The Eagles were back on the practice field at the NovaCare Complex on Wednesday despite the light shower in South Philadelphia.
I came through the temperature checkpoint today with a 97.7.
After two days in pads, Doug Pederson took his foot off the gas. The Eagles basically had a through start Wednesday morning. Players wore shorts and no helmets. Pederson said last week that he generally expects 8 or 9 padded practices.
Without competitive periods, the observations do not include great plays, but we have learned a lot.
Let’s come to today’s observations:
1 We start with some news about injuries. Derek Barnett and Javon Hargrave are still out and they were attended by several other players today.
Today from #Eagles Injury Report:
Dallas Goedert (upper body) day to day
Sidney Jones (lower body) day after day
Boston Scott (lower body) day after day
Miles Sanders (lower body) week to week
Fletcher Cox scheduled maintenance day– Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) August 19, 2020
Of course, including Sanders on this list is worrying. He is an enormous part of the Eagles’ official and that week-to-week designation is tricky because the season is less than a month away.
But the early word is that the Eagles are just too careful with Sanders and some of these other guys. They do not expect these injuries to remain in the season.
2 Without some of the aforementioned players, there were changes to the offensive depth map today. Here are some notes:
• Corey Clement was the top running back without Sanders and Scott on the field. After that, Elijah Holyfield, Mike Warren and even Adrian Killins intervened.
Without Dallas Goedert, Josh Perkins was the other tight end in the Eagles ’12 staff package with Zach Ertz. The next tight end after him was Noah Togiai and not recently signed Caleb Wilson.
• Since today was really light, we saw Jason Peters take reps for right guard for team drills. He is returning from a minor injury, so he will be back in action when he changes position. But today was the first time we saw the entire OL together: Andre Dillard, Isaac Seumalo, Jason Kelce, Jason Peters, Lane Johnson.
• And JJ Arcega-Whiteside also got some first-team reps. He is recovering from an injury and has not done any team material. Tells you he’s still in the mix for a job start.
3 And here are some in-depth map updates on defense:
• With Cox getting a day off (he saw practice) Malik Jackson was next to Hassan Ridgeway with the defense of the first team at DT. The second teams were Anthony Rush and Raequon Williams.
• Avonte Maddox was CB2 with the first team defense for the third straight day, as we could see. Without Sidney Jones, Craig James pitched and played against Rasul Douglas with the second team.
• Vinny Curry and Josh Sweat continue to play with the defense of the first team in place of Barnett, who actually appeared as an observer as he returns from an ankle injury.
4. Jalen Reagor continues to get extensive work as a point-returner. It looks like he might get the first crack at that job. The other two who returned points were Greg Ward and DeSean Jackson, in that order. DeSean can be used in crucial situations.
Reagor has seen OK as a returner, but today another damp in the rain. He mumbled a few the next day. But as he pointed out, that’s a few out of many, many returns.
And it’s what he enjoys doing.
“For me, it’s fun to catch the ball and fool someone,” Reagor said Tuesday. ‘It actually reminds me of growing up, playing up, tackling. It’s you catch the ball and then it’s against each other now. “
5 While there are no great plays to highlight from today’s practice because of its bright nature, Reagor’s athletics could still pop. He jumped really high in the air to snag a Carson Wentz pass in the end zone.
While Reagor’s speed numbers seemed to be very desirable at the combination, his jumps were incredible. Its vertical was 42 inches (97th percentile among WRs) and its wide jump was 138 inches (98th percentile among WRs).
6 I noticed that Nickell Robey-Coleman and Cre’Von LeBlanc split reps on the outside of the corner with the third team defense. It makes a lot of sense for the Eagles to get their nickel corners ready to play outside. Darius Slay will follow top receivers this year, which means he will sometimes line up in the slot. If that happens, those nickels should be able to switch outside and play.
7 Linebacker Nathan Gerry is the Eagles’ long-linger. We saw him waking up to a few beauties. But then in the actual drills, he rolled one to Cameron Johnston and had another one fly just below his knees. Hopefully Rick Lovato never gets hurt, but we now know that contingency plan.
(Also, Will Parks decided to give it a try, and although he loves versatility, I would not expect him to steal that role. It did not go well.)
8 In fact, Johnston has one heck of a right leg. He kept absolutely some of his points. There is no doubt that he can score deep with the best of their footballs and he has gotten better at directional points. Of the Eagles’ three specialists, Johnston is the only one without a long-term deal – 2020 is his last year under contract.
If the Eagles get him signed, he has a real chance to be the best punter in franchise history.
9. Since players did not wear helmets, many have chosen to wear the same blue surgical masks as coaches and reporters. Guys like Wentz, Clement, Ertz, Arcega-Whiteside, Josh Sweat, Rasul Douglas, TJ Edwards and many more wore them.
10 Maybe Parks will not take over as a long snapper, but Jim Schwartz clearly has a role in mind for the purchase of free agent this season. Parks has played several positions. He has been the third safety in the dime package and has even gotten some time as the nickel corner. I would imagine that the Eagles may participate in certain boys in the lock throughout the year. They will probably play matchups week after week.
Stupid observation of the day: Wentz was one of several players wearing a bucket hat; his was black. Strong movement of the franchise quarterback like the other QBs wore black baseball caps.
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