The Eagles were under the lights at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night for their only public practice over the summer.
The team said nearly 50,000 fans came out to watch.
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In full pads, the Eagles went for 2 hours and 9 minutes on a steamy summer evening. It was their longest practice of the summer so far. Nick Sirianni takes these practices seriously and even had the players warmup like they would for a game. You even gotta practice that.
Here are some observations:
1. As always, housekeeping:
• These players did not practice: Oren Burks (knee), Landon Dickerson (knee), Mehki Garner (hamstring), Josh Jobe (concussion), Tyler Steen (ankle)
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• New offensive lineman Nick Gates was at practice in No. 61. He took reps as a third-team left guard. He’s a belly-out type of lineman; I can respect it.
• Even though Dickerson wasn’t practicing, his number was. He and Lane Johnson traded jerseys this evening so Johnson was out there in No. 69. They fooled me at first.
2. Some depth chart notes from Thursday night:
• Without Dickerson, the Eagles began the night with veteran Brett Toth at left guard but rookie Trevor Keegan filled in later and got a bulk of the reps. Mekhi Becton continues to play right guard in place of Tyler Steen.
• In addition to Parris Campbell and John Ross, the Eagles worked in Johnny Wilson and Britain Covey with the first-team offense. The Eagles even tried a fade to the end zone to the 6-foot-6 Wilson but they failed to convert.
• On defense, the Eagles began the day with Isaiah Rodgers as a first-team cornerback but later worked in Kelee Ringo. Those two are competing for a job. We also saw more snaps for Quinyon Mitchell as a first-team nickel.
• Devin White and Zack Baun began the day as the top linebackers and Nakobe Dean worked in. That’s become the daily routine.
3. In the first 11-on-11 period of the day, the Eagles’ offense gave the fans what they wanted to see. Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown deep down the right sideline with a perfect pass for a huge gain. Darius Slay was able to trip up Brown to prevent a touchdown but it put the Eagles’ offense in the red zone and they scored on the next play.
4. The highlight of the first 2s vs. 2s sessions was a devastating juke from Kenny Gainwell on Nakobe Dean, who over-pursued a bit. Gainwell cut back and twisted Dean up as he accelerated down the field. (Gainwell got Dean a bit later too.)
5. The Eagles’ first-team scored on their first three possessions — twice against the first-team defense and once against the second-team — and all of those drives were capped with Dallas Goedert touchdowns. Goedert caught just three touchdown passes last year so perhaps he can become a bigger part of their red zone offense in 2024.
6. On Day 6, we finally saw our first interception of training camp. In an end-of-game situational period at the end of practice, Kenny Pickett was picked off by Eli Ricks to end the evening.
Earlier in practice Bryce Huff almost had the first interception. He dropped into coverage in team drills and Hurts never saw him on a pass attempt to John Ross. Huff looked smooth dropping back.
7. The Eagles are obviously going to miss Jason Kelce in 2024 but Cam Jurgens has all the physical tools to be a dynamic weapon of a center just like Kelce was. He is lacking the experience but the physical tools are there. On one play Thursday night, he pulled on a QB draw and got out in front as a lead blocker and got shots on a couple different defenders.
Jurgens’ speed allows Jurgens to reach blocks most centers simply can’t reach. It’s very obvious why the Eagles picked him to be Kelce’s successor.
8. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. had a really good rep with the second team, getting home on a sack against Pickett. Trotter’s former Clemson teammate Will Shipley was there to pass protect but Trotter was able to get around him to pick up a sack.
We’ve been seeing more blitzes from Vic Fangio in recent days. The Eagles have some players with that ability. Another guy who can blitz is Dean, who has been getting sent quite a bit.
9. The Eagles had their first live (tackle-to-the-ground) periods of the summer when both third teams were on the field. Nice drive from the third-team offense to get down the field and punch in a Tyrion Davis-Price touchdown. But on the first live period, tight end McCallan Castles was taken down and got hurt.
10. The Eagles ran a really fun situational period at the end of Thursday night’s practice with the first and second teams. The situation: 46 seconds left in the game, down 8 points, on the +25 yard line.
The Eagles’ first-team offense got in the end zone on a beautiful toss from Hurts to Gainwell, who beat Dean on a wheel route for a touchdown. And then the Eagles converted on the 2-point conversion with a Hurts pass to Goedert in the front right corner of the end zone. Three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion for No. 88.
The second-team offense failed on their drive when Pickett tossed that INT to Ricks.
Stupid Observation of the Day: The doors at the Linc opened a couple hours before the public practice began and fans ran in to claim their first-come, first-serve season. Eagles fans are crazy in the best way possible.
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