Eagles training camp observations: Steamy practice ends with a rookie pick

The Eagles had another padded practice that lasted just under 1 hour and 45 minutes at the NovaCare Complex.

On my drive in to South Philly, the temperature was already 85. It was humid and in the 90s by the end of the session.

The Eagles are scheduled to be back on the fields Wednesday morning for the last time before they travel to Baltimore to play the Ravens in the first preseason game on Friday night.

To today’s observations:

1. As always, housekeeping:

• Did not practice: LB Oren Burks (knee), WR Parris Campbell (groin), S C.J. Gardner-Johnson (shoulder), DB Mehki Garner (hamstring), LB Brandon Smith (concussion)

• Limited: C Cam Jurgens (illness), OL Tyler Steen (ankle), WR Austin Watkins (illness)

• Gardner-Johnson left practice early on Monday. On Tuesday, he worked on a side field with a trainer early and then watched practice next to Sydney Brown (still on PUP) from the deep, deep post. His injury is not considered to be a long-term one.

• WR John Ross left practice early on Tuesday. He was taken to the medical tent in a cart and did not return.

2. Some depth chart notes:

• While Steen was listed as limited, he did participate in team drills Tuesday and was clearly behind Becton. Becton began the day with the first team at right guard and even though Steen got some first-team reps late in some periods, he was clearly the second-team right guard. We’ll see if these guys alternate day-to-day. If not, this job might be Becton’s to lose.

• Without CJGJ, the Eagles began the day with Reed Blankenship and Avonte Maddox as their top safeties. That’s different than Monday, when James Bradberry was bumped up to the first team. After that first period today, we did see some mixing and matching.

• Another day where Isaiah Rodgers was the first outside corner up opposite Darius Slay and another day where Quinyon Mitchell was the first-team nickel cornerback.

•  Devin White and Zack Baun again began the day with the first team at LB before mixing and matching.

• The WR3 reps were mostly split between Johnny Wilson, John Ross and Britain Covey when A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith were on the field.

3. Practice ended with just the third interception of the summer. In a gotta-have-it situation — the offense started on the +25 with 46 seconds remaining, down 8 points, with no timeouts — Tanner McKee tried to force a pass into Griffin Hebert but it ended up in the hands of a defender.

Shon Stephens, who had a pick on McKee yesterday, was able to deflect this pass into the waiting arms of rookie safety Andre’ Sam, who picked it off and ran the other way. Just before that play, Sam received some words of encouragement from former Eagles safety Anthony Harris, who is working with the team this summer. Sam is an undrafted rookie from LSU who should get a lot of run in the preseason.

3a. Jalen Hurts didn’t get a ton of opportunities to throw the ball today — there was a lot of running — but he has now gone nine straight practices without throwing an interception. And he hasn’t even really been that close.

The most impressive thing about it is that it’s not like Hurts is being super risk-averse in these practices. He’s still throwing the ball downfield and into some tight windows. While there have been more check downs this year, the degree of difficultly has been high enough to really be impressed by this INT-free streak.

4. The Eagles worked on a fake field goal early in practice and it ended up going for a touchdown. Good work from Michael Clay and Co. on the design.

The Eagles also got some work for their backup specialists. Mann was the kicker, Britain Covey was the holder and Grant Calcaterra was the long snapper.

5. Second-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo is really starting to come on strong since the pads came on. Ojomo is a tad undersized at 6-3, 292, but he has some impressive traits.

On Tuesday, he was able to get home for a sack working against the second-team offensive line. And a bit later, he knifed into the backfield to get rookie running back Will Shipley for a TFL.

6. Early in practice, I watched every rep of RBs in pass protection against LBs:

• It’s a treat to watch Saquon Barkley in these drills. He’s just a different animal when it comes to blocking. You’d expect a running back with his base to be able to pass protect and he’s clearly the best in the group. Finally, on their third rep, Devin White was able to get past Barkley on a second effort but the ball was probably already out. Barkley shut him down in the others. In his rep against Zack Baun, Barkley was able to easily re-route him.

• Kenny Gainwell gives good effort in these drills and in pass protection in general but his lack of size is a bit of a detriment. White was able to get inside him on one rep pretty quickly.

• Rookie Will Shipley struggled in this drill, although he got a little better throughout the practice period. Newcomer Shaquille Quarterman ran straight through Shipley on their first rep and then Ben VanSumeren did it to him again on the next rep. This is not surprising, seeing a rookie running back struggle in pass protection, but it is noteworthy. Because Shipley has also given up a couple sacks in team periods too. If he can’t pass block, he’s not going to get snaps on third downs.

• I was pleasantly surprised by RB Lew Nichols (5-10, 220) in this drill. While his body type certainly lends itself to pass blocking, Nichols fared quite well. I have also seen a decent burst from him in team periods. Among the back-end running backs, he’s become the guy I like most.

• Impressive push-pull move from Quarterman to get around the rookie Kendall Milton. It looked like an edge rusher move.

7. Defensive tackle Thomas Booker is pretty under-the-radar and is still a long shot to make the team, but he had a great moment in practice today when he bowled over veteran left guard Nick Gates on his way into the backfield. Gates ended up on his back — a reverse pancake.

8. Another depth defensive lineman had a big play. Edge rusher Tarron Jackson showed off some power, tossing rookie tackle Anim Dankwah into Tanner McKee for a would-be sack.

9. The Eagles ran a QB draw out of empty for an easy big-gainer on Tuesday. Cam Jurgens showed off his ability to get to the second level and pick up another block for Jalen Hurts, who cruised through the giant hole.

10. Josh Jobe is mostly relegated to third-team defense these days, but he looks fine. Jobe is an ace special teamer and was this team’s top backup cornerback not that long ago, so it tells you how much improvement there has been at the position. Jobe made back-to-back plays with the second team on Tuesday.

First, he had a pass breakup on a Kenny Pickett pass to Jacob Harris. On the next play, receiver Joseph Ngata clearly pushed off to gain some separation but after he made the catch, Jobe used a Peanut-punch to get the ball out. The ball went out of bounds but it was still a strong recovery for Jobe.

Stupid Observation of the Day: Late in this practice, Nick Sirianni had his bullhorn in hand and saw his family in the crowd. So Sirianni called to get his daughter Taylor’s attention multiple times before a play. As Sirianni walked near C.J. Gardner-Johnson, CJGJ asked for the bullhorn and Sirianni gave it to him. Gardner-Johnson just repeated Sirianni’s message to get Taylor’s attention, but there was a moment where I was wondering what Gardner-Johnson was going to do with that bullhorn.

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