July 29, 2024
Day 4 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books. There are still no pads this early in camp. Today was the first practice definitively won by the defense. Let's get right to the notes.
• Did not practice:
Limited practice:
Johnson is day-to-day. He's fine. Steen could miss a few practices with his ankle injury, but his setback is also not considered serious.
Mekhi Becton filled in for Steen at RG; Fred Johnson filled in for Johnson at RT.
After Steen got hurt on Saturday, Darian Kinnard was a surprise fill-in at RG. Today he was second-team RT, a good sign for him, in terms of the team's view of his potential versatility.
• Rookie OG Trevor Keegan got hurt today. His left arm dangled from his body as he left the field.
• The defensive line dominated on Monday. Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Milton Williams were all disruptive on the interior, and the defense also got sacks from Nolan Smith, working against Fred Johnson, and Nakobe Dean on a blitz. Smith set up Kinnard with a power rush on one play then hit him with a quick inside move that left Kinnard with cinderblock feet on the next.
The "highlight" of practice from a cheering fans perspective was a completed deep ball from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith. But Milton Williams had already sacked Hurts, and as a result Avonte Maddox may have even given up on the play in coverage.
• Jalen Hurts had three good practices to start camp, but he had a down day on Monday. He was pressured all day, which didn't help, but the ball rarely came out quickly to offset the pressure.
Hurts also missed an open John Ross deep down the field on a post route.
What I will say on the positive side of the ledger for Hurts is that he looks good as a runner so far. Hurts played through injuries last season, and was not the same guy down the stretch as a runner.
He also found Will Shipley and Kenny Gainwell on wheel routes on consecutive plays down the left sideline, thought it should be noted that they it wasn't really a fair fight, as they both beat Julian Okwara (a deep reserve edge rusher) on their plays. They were easy throws for Hurts.
Our Jalen Hurts thumbs up / thumbs down tracker:
🏈 Day 1: 👍
🏈 Day 2: 👍
🏈 Day 3: 👍
🏈 Day 4: 👎
• I thought Isaiah Rodgers made a hell of a play today. Kenny Pickett threw an on-target deep pass to what appeared to be an open Joseph Ngata into the end zone, but Rodgers showed excellent recovery speed and broke up the play. That was an eye-opening moment with Rodgers. It was a "starter" type of play.
• We mentioned during the spring that LB Devin White has wheels. On a pass to Will Shipley in the flat, White closed in a flash and limited Shipley to a gain of 1 or 2 yards. When he sees it and knows where he's going, White is going to get there fast. As a reminder, White ran a 4.42 at the Combine. There's a reason he was the fifth overall pick in the 2019 draft.
To be determined if the defense will be good in 2024. What is certain is that they are going to be fast, as we showed in a recent notes post. A quick look at the Eagles' projected starters (plus some additional cornerbacks) and their 40 times at the NFL Combine (via Mockdraftable):
| Player | 40 time | Percentile at position |
| EDGE Josh Sweat | 4.53 | 96th percentile |
| iDL Jalen Carter | DNP | |
| iDL Jordan Davis | 4.78 | 97th percentile |
| iDL Milton Williams | 4.67 | 99th percentile |
| EDGE Bryce Huff | DNP | |
| LB Devin White | 4.42 | 98th percentile |
| LB Zack Baun | 4.65 | 67th percentile |
| CB Darius Slay | 4.36 | 92nd percentile |
| S Reed Blankenship | DNP | |
| S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson | 4.48 | 79th percentile |
| CB Quinyon Mitchell | 4.33 | 95th percentile |
| CB Avonte Maddox | 4.39 | 83rd percentile |
| CB Kelee Ringo | 4.36 | 92nd percentile |
| DB Cooper DeJean | DNP | |
| CB Isaiah Rodgers | DNP |
Pro day 40 times:
• iDL Jalen Carter: 5.15
• EDGE Bryce Huff: No pro day (cancelled because of COVID)
• S Reed Blankenship: 4.55
• CB Isaiah Rodgers: 4.28 (!)
• DB Cooper DeJean: 4.42
The defense looked fast as a group on Monday. They were flying around all day.
• Another guy with speed who passes the "looks the part" test is LB Brandon Smith, who has an intriguing blend of size and athleticism.
For whatever reason, Smith's career never took off after the Panthers selected him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, but it's hard to miss him on the third-team defense because of his size and speed.
• James Bradberry had a nice pass breakup in the middle of the field from his safety spot on a ball intended for Ngata. I'm curious if the Eagles' Twitter account will put video of that out there for other teams to see.
• While he continues to recover from his torn ACL on the PUP list, S Sydney Brown has stayed engaged. He took mental reps all day, standing way behind the defense both in 7-on-7's and 11-on-11's.
• Braden Mann had his first punting session of the summer. Punter observations are of little interest this year since there's no competition, but I timed his punts so I may as well post them:
Open field (going for distance / hang time) punting:
Pin deep punting:
The punt returners were (in order of reps), Britain Covey, Ainias Smith, Isaiah Rodgers, and John Ross.
• Funny moment at the end of practice: The Inquirer's Jeff Neiberg had a bad drop on a Tanner McKee throwaway, which got him heckled by DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown. Smith yelled "Catch the damn ball!" Brown followed that up with, "Write that up!" I feel for Jeff. I had a bad drop on a noodle arm Mike Kafka throwaway like 12 years ago at Lehigh and it still haunts me.
• The pads will likely come on Tuesday.
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