It was a rainy morning at the NovaCare Complex for Day 13 of training camp.
In shorts and shells, the Eagles practiced for 1 hour and 43 minutes through some pockets of somewhat heavy precipitation. This was a “yellow” day as the Eagles ramp back up.
They’ll be back at practice on Sunday and will practice again Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday leading up to the third and final preseason game on Saturday afternoon at the Linc.
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Let’s get to today’s observations:
1. As always, we start with housekeeping:
• Before practice the Eagles made some roster moves: They signed OT Gottlieb Ayedze, placed CB Tyler Hall on IR and waived/injured Mekhi Garner. They have a roster spot open.
• Did not practice: DT Gabe Hall (hamstring), OL Matt Hennessy (back), TE E.J. Jenkins (knee), WR Joseph Ngata (ankle), TE Albert Okwuegbunam (abdomen), S Caden Sterns (knee), WR John Ross (concussion), OL Tyler Steen (ankle), WR Johnny Wilson (concussion)
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• Those injuries to Hall, Ngata, Jenkins and Ross are new. Steen seemed to aggravate his previous injury in Thursday’ game. Hennessy and Wilson were unable to play in the game. Sterns was signed last week but needs time before practicing.
• Limited: LB Oren Burks (knee), TE Grant Calcaterra (shoulder), S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, (shoulder), WR Parris Campbell (groin), DB Cooper DeJean (hamstring)
• Burks returned to practice for the first time since Day 1. Calcaterra missed just two practices and a game before his return. Gardner-Johnson missed four practices and the game. None of them participated in team drills. Campbell and DeJean did get some team reps today. CJGJ seemed especially excited as he returned to practice.
2. Some depth chart items:
• The day began with Devin White and Zack Baun at linebacker with the first-team defense but Nakobe Dean got some reps later. That has been the case most days this summer.
• At cornerback, Isaiah Rodgers started the day opposite Darius Slay but Kelee Ringo got reps later. Quinyon Mitchell continues to work as the first-team nickel but gets some outside reps too. DeJean got mostly second-team nickel reps. There was one point where Mitchell was outside and DeJean in the slot; a glimpse into the future. DeJean also got some work as a punt returner.
• Reed Blankenship and Avonte Maddox were the top safeties. Maddox will likely go back to second-team safety when Gardner-Johnson is back in full.
• Britain Covey began the day as WR3 but Parris Campbell worked in. The Eagles are a little light at receiver as Ross and Wilson miss time with concussions.
• Mekhi Becton continues to get first-team right guard reps and we should probably stop noting that every day. He’s the right guard.
• The second-team OL that began the day: Fred Johnson, Trevor Keegan, Brett Toth, Nick Gates, Darian Kinnard. At one point, the Eagles did get Toth work at guard and Gates work at center.
• QB Tanner McKee continues to get some second-team work but after Kenny Pickett.
3. There were periods of sporadic rain on Saturday morning but the Eagles stayed outside. Not only is the 60-yard bubble a real logistical nightmare with a 90-man roster but Nick Sirianni wanted to get his team some work in wet conditions. They might face rain during the season.
it’ll be good work for us to get the weather as far as just our handling of the football in practice, which we anticipate in the Northeast we'll have some bad weather games here and there.
"It'll be good for us to practice that today," Sirianni said. "Nothing has changed. I assume if it goes into lightning – which I’ll have to get off the field for – or torrential downpour we might have to change a little bit. But this is good for us to get some work."
There weren’t any fumbles during team drills but we saw a couple of muffed punts in the rain. And the wet conditions made for some fun tackling drills. Jordan Davis really seemed to like the Slip n’ Slide-like mat during tackling drills but everyone was sliding around quite a bit.
4. Nakobe Dean has looked really good over the last couple of weeks and he’s playing a physical brand of football, especially coming downhill. Rookie Will Shipley was on the receiving end of a big hit from Dean during 7-on-7s. Shipley held on to the football in the flat after a catch but Dean popped him but it was a good shot. Dean said he’s been trying to be physical in these thud periods and has noticed that the offensive players actually appreciate it.
5. Jalen Hurts still hasn’t thrown an interception through 13 days in training camp. But today wasn’t the best showing from the Eagles’ offense. There was a ton of pressure on Hurts throughout the morning and several plays that would have been sacks.
6. While I was watching the 7-on-7s during this period, I did peek down at OL vs. DL 1-on-1s to see all three reps between Jalen Carter and Mekhi Becton. Give Becton a ton of credit. I’d give him the point on those three reps, which is impressive against a player like Carter. Becton is still a work in progress but when he gets his hands on someone, the play is over.
7. Rookie third-round pick Jalyx Hunt had an active day. He beat Fred Johnson around the edge for a near sack and then a bit later showed off his coverage skills. He dropped back in coverage and broke up a pass intended for C.J. Uzomah. His teammates were excited after that play and Hunt did a little shimmy in celebration.
8. Let’s give some credit to Uzomah. He has been pretty quiet most of the summer but had his best day of training camp on Saturday morning. He made a few nice grabs in 7-on-7s but made the catch of the day in team drills with a diving grab that went to his back shoulder from Tanner McKee. E.J. Jenkins has been pushing for that No. 3 job but Uzomah has the experience and if he stacks a few more days like this, he can still make the team.
9. Quinyon Mitchell had a really impressive rep against DeVonta Smith for a pass breakup on a play that took like 7 seconds. It’s one of those plays that was a little unrealistic for how much time it took but the impressive part was that Mitchell was able to stick with Smith for as long as he did. Eventually, the ball came out after Smith crossed the field and Mitchell was there to bat it down.
10. On the last full 11-on-11 period, Hurts hit A.J. Brown in the front left corner of the end zone for a touchdown in front of Kelee Ringo. Tight coverage on Brown just doesn’t seem to matter. The play before Ringo broke up a pass to Dallas Goedert and a bit earlier Reed Blankenship also broke up a pass intended for Goedert.
Stupid Observations of the Day: After spending a week in New England, we returned to the NovaCare Complex to find out the Eagles changed the orientation of their fields. Instead of three vertical fields, there’s now a vertical and two horizontal.
So it went from this … I I I … to this … I =
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