Some thoughts on the Nakobe Dean-Zack Baun competition, a look at promising rookie running back Kendall Milton and figuring out who would run on the all-time Eagles 400-meter relay team.
With one preseason game in the books, two to go and opening day now just 26 days away, here’s this weekend’s installment of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations:
1. We're a couple weeks into training camp, and there still hasn’t been one day where Nakobe Dean opened a practice (or a game) as a starting linebacker. Not one. Dean has been buried behind Zack Baun since OTAs, and unless something dramatic happens between now and Sept. 6, it sure looks like Baun will be the Eagles’ opening-day off-ball linebacker alongside Devin White, and Dean will be a backup and special teamer. Dean occasionally gets 1st-team reps, but he hasn’t started one practice with the 1’s and Vic Fangio hasn’t wavered in his support of Baun, a 5th-year veteran who’s on a one-year contract. Baun is bigger and a little faster than Dean, but I’m not convinced he’s the superior player. After re-watching the Ravens game Saturday, I thought Dean out-played Baun Friday night, and I didn’t think it was particularly close. Baun has had a decent summer, but Dean has actually been fine. I’m really curious to see if anything changes as far as 1st-team reps over the next week or two or whether the decision to go with Baun has already been made. I don’t think Dean is in any danger of getting cut. He should be a core special teamer and backup off-ball backer. Dean played the 2nd-most special teams snaps on the team as a rookie in 2022 (behind Zech McPhearson), and he’s still only 23 so it’s too early to say he’ll never pan out. Fangio seems to like Dean as a blitzer, so maybe there will be a role for him on defense. It’s just crazy how Dean has gone from Butkus Award winner in 2021 to 3rd-round steal in 2022 to opening-day starter in 2023 to riding the bench in 2024. But I’m not convinced his story is finished quite yet.
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2. One of the more encouraging things we saw in Baltimore Friday night was a bunch of defensive guys who’ve never played together going out there and looking like a cohesive unit. That speaks volumes to Vic Fangio and his approach to camp. There were 15 guys on defense alone who played against the Ravens who are new to the Eagles this year, and Fangio was mixing and matching different combinations and different positions and other than a miscommunication in the secondary on the Ravens’ second snap, I can’t think of a single negative play on defense all night. The Ravens picked up 29 yards on their first two plays and then 135 yards on their final 46 plays. Everybody Fangio threw out there looked fast and physical, and that’s a really good sign considering this has been a harder, tougher training camp than the last few and the Eagles were coming off four straight grueling practices in the heat and humidity – Sunday through Wednesday – leading up to the game. But if they were gassed, it didn’t show. They tackled, they covered, they pressured. I’m not going to get too carried away considering who the Ravens were playing on offense, but after the way last year ended, you just want to see a defense where guys are in position, communicating, getting numbers to the ball, playing fast and physical and not screwing up. It was only a start but it was a promising one.
3. The Eagles officially ran 78 offensive plays Friday night, and offensive lineman Darian Kinnard played 83 of them. How is that possible? Because the offense committed five penalties – three holds, a delay of game and a false start – on top of their 78 snaps that counted. But thanks to the NFLPA and incentive bonuses based on playing time, snap counts technically include all snaps, including penalties. So Kinnard played 106 percent of the Eagles’ snaps. Kinnard has more Super Bowl rings (two) than career games played (one), but he’s quietly had a nice camp playing both guard and tackle, and I think he's done enough to make the 53. The funny thing is Kinnard played 39 more offensive snaps than anybody else on the roster. Oh, and he also played four special teams snaps. So on a warm and humid evening in Baltimore, Kinnard played 87 total snaps.
4. In honor of the Olympics, here are the all-time fastest Eagles in the 100-meter dash – wind-legal times only (2.0 meters per second or less):
Four-fastest
Philadelphia Eagles
10.20 … Devon Allen, April 23, 2022, Annapolis, Md. [2023]
10.23 … Herschel Walker, May 8, 1982, Athens, Ga. [1992-94]
10.36 … Kary Vincent Jr., May 10, 2019, Fayetteville, Ark. [2021]
10.37 … Dietrich Jells, May 13, 1995, Wilberforce, Ohio [1998-99]
Also under 10.50:
10.41 … Ronald Darby, June 17, 2011, Greensboro, N.C. [2017-19]
10.43 … Kelee Ringo, March 23, 2019, Chandler, Ariz. [2023-24]
10.49 … Je’Rod Cherry, April 30, 1995, Fresno, Calif. [2000]
With the Eagles but never played in a regular-season game:
10.21 … Mark Duper, April 15, 1982, Natchitoches, La. [1993]
10.28 … Raheem Mostert, May 17, 2014, West Lafayette, Ind. [2014]
10.35 … Titus Dixon, May 19, 1988, San Angelo, Texas [1992]
10.38 … Marquise Goodwin, May 9, 2008, Austin, Texas [2020]
5. I’m not sure there’s anything Tyler Steen can do at this point to win back the right guard spot. The Eagles seem to have their minds made up that Mekhi Becton is the guy. Steen lost the job after he got hurt and missed a week and a half, and when he got back Becton had become the starter, and Steen hasn’t started a practice with the first offense since. It also looks like that ankle may still be bothering him. Here’s the thing: If Becton becomes the right guard, the Eagles lose their top backup tackle on both sides. What backup do they have who can play tackle? Steen makes the most sense. He was a tackle in college, and if we start seeing him take reps with the second group at tackle you know he’s no longer in the mix at right guard.
6. Am I wrong to feel cautiously optimistic about Nolan Smith? On his sack Friday night, Smith showed exactly why the Eagles were so high on him last year. He lined up in the slot, exploded past overmatched Ravens left tackle Julian Pearl, got to Ravens QB Devin Leary from Timber Creek High in a hurry and finished him off in style once he got there. Now, to keep it in perspective, Pearl is an undrafted rookie who was playing in his first NFL game. But Smith has traits that really make you take notice. He’s so quick around the edge and he's got that bend that lets him turn the corner in a hurry. And he’s up to 245 pounds after adding seven or eight pounds of muscle during the offseason, and it shows. He looks fast and strong. Now, same thing as last year. Looked fast and strong in camp a year ago. He’s got to do it in meaningful games and he’s got to do it consistently and he’s not going to be facing Julian Pearl on Sundays. But I keep thinking there’s something there.
7. The longest completion in Eagles history by a quarterback in his first NFL game was a 59-yarder from John Reaves to Harold Jackson in a 28-6 loss to the Cowboys at Texas Stadium in 1972. The next-two longest were both caught by Jeremy Maclin – a 43-yarder by Mike Kafka in Atlanta in 2011 and a 44-yarder from Nick Foles to Maclin the next year against the Cowboys at the Linc. Kafka and Foles both entered the game in place of an injured Michael Vick and completed the deep ball to Maclin on their fifth career completion.
8. While Kelee Ringo and Isaiah Rodgers seem to be competing for that CB2 spot opposite Darius Slay, don’t rule out Quinyon Mitchell winding up as a starting outside corner. The fact they’re giving him so much work inside makes sense considering he has so little experience in the slot. And it gives Ringo and Rodgers more reps outside. But if the Eagles decide that Mitchell has to be on the field, he could start outside and then swing inside in nickel. Avonte Maddox is a fine slot when healthy, but the Eagles may ideally want him to back up both safety and slot and try to get him through the season without a trip to I.R. There’s got to be a reason Vic Fangio is throwing so much at Mitchell, the rookie 1st-round pick. So far, he’s handled it all. If Fangio is comfortable with Mitchell outside, why not get him as many reps as possible inside? Ask yourself this: Would you rather have Slay, Ringo / Rodgers and Mitchell on the field against three wides or Slay, Mitchell and Maddox? From what I’ve seen of Ringo, Mitchell and Rodgers, they all need to be on the field as much as possible.
9. Interesting that with the game on the line Friday, Kellen Moore turned to undrafted rookie Kendall Milton, who hadn’t played up until that point. Milton ran nine times for 39 yards, much of it into a stacked box, since the Ravens knew the Eagles were trying to run the clock down before kicking a field goal. The Eagles have a few impressive backs behind the three who are roster locks – Lew Nichols and Tyrion Davis-Price are veterans and Milton is a rookie. They’re all bigger backs – Nichols and Davis-Price are 220 and Milton is 230 – and there’s a decent chance one of them will stick. Nichols probably has the best shot right now – he can run, catch and block and you want that kind of versatility from a backup. But I’m intrigued by Milton. He was injured a lot at Georgia, and that’s probably why he went undrafted, but he left Athens with a beefy 6.2 rushing average – not far off D’Andre Swift’s school-record 6.6 - and last year he was one of only three backs in the BCS to average 6.5 yards per carry and score at least 14 touchdowns. Want to see more of this kid.
10A. I’m glad some of the (projected) defensive starters played a bit Friday night – 14 snaps for Isaiah Rodgers and Devin White, five for Bryce Huff, Jalen Carter and Reed Blankenship, four for Jordan Davis. This is such a new defense with so many new pieces and new combinations it was good to see those guys out there working up a sweat. But honestly I don’t need to see the offensive starters at all in the preseason. I think the combination of longer, more intense practices, the joint practice in New England Tuesday and the fact that most of the key offensive skill guys have been together for a few years really makes it unnecessary. If those guys play a series or two Thursday night against the Patriots, I’m OK with it, but Jalen Hurts has been so sharp, DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert have looked terrific and Saquon Barkley has fit in so seamlessly I feel like the offense will be ready to go on Sept. 6 without putting anybody at undue risk in a meaningless preseason game. Very different situations on offense and defense. I think the defense could use the work. I don’t think the offense does.
10B. One possible offensive starter did play Friday night, and that was Becton at right guard. That was because Becton had never played guard in a regular-season or preseason game in his life, and the coaches wanted him to get a taste of full-speed football at a new position. Makes sense.