August 18, 2021
The Philadelphia Eagles are now 14 practices into their training camp, not including walkthroughs. With a day off on Wednesday, let's take a look at the players whose stock is up, and whose is down.
We did not repeat any players from our stock up - stock down media poll a couple weeks ago, so if you feel someone is missing below, we may have already covered them.
📈 QB Jalen Hurts: Hurts has mostly been up and down, and early in camp the offense in general put together some of ugliest practices I've ever covered. That wasn't all on Hurts, but his performances didn't help. More recently, however, Hurts has looked much better. He made some nice throws in the preseason game against the Steelers, and he very clearly outperformed Cam Newton and Mac Jones in a pair of joint practices with the New England Patriots this week. His accuracy has improved over the last week or two, and he has demonstrated a command of the offense.
📈 WR Quez Watkins: Duh. Watkins was the leading vote getter in our stock up, stock down media poll a week ago, and you all saw why in the game against the Steelers on Thursday.
📈 TE Zach Ertz: Give Ertz credit. He has played hard during camp, and even if he isn't interested in playing for the Eagles anymore, he has done a nice job putting himself in a good position to play well in 2021, whether that be in Philly, or somewhere else. After by far his worst season as a pro in 2020, Ertz has looked like his old self during practices, regularly getting open and making catches in volume.
📈 LB Alex Singleton: Singleton was a rare pleasant surprise for the Eagles in 2020, as the Eagles' defense improved when he took over for Nate Gerry as the primary three-down linebacker. He was all over the field in the preseason game against Pittsburgh, which mirrored what I have seen from his play in practice since returning from the COVID list.
📈 LB Patrick Johnson: Of the Eagles' four sixth-and seventh-round picks — Marlon Tuipulotu, Tarron Jackson, JaCoby Stevens, and Johnson — Johnson has made the best argument for making the team. He was primarily a pass rusher at Tulane, and has been making a transition to off-ball linebacker, where he hasn't looked lost. In joint practices against the Patriots, he was even getting his share of first-team reps. He had a solid showing against the Steelers, and should get a long look again this Thursday against the Pats.
📉 WR Travis Fulgham: There was hope that Fulgham would return to something close to what he was during his five-game stretch in 2020, and maybe he still can, but through the first three weeks of camp I haven't seen it. He has gotten notably less separation than many of the other Eagles' receivers, and contested catches have been a little too few and far between.
📉 DE Derek Barnett: Barnett is day-to-day with a shoulder injury, which on the surface doesn't sound terrible, but it's noteworthy that he has missed time with shoulder injuries in the past. Also, while Barnett hasn't had a bad camp by any stretch, he has clearly been outplayed by Josh Sweat, and in my opinion, will ultimately lose his starting job.
📉 DT Marlon Tuipulotu: Tuipulotu had a rough game against Pittsburgh, as he got pushed around for the bulk of his 52 snaps last Thursday.
📉 LB Davion Taylor: Taylor is still week-to-week with a calf injury sustained early in camp. Before he got hurt, it seemed as though the Eagles were going to give the raw second-year player a ton of first-team reps to allow him to grow as a player. Instead, he has barely played at all, and at this point is maybe even a season-ending IR stash candidate.
📉 The Patriots: I was wholly unimpressed by their squad this week.
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