August 10, 2021
Day 11 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books, and it was perhaps the lightest of the team's practices to date, in advance of the Eagles' first preseason game on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Still, as always, we have notes.
• On a lighter day, we should probably take the opportunity to catch up on injuries, as that list is growing. This was the pre-practice injury report:
LIMITED
DAY-TO-DAY
WEEK-TO-WEEK
Seumalo was upgraded from week-to-week to day-to-day prior to the open practice on Sunday night, and now he is listed as a limited participant. The starting guards — Seumalo and Brooks — have missed almost the entirety of camp so far. That has probably contributed some to the team's offensive struggles, especially going up against a healthy defensive line.
Taylor and Hightower are in bad shape, as they're fighting for roster spots (Hightower more than Taylor, probably), as they remain week-to-week.
In Tuesday's practices, there were some new injuries:
UPDATE: Dillard is "week-to-week" with a knee sprain. Wallace is "week to week" with a groin strain.
This has been the easiest Eagles training camp I've ever covered, in which practices have been short, there's been no tackling, and hardly any thud sessions. Yet, it still feels like the team has a lot of injuries, though it's worth noting that there haven't been any season-enders yet. We'll see how the team holds up on the injury front against a Steelers team that has had an extra week of camp and has already played a preseason game.
• Pre-practice, Nick Sirianni said that he expects everyone who is available to play Thursday night, "for the most part." He confirmed that Jalen Hurts would play (and start, duh). He declined to say who would start at LT, though that was before Dillard went down with an injury. I would expect Mailata to start at LT.
• Zach Ertz deserves some credit for the way he has played in this camp. He has given good effort, despite the likelihood that he still probably isn't going to be with the team this year. He's smart for treating the Eagles' camp like his own personal ramp-up period so he can be ready and in football shape for whoever trades for him.
Meanwhile, Dallas Goedert has had better camps, in my opinion. He had a nice day on Tuesday, but as a player who is poised to take over the reins from the best TE in franchise history, he hasn't been very active, just generally speaking.
• Steve Nelson had a nice day. He's been matchup up with Travis Fulgham in 1-on-1's for the majority of camp, and has mostly gotten the best of him. He had a nice PBU against Fulgham today in 1-on-1's, and nearly picked off Hurts in 11-on-11's. He also ran stride for stride against Jalen Reagor deep down the field in 1-on-1's, and helped cause an incompletion.
I've been asked if Nelson has had a bad camp because it's been reported that he has been beaten on some plays. I wouldn't say that at all. Every corner gets beaten in camp, especially since the lack of contact heavily favors the offense. Nelson hasn't looked like Deion Sanders out there, but he has been fine.
• Milton Williams continues to show off his athleticism. He caused a throwaway on a screen play today. I wondered during the offseason if fellow rookie DT Marlon Tuipulotu might get more snaps than Williams this season because Tuipulotu's role as a run stuffer might be an easier transition from college to the pros, whereas Williams may have a tougher transition as an interior pass rusher. I would like to now backtrack from that take, ha. Williams is clearly ahead of Tuipulotu.
• I'm not going to cover this as its own post, but it probably deserves a quick mention, so we'll place it here:
From what I heard: No, it's not insignificant that Carson Wentz and Quenton Nelson were already back at practice today (no boots, no wraps) just a week after both had foot surgery. Still a ways to go, but team likes where both player is at.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) August 10, 2021
Not to make sweeping generalizations of the Colts' media folks, but it feels like they've consistently reported Carson Wentz injury updates more optimistically than the national guys, so I would take the part about the team liking where Wentz is at with a grain of salt. Still, if Wentz's appearance at practice is meaningful in terms of recovery time (I doubt it is), then that would be good news for the Eagles' chances for their second-round pick from the Colts becoming a 1.
• Stay tuned for a practice wrap-up podcast soon, which will appear here whenever it is recorded and published. Or catch up on some previous recaps:
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