The Eagles had their longest practice (so far) of training camp on Monday, which lasted a full two hours under the sun.
Towards the end of practice, when it looked like things were going to pack up, Doug Pederson let the players shake their shoulder pads and have two more periods, one of 7 on 7 and then complete with full team drills.
I crossed today through the temp control with a 98.2. Run a little warmer than normal.
Let’s get to that:
1 Rookie Jalen Reagor had a great rep against Darius Slay during 1-on-1 drills. Honestly, those 1-on-1s are much easier for receivers, but let’s not take anything from the rookie that beat Slay on a go-route.
After practice, Slay said he thought he heard someone say it was going behind his shoulder, that he looked over there, but Reagor then walked past and made a great grab.
“That was a great catch,” said Slay, “he caught it with his fingertips.”
A few times during practice over the last few weeks we have seen Slay go against Reagor and then chat with him to the rep. Slay said he sees the potential in Reagor and, as one of the top corners in the league, Reagor wants to help tremendously.
2 Another thing the Eagles did with Reagor, we saw again today. A quick pass to get the ball in his hands. Reagor has the ability to take short passes for big wins and I think this will be in their favor this year.
3 Linebackers TJ Edwards and Duke Riley both had interceptions Monday after the pads came off. That probably helped, without having pads, but they were good interceptions. Edwards’ choice came in the end zone; he showed his ups, skyrocketing to pick up a pass. Edwards also had a nice TFL earlier in the day.
And Riley’s choice came a little later, on one of the last reps of the practice. He also managed to grab a pass from Nate Sudfeld and took it the other way. Riley is clearly a favorite of his teammates. The whole defense went zero to celebrate with him.
4. The only update updates today:
• Andre Dillard (upper body) is day to day. He did not practice on Monday.
• Genard Avery left the practice early with an undisclosed injury. He went with the trainer to the medical tent and then went into the building.
• Not yet Sidney Jones, Lane Johnson, Rob Davis, Josh Perkins and Marcus Epps.
• Three of the players with “disease” – Vinny Curry, Corey Clement, Hassan Ridgeway – returned to practice on Monday. Two did not: John Hightower, Anthony Rush. Although we are not sure of their situation, the Eagles use the New Jersey lab responsible for many false positives of COVID-19.
5 Jalen Mills made in practice late a whole interpretation in a red zone period. Wentz tried to get the needle into the end zone with a pass, but Mills hit the ball for himself with one hand and then grabbed it off and ran the other way. He celebrated with somersaults.
6 Because he has a hairline fracture, Dallas Goedert has a cast on his left thumb. Monday was the second day with the cast and he has already figured out how to play with it. Goedert made an exceptional catch on a pass tipped by Edwards. Goedert turned and came back to the ball to grab it over a defender.
Well, hopefully, hope the thumb is healed by the start of the season.
7 The Eagles’ top two gunners on the points team at the moment are Craig James and Rudy Ford. While these guys by many are not projected to make the 53-man roster, but their skill on special teams gives them a shot.
8 The Eagles worked a ton of situation stuff today. They had periods where the offender tried to run the clock with less than 3 minutes and the defense had to stop them to force a point to get the ball back.
9. Overall, the defense had good pressure again today, especially from the inside. Fletcher Cox and Malik Jackson look very good. Vinny Curry also got a ‘sec’ today.
10 Without Johnson and Dillard, there were some changes to the Eagles’ offensive lines.
First team: Jordan Mailata, Isaac Seumalo, Jason Kelce, Jason Peters, Matt Pryor
Second Team: Prince Tega Wanogho, Sua Opeta, Nate Herbig, Julian Good-Jones, Jack Driscoll
11. The Eagles have used Herbig as an extra tight end / approach. It is an interesting role for a man who is an interior lineman, who came as a guard and learned center. It seems he is handling it well though.
12. We saw some good field battles during those WR-DB 1-on-1s except the Reagor vs. Slay rep.
The best of the rest came from rookie Quez Watkins, who beat Nickell Robey-Coleman with a slightly double move. After Monday’s practice, Robey-Coleman said Watkins was impressed.
“He hit me on a rep today and he surprised me the way I did it,” Robey-Coleman said.
Stupid observation of the day: I want some banana pudding.
Darius Slay’s wife made banana pudding for the defensive backs and it was very good, according to Nickell Robey-Coleman.
Stock up: Banana pudding.
– Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) August 24, 2020
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