Day 6 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books, and it was the longest practice so far, coming in at a little under two hours. There's a lot to get to, so, you know, let's get to it.
• Getting some first-team reps at linebacker today... (drumroll)... Nolan Smith. He got reps there yesterday as well. Safety Terrell Edmunds also got some reps at linebacker.
Prior to practice Sean Desai explained why:
My take on the real reason why: The Eagles have bad depth at linebacker. It feels like a lock that the Eagles will add another linebacker at some point before the start of the season. I mean, that's nothing new. We've been saying that for months. But whatever percentage the likelihood was a month ago, it's higher now.
- MORE EAGLES
- D'Andre Swift looks to be a big factor in the Eagles' passing game
- Eagles training camp game ball: Quez Watkins is running away with the slot receiver job
- Jalen Hurts watch: The Eagles' QB finds A.J. Brown, runs it himself often in practice
• Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni had some words today. The offense ran a third-down play where Hurts tried to run for a first down with the clock winding down at the end of the half (or the game) but was short (purposefully in this case for the sake of the drill). They then quickly ran the field goal unit onto the field and kicked under the duress of the ticking clock. Sirianni shouted at Hurts because he did not hand the ball back to the officials fast enough after he was "tackled."
Josh Tolentino of the Inquirer probably had the best view of it.
Hurts had some words in return for Sirianni, but after quiet reflection for a minute or two, he did some pushups on his own as a penance.
• We declared Cam Jurgens the winner of the starting RG competition this morning, but his competitor, Tyler Steen, had a really good day, mostly at LT.
- Early in practice he pancaked Kentavius Street.
- Soon after, Josh Sweat jumped offsides, and Steen touched him to lock in the neutral zone infraction. (He had gotten chewed out earlier in camp by Nick Sirianni for not taking advantage in that situation.)
- In a red zone period, he had a good, physical block on Jalen Carter while playing RG.
Steen might be the best backup LT option on the team, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's the first guy off the bench should Jordan Mailata go down.
One more quick note on the offensive line alignment: Jurgens played some center today, with Steen next to him and Jack Driscoll out at RT while Lane Johnson and Jason Kelce got some "old guy" breaks.
• There were three highlight reel catches today:
- Quez Watkins out-jumped Avonte Maddox for a contested catch TD on a post-corner route during red zone 1-on-1's.
- DeVonta Smith was on the run toward the sideline in the end zone and when he ran out of real estate he planted his feet inbounds and made the catch while falling to the ground.
- Dallas Goedert reached back with his right arm on an off-target pass behind him and made a one-handed catch.
A.J. Brown didn't have any highlights today, but he made around a half dozen catches. The trio of Brown, Smith and Goedert have been collectively outstanding.
• We haven't often mentioned Britain Covey in our notes, but it feels like whenever he has made catches he has had a lot of separation. He dusted Josiah Scott for what should have been a touchdown, but Marcus Mariota overthrew him.
• We got to see Rashaad Penny turn on the jets today. The Eagles ran a fake handoff to the left side of the formation (I couldn't see if it was some sort of jet motion action in that direction or what), and then they flipped it out to Penny to the right, where Penny found open spaces. He put it into fourth gear and looked fast.
• Kelee Ringo lost a bunch of reps today.
- Goedert high-pointed a ball over him for a red zone TD.
- Joseph Ngata made a nice hands catch on a slant for a TD. Ringo tried to knock the ball out of Ngata's hands after the play was over, and Ngata held on.
- He was flagged for pass interference while covering Tyrie Cleveland.
So did Greedy Williams. He got dusted deep by Greg Ward in 11-on-11's and by Cleveland in 1-on-1's. Williams has had a bad camp.
• In positive cornerback news, Darius Slay made a great play in zone. He was sitting in the flat and had eyes on Goedert, who was a little further down the field near the sideline. When Hurts committed to Goedert, Slay broke on the throw and was all over it, making the INT. That was Hurts' first INT of 2023 training camp, and he got baited into it by Slay.
• I have two guys you probably never heard of who have looked good at times.
- OL Julian Good-Jones had a bunch of good reps in 1-on-1's earlier in camp, and he is now getting a look at center.
- Undrafted rookie TE Brady Russell has consistently drawn praise from tight ends coach Jason Michael. He had a good block in pass pro against Nolan Smith today.
Those two guys are still probably longshots to make the team, but we'll see if they can continue to play well.
• James Bradberry and Nakobe Dean both went to the medical tent yesterday. They did not practice today. Patrick Johnson went down during practice and was in a lot of pain, grabbing at his left knee. Per Jeff McLane, it is not considered serious.
• Jake Elliott was 7/7 on his field goal attempts, from distances of 33, 42, 45, 28, 40, 42, and 42.
He's now 10/10 throughout camp.
• Brandon Gowton and I will have post-practice podcasts throughout training camp. They'll populate below a few hours after we publish our notes. And here's the iTunes link. Review, subscribe, etc.
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