Today marked the second Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice ahead of the 2024 season. The session lasted for a little under 90 minutes. Here’s what I observed at the NovaCare Complex.
EAGLES PRACTICE NOTES
- JALEN HURTS UPDATE: A lot more of the same we saw from Hurts on Day 1, which is important. Gotta stack those good days. Hurts has been very efficient; the ball has rarely hit the ground. He’s been very decisive as both a passer and a runner. Hurts’ average time to throw sped up from 2021 to 2022 but then regressed back to pre-2022 levels in 2023, so, it’s been good to see him making quicker decisions and not holding onto the ball for forever. Now presumably healthier than he was last year, Hurts looks a lot faster than the last time we saw him play. That’s been apparent when he’s been running away from pressure and also when he’s taken off upfield. Hurts’ most noteworthy completion came in 7-on-7 when he dropped the ball in the bucket to A.J. Brown for an over-the-shoulder catch along the right sideline with Darius Slay trailing in coverage.
Day 1: Thumbs up
Day 2: Thumbs up
- EAGLES INJURY UPDATES: Jeremiah Trotter Jr. went down on the final play of practice and was eventually taken off the field in a cart but reporting indicates he avoided a serious injury. Phew. Landon Dickerson (toe laceration) returned to practice in a limited capacity; he did not take part in full team drills. Oren Burks (knee) and Brett Toth (hamstring) both missed practice. Sydney Brown is still on active/PUP while Cooper DeJean and Shaquan Davis are still on active/NFI.
- EAGLES ROSTER NEWS: In case you missed it, the Eagles re-signed wide receiver Griffin Hebert and waived UDFA offensive lineman Gottlieb Ayedze from the active/NFI list.
- CORNERBACK TRAINING CAMP BATTLE: On Day 1, Darius Slay and Isaiah Rodgers were the first-team cornerbacks in 11-on-11 while Slay and Kelee Ringo were the first-team cornerbacks in 7-on-7. On Day 2, Ringo and Rodgers traded places. Towards the end of practice, Slay seemed to be getting a breather while both Rodgers and Ringo were on the field together. Neither Rodgers nor Ringo have made plays on the ball like they often did in the spring, in part because Hurts looks much sharper. So, neither player is rising above the other just yet but we’ll continue to monitor this situation daily. Elsewhere at CB, Quinyon Mitchell saw some second-team slot reps while Rodgers and Eli Ricks were the outside corners.
- LINEBACKER TRAINING CAMP BATTLE: Zack Baun and Devin White were the first-team linebackers in 11-on-11 again. White and Nakobe Dean were first up at linebacker in 7-on-7. Dean then saw some first-team action next to Baun. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. saw a few first-team linebacker reps (around three or so), typically on the final play of a given series. Trot Jr. was paired with White in his last 11-on-11 series. The Eagles are clearly trying things out but Trot Jr. getting some chances with the starters seems like a positive sign.
- WR3 TRAINING CAMP BATTLE: Whereas Parris Campbell was exclusively WR3 on Day 1, John Ross was the guy on Day 2. He didn’t really stand out; Campbell caught more passes (albeit short ones).
- Not a position battle but worth noting that Kenny Gainwell has seen a decent amount of first-team running back reps. Hardly suggesting that he’s overtaking Saquon Barkley. But it’s not like Barkley is exclusively the first-team running back.
- More pre-snap motion talk: there was a rep where Barkley lined up out wide left and came running right while the ball was snapped … only for Hurts to take off running to the space that Barkley had vacated for a big gain.
- Interesting point raised by the PHLY Eagles podcast on Wednesday: the Eagles seem to be putting more of an emphasis on conditioning this offseason. The evidence being their breakneck speed practices (hearkening back to the days of Chip Kelly) thus far and changes to their training staff (Ted Rath was notably not retained). On Thursday, Eagles players would run to the end zone after their series was over. That’s not something they were regularly doing in previous years.
- Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis combined for a pressure that forced Hurts to roll out left and fire a pass to DeVonta Smith, who made a great effort to catch the ball but the pass didn’t give him space to stay in-bounds. Davis later had a run stuff on a Saquon Barkley rushing attempt.
- I tried to key in on Tyler Steen more than I did on Day 1. I didn’t notice any struggles when I watched him.
