and then worked Rodgers in.
• Avonte Maddox continues to get the bulk of the work as the top nickel corner, followed by Tyler Hall and Quinyon Mitchell.
• At linebacker, the Eagles began the day with Devin White and Zack Baun but used a bunch of different combinations. White was with Nakobe Dean, Dean was with Baun, White was with Dean, and even Trotter ended up getting a first-team rep. For now, though, it seems like two of White, Dean and Baun will be the starters. Based on White’s contract and career, he’s going to be one of the two starting linebackers while Baun and Dean compete for the other gig.
• Mitchell continues to work with the second team but is splitting his time between playing outside and in the slot. Vic Fangio on Thursday said they weren’t sure Mitchell could play inside until they tossed him in there. If either Ringo or Rodgers wins the starting job, Mitchell’s early-career work could come as a nickel or in the dime package, especially as Cooper DeJean misses time with a hamstring injury.
4. Jalen Hurts looks faster than he did last year, especially than he did by the end of the 2023 season. I don’t have any evidence of this but that’s what my eyes are telling me after watching the first two practices of the summer.
There was one play in particular during 11-on-11s where that was really on display. Hurts kept the ball on a delayed QB draw and sprinted out of the backfield and down the left sideline. Seeing Hurts get to put it into a different gear was a reminder of just how dynamic he was a couple years ago with his legs. It also happened to be the final play of a set of plays so Hurts continued his sprint down the sideline before jogging through the goal line.
We’ve seen plenty of signs already through two days to indicate that the Eagles are still going to use Hurts’ legs in Kellen Moore’s offense. We’ve seen designed QB runs, we’ve seen read-options and we’ve seen some RPO game. Obviously, Hurts is probably as healthy right now as he’s going to be all season. But if he can stay that way, he still has the ability to run.
5. The top highlight for the offense through the air came during 7-on-7s, when Brown fought through some contact from Slay, gained a step and caught a pass that Hurts dropped a 25-yard dime into the bread basket down the right sideline.
We don’t mention Brown enough because we’re used to how good he is, but he’s still at the absolute top of his game.
And, in general, the Eagles’ offense has looked very crisp through two practices. The ball barely hit the ground on Thursday.
That’s a bit of a surprise given how out of sync they looked during the practices we saw this spring. And that was to be expected with a new playbook and a new scheme. But they have been humming so far this summer and Hurts has looked great. He’s been extremely accurate, he’s been quick with his decisions and he looks spry in the run game.
6. It was a busy day for Kenny Gainwell, who continues to mix in with the first-team offense to spell Saquon Barkley. Gainwell was pretty active as a receiver on Thursday, catching a few passes from Hurts in the flat. We’ll see if Hurts is willing to throw those passes in the regular season, but Gainwell looks comfortable as he enters his fourth NFL season.
7. A few plays I want to highlight on defense:
• Bryce Huff had a “sack” during 11-on-11s. It’s still early and the pads aren’t even on yet, so there’s a long way to go. But Huff showed a bit of juice on that play.
• Maddox had a forced fumbled during 7-on-7s. Uzomah caught a pass and turned to go upfield when Maddox was able to knock the ball loose. His teammates on the defensive sideline went nuts.
• Edge rusher Terrell Lewis nearly pulled off one of the best plays of the summer. He dropped into coverage and Kenny Pickett (who had a rough day) threw the ball into Lewis’s outstretched arms from point-blank range. The ball bounced off Lewis’s arms but he nearly pulled down a pick. It looked a bit like that Josh Sweat pick-6 against the Cowboys in 2022.
8. A quick rookie skill player update:
• Will Shipley took an inside handoff on Thursday and showed off a bouncy jump cut. He has a little wiggle to his game.
• Ainias Smith caught a quick pass and showed off his lateral movement skills too. Smith has previously played running back and it showed on this play. But late in practice Smith had a drop and then on the next play he got a step on a DB but Will Grier badly underthrew him.
• Been a quiet summer so far for 6-foot-6 rookie Johnny Wilson, who dropped a pass in the middle of the field today.
9. Late in these first two practices, we’ve seen full line changes from the offense and defense. The first-team offense will be out there for a play and then the second team quickly takes the field. Mailata said after practice that’s part of their plan to improve conditioning.
10. James Bradberry continues to take second-team reps at safety and he doesn’t look out of place. Fangio was honest before practice, saying you don’t see a ton of cornerbacks successfully make the transition to safety. But there have been a few. And Bradberry is certainly smart enough to make you think he could make the conversion.
One problem: During the two special teams periods on Thursday, Bradberry was with Slay and C.J. Gardner-Johnson on a side field. Bradberry has played exactly zero special teams snaps in two seasons with the Eagles and it doesn’t look like there are plans to implement him there. Hard to have a backup utility defensive back who doesn’t contribute at all on special teams.
Stupid Observation of the Day: It wasn’t the hottest day of training camp on Thursday with temperatures barely reaching 80 by the end of practice, but it was very humid. And even without pads, it was a sweaty day for the Eagles.
After Bryce Huff and Cam Jurgens sat in the interview chair after practice, Dallas Goedert was about to sit down when he noticed how much liquid was left. As the PR staff changed out the chair, the old one was dumped out on the grass. Pretty gross.
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