Day 8 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp was not originally on the practice schedule, but the team added it late last week. It was a short, unpadded practice.
• We should probably update the injuries first:
- WR Devon Allen was activated from the NFI list. He was a limited participant in practice, as was CB James Bradberry.
- LB Nakobe Dean remains out, along with LB Patrick Johnson and WR Deon Cain. It appears that Christian Elliss has the green dot helmet in Dean's absence.
- Edge Haason Reddick, CB Avonte Maddox, and Edge Derek Barnett are all full participants now.
- These aren't injury updates, but it's also worth mentioning that new LBs Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham are both practicing, as are Josh Andrews and Josh Sills.
• The play of the day came via Reed Blankenship, who made a diving interception of Jalen Hurts near the sideline on a pass intended for Quez Watkins. He was able to get his arms under the ball to keep it from hitting the ground while fully extended. If you've been following our practice notes all along throughout camp, you know that Blankenship has played almost exclusively with the first-team defense, while others have kind of cycled in and out.
I was going to wait until at least one preseason game was in the books to make a more definitive call on Blankenship's status as a certain Week 1 starter (barring injury), but I've seen enough to make a call.
• It feels likely that Sean Desai will implement some occasional three-safety sets this season. Today, he had four out there at one point. They were Blankenship, Justin Evans, K'Von Wallace, and Terrell Edmunds.
- MORE ON THE EAGLES
- Eagles training camp game ball: Undrafted rookie receiver continues to stand out
- Jalen Hurts watch: Eagles' QB has an uneven day in training camp
- Eytan Shander: Randy Moss sees something special in Eagles' WR DeVonta Smith
It was during a situational period in 11-on-11's. It looked like an "end of game" scenario in which the offense had the ball around the 25-yard line, down by 4-8 points, and they had one shot into the end zone to try to score. Blankenship was in the middle of the field, Evans on the left side, and Wallace on the right. They were lined up about 2-6 yards deep in the end zone, while a gaggle of corners, linebackers and Edmunds played five across near the goal line.
Hurts threw up a prayer that was picked by Evans. (I wouldn't make too much of that pick from Hurts' perspective.)
• It wasn't Hurts' best day, but he did have a few nice throws. He found Watkins near the sideline on a throw about 25-30 yards down the field. He also hit DeVonta Smith on a sideline throw that was away from the defender and in a spot where only Smith could catch it, which he did.
• Marcus Mariota had a decent day. Oh and hey he has a new center! That would be the aforementioned Josh Andrews, who has taken over for Brett Toth as the new second-team center. Toth was demoted to third-team LG. 📉
For the first time all camp Mariota got clean snaps all day and I think it made a difference.
• In previous practice notes, we've mentioned that the Eagles have practiced fielding squib kicks, since there will likely be more of those with the new kickoff fair catch rules. They spent a fair amount of time on that again today.
• 1-on-1 OL-DL highlights:
The first-team offensive line dominated. Lane Johnson might be the only person on the planet who can consistently block Haason Reddick. Otherwise the starters won all their matchups:
- Cam Jurgens > Fletcher Cox
- Jason Kelce > Jordan Davis
- Landon Dickerson > Milton Williams
- Jordan Mailata > Derek Barnett
The highlight rush was probably by Jalen Carter, who put a spin move on Josh Sills. Sills was able to stay in front of Carter initially, but Carter then bull rushed Sills and put him on his back.
Milton Williams had some good rushes against Tyler Steen, both in 1-on-1's and 11-on-11's. Williams is a prime breakout candidate.
And finally, I missed this, but apparently Jordan Davis had a wow moment in which he flashed impressive quickness, dusting Cameron Tom. Bad job by me.
• 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.
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter or whatever it's called now: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
And on Threads: @JimmyKempski
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader