August 02, 2024
Day 6 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books, and it was an open practice held at Lincoln Financial Field. Let's get right to the notes.
• Did not practice:
Lane Johnson wore Dickerson's jersey, and Dickerson wore Lane's.
Mekhi Becton once again filled in for Steen at RG. Brett Toth filled in at LG for Dickerson, and also got some second-team looks at center.
• Jalen Hurts had a great night. On the opening 11-on-11 session, he hit A.J. Brown for a deep ball that beat Darius Slay for a big gain down the right sideline down to the 4-yard line. Good throw, good catch. Cam Jurgens had a good block in pass pro on a blitzing Devin White on the play. Next play, play action TD to Dallas Goedert in the flat. The Hurts-Brown connection is the third play in the video below:
11 on 11, 1’s vs 1’s. LFG! #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/ULCTvfAwy7
— EROCK (@EROCK_Eagles) August 1, 2024
As we mentioned in our "stock up / stock down" post on Thursday morning, Hurts has been super accurate this camp, but if there's one gripe it's that he has often held onto the ball and has taken some coverage sacks. I thought he got the ball out more efficiently Thursday night, and also did a good job beating the blitz. For example, he hit Brown on a quick slant to beat a blitz in the red zone, which you can see at the 0:58 mark below:
RRRRRRRROUND TWO! 11 on 11’s, 1’s vs 1’s. LFG #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/qxGAt0OGWG
— EROCK (@EROCK_Eagles) August 1, 2024
That drive concluded with another Goedert TD that looked a lot like the first one.
And finally, on his best play of the night, Hurts evaded quick pressure from an unblocked edge rusher and threw a TD pass to Goedert. There was some debate in the press box over whether Hurts was "sacked" or not on the play. I thought it was just a great play by Hurts. On the video replay, it's clear he wasn't "sacked," as in, "would have been sacked if defenders were allowed to hit him."
RRRRRROUND THREE! 1’s vs 1’s, 11 on 11. Offense scores again! #flyeaglesfly pic.twitter.com/hhhnXCEDbq
— EROCK (@EROCK_Eagles) August 1, 2024
Side note: Watch Saquon Barkley's burst on the play at the 0:25 mark above. I like the stadium practices because fans can take video of it. We cannot. Appreciate the videos, Erock.
Our Jalen Hurts thumbs up / thumbs down tracker:
🏈 Day 1: 👍
🏈 Day 2: 👍
🏈 Day 3: 👍
🏈 Day 4: 👎
🏈 Day 5: 👍
🏈 Day 6: 👍
• As noted above, Dallas Goedert had three TD catches. He also had a catch for a two-point conversion. Goedert touchdowns, by season:
2018: 4
2019: 5
2020: 3
2021: 4
2022: 3
2023: 3
When the Eagles get in close to the goal line, they run the Brotherly Shove, because, I mean, it works! I do wonder at what point they run more play action stuff to Goedert at the goal line because that will be so wide open with defenses selling out to an extreme degree to stop QB sneaks and other runs. If they can successfully hit some play action stuff near the goal line, that could cause teams to think twice about selling out against Brotherly Shoves.
• Johnny Wilson got some first-team reps. Hurts praised Wilson for his work ethic earlier in the day.
Jalen Hurts said the work players did away from the facility this summer is translating. He gave the example of Johnny Wilson making 2 TD catches in 1-on-1s on Tuesday. (Wilson trained with Hurts with this summer.)
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) August 1, 2024
"It's no surprise when you prepare," Hurts said. "It shows."
• The defense sent blitzes all night, and we got to see the running backs try to pick them up. Barkley had a really nice blitz pickup on Devin White, who is an excellent blitzer. Will Shipley didn't look quite as good while trying to block Jeremiah Trotter. Trotter sidestepped Shipley, who ended up on the ground.
• In our "stock up / stock down" post, I said that Shipley did not look like a rookie through the first week of camp. I thought he looked more like a rookie Thursday night. He had the missed block on Trotter, and he also had a fumbled exchange on a handoff with Tanner McKee.
• Kenny Gainwell was active as a receiver and as a runner out of the backfield. He caught a pass and cut back inside, making Nakobe Dean miss. Not a great moment for Dean. Gainwell also beat Dean on a wheel route for a long TD. On the positive side for Dean, he got free on a well-timed blitz on third down and forced a quick throw to Barkley, who was stopped by Reed Blankenship short of the sticks. Dean is a much more effective player when he is coming downhill.
• Grant Calcaterra had a bunch of catches with the second-team offense, further solidifying his status as the TE2.
• Mekhi Becton sent Moro Ojomo for a ride on a run block. Emphatic pancake 🥞. Becton has his flaws, but his power is undeniable. I don't think Becton has been so good that Tyler Steen's hold on the starting RG job is in extreme peril, but the sooner Steen can return to the field and prove that he should be the guy, the better.
If Becton wins the starting RG job, the Eagles offensive linemen's listed heights and weights will look like this:
| Position | Player | Height | Weight |
| LT | Jordan Mailata | 6'8 | 365 |
| LG | Landon Dickerson | 6'6 | 332 |
| C | Cam Jurgens | 6'3 | 303 |
| RG | Mekhi Becton | 6'7 | 363 |
| RT | Lane Johnson | 6'6 | 325 |
Average weight: 338. That would probably have to be the heaviest line in the NFL, right?
• The pancake aside, Moro Ojomo had some good moments. He had two sacks on the night.
• One player deep on the depth chart who has had his share of standout moments is LB Brandon Smith. He steamrolled Jason Poe for a sack.
• Jake Elliott hit a 54-yard field goal.
• On the final play of practice, Eli Ricks picked off Kenny Pickett. That was the first INT of camp, by anyone. It's perhaps worth noting that Tanner McKee has gotten some second-team reps in each of the last two practices.
• The Eagles said there were almost 50,000 people there. Ehhh, I didn't count all the heads myself, but the upper and middle tiers of the stadium were mostly empty. Still, it was a good crowd, and the fans were into it.
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