August 17, 2024
Day 13 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books. It rained for most of the day, sometimes hard. If you're an aspiring sports writer, don't forget to check the weather report before you leave for the day, like I did today. Bad rookie mistake by me. Anyway, let's get to the notes.
• Did not practice:
• Rookie DB Cooper DeJean participated in team drills for the first time today. As expected, he was in the slot, with the second team defense, though he also got some reps outside. If you'll note in our Eagles training camp battle tracker, we never eliminated DeJean from starting consideration. He'll have a few weeks to show if he should start in the slot, possibly with Quinyon Mitchell starting outside at CB2.
DeJean also got some punt return reps today.
Mitchell had a really nice pass breakup near the sideline while covering DeVonta Smith. His ball skills are pretty obvious.
• The biggest storyline to come out of the Eagles' second preseason game against the Patriots was the stark differences in performances by Tanner McKee (good) and Kenny Pickett (bad). During his postgame press conference, Nick Sirianni said that Pickett is the QB2, even though it was pretty clear for all to see that McKee is the better passer.
Today, Sirianni made an interesting comment.
"With Tanner and Kenny, I feel like we have guys that a lot of teams would like to have," he said.
If I'm putting my tin foil hat on, I might suggest that those words had meaning behind them, as in, "Hey other teams, if you agree that you'd like to have one of our guys, namely Pickett, make us an offer."
In today's practice, Pickett indeed was second up today after Jalen Hurts. McKee was sharp once again, and Pickett was not. Pickett pretty consistently was late to get the ball out, and he had an oddly awful throw that sailed way over the head of Will Shipley, who was in the flat. (I'm like 95 percent certain it wasn't a throwaway.)
As for McKee, he was more decisive and accurate. In case you missed it, the QB School reviewed McKee's performance Thursday night, and raved about his play.
• Jalen Hurts has still not thrown an INT this camp.
More Hurts passes hit the ground today than they normally do and he took some sacks, but overall I thought he was fine. The defense made some good plays against him, with Mitchell breaking up a sideline throw to Smith (as noted above), and Reed Blankenship knocking down a deep pass intended for Dallas Goedert. But I don't think those were poor throws or bad decisions by any stretch.
We've repeatedly mentioned how in sync Hurts and A.J. Brown are on slants this summer. They have also been unstoppable on quick outs. Hurts is perfecting his anticipation on those throws and begins delivering them sometimes before Brown even breaks. Hurts and Brown connected on a few sideline throws today.
Our Jalen Hurts thumbs up / thumbs down tracker:
🏈 Day 1: 👍
🏈 Day 2: 👍
🏈 Day 3: 👍
🏈 Day 4: 👎
🏈 Day 5: 👍
🏈 Day 6: 👍
🏈 Day 7: 👍
🏈 Day 8: 👍
🏈 Day 9: 👍
🏈 Day 10: 👍
🏈 Day 11: 👍
🏈 Day 12: 👍
🏈 Day 13: 👍
• Starting RG Mekhi Becton was up and down today. He faced Jalen Carter in 1-on-1's on three straight reps, and in my opinion won them all. At a minimum, he didn't lose those reps. However, he also got dusted by Milton Williams in team drills. Becton is obviously a physical specimen, but be prepared to see a volatile player with shining moments and shaky ones this season.
• Cam Jurgens also had a good day in 1-on-1's locking down Jordan Davis. Oh, and there was almost a fight. Brett Toth gave P.J. Mustipher an extra shove at the end of a rep, and Mustipher didn't like it. He came back at Toth, but it was quickly broken up. With Derek Barnett gone, fights are down like 80 percent.
• One player who looks more ready to play than I would have anticipated is rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt. He beat Fred Johnson today for a pressure, and had a nice breakup on a pass intended for C.J. Uzomah. Hunt is fast and physical, and so far looks like he knows what he's doing.
• Nakobe Dean had a bad practice a little while back at the Linc, when he got beaten badly in coverage a few times while trying to cover Kenny Gainwell. Since then, he has stacked a bunch of good days, and I wouldn't rule him out just yet for a starting job. He had a nice pop on Shipley today. Dean has been one of the most physical players on the team this summer, and is beginning to play with confidence.
• Rookie WR Ainias Smith has had a brutal camp, but he made a few catches today. He still has some time to show something positive and make the team.
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