July 28, 2023
There were a few small news items during the Philadelphia Eagles' day off from training camp on Thursday, so let's round those up here.
Per Field Yates of ESPN:
Eagles DE Derek Barnett has agreed to a restructured contract, as he was previously due a $7.5M salary ($1.5M guaranteed) with up to $1M in per-game bonuses (max value $8.5M).
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 27, 2023
He’s now due a $3.5M guaranteed salary, with $250K in per-game bonuses and up to $2.25M in incentives…
The Eagles are loaded at edge rusher, with Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, and Nolan Smith. Barnett is fine as a depth guy should one of the top four edges go down with an injury.
Per John Clark of NBC Philly:
I’m told Jordan Davis did a lot better on his conditioning test this year. I hear his conditioning heading into his second year is on another level now. He looks great.
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) July 27, 2023
He worked real hard at the facility all offseason. pic.twitter.com/ny6sIqDvo3
If you're an optimist, then YAY (!) Jordan Davis is lean and mean and ready to kick some ass this year. If you're a pessimist, you may be like, "Wait, he (presumably) didn't do well on his conditioning test last year? Why not?"
One of the knocks on Davis as a prospect coming out of college was his conditioning, as he didn't play a lot of snaps, and he got tired in a game against Alabama during the 2021 season when Bama went up-tempo.
Some players find early on that the NFL is a different ballgame than college, even if they're coming from a powerhouse program in the SEC. There are very few who can just show up and dominate. Davis' rookie season can reasonably be considered a disappointment and there will be pressure on him to perform in Year 2. This new information perhaps sheds a little more light on Davis' rookie season?
Still, it is encouraging that he worked hard during the offseason to prepare for Year 2.
There's a lot of this going around on Twitter over the last day or two:
Jalen Carter has reportedly been a “standout” early in Eagles training camp.
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) July 27, 2023
Carter was reportedly playing against the Eagles starting o-line and got a sack within two seconds on Jalen Hurts.
Carter said in a recent interview that he’s the “No.1” DT between himself, Dexter… pic.twitter.com/xkTqZkeQUD
Lol. This engagement-chasing Twitter account genre is the absolute worst.
The Eagles have had one short practice... in shorts! I focused in on Carter at times during practice, and I thought his quickness was impressive. He got some pressure as a pass rusher, and looked stout against the run. There's no question that Carter is immensely talented, and he looked spry on Day 1. I have little doubt that he'll flash throughout camp, and I'm eager to see what he can do when they put the pads on in practice and when they suit up for preseason games.
That said, he's being talked about like Eagles offensive linemen were being tossed around as if the defense picked the right play in Tecmo Bowl. If he "sacked" Jalen Hurts in two seconds then I missed that one (more accurately, it didn't happen). Let's maybe not build players up just to rip them down when their play in real games falls short of these nonsense fairy tale anecdotes from people who aren't even at practice.
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