The Eagles returned to the practice fields at the NovaCare Complex on Monday under cloudy skies after a scheduled day off. The team worked out for 75 minutes and featured the first one-on-one drills between the offensive and defensive linemen. Check out these 11 observations from practice:
1. I spent the individual period on Monday morning over with the defensive backs, with my eye on the safeties and nickel corners working together in drills. Marcus Epps has had a strong start to camp and is first in line for every drill this morning, showing off his explosiveness and short-area burst multiple times. – Fran Duffy
2. I took the long walk over to the wide receivers to check out their individual drills to start practice, and it really is fascinating to watch A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith go back-to-back in every drill. These two guys are such different body types and can win in different ways, but their usefulness in this Eagles offense is going to be very similar. Both guys can line up inside and outside, as we've seen so far this summer and continued to see it on Monday. Both can win at the line of scrimmage, at the catch point, and with the ball in their hands ... they just do it in much different ways. And it's great to watch them lead the group in every drill. This is a fun receiving corps. – Ben Fennell
3. Early in the first team period of the day (which was centered around the run game), Miles Sanders broke off a huge run down the right sideline, throwing a stiff arm and sprinting to the end zone. Those are the kind of big plays that Sanders has been known to make in his first three years in the league. Sanders would have another similar play later in practice in the same part of the field. – Fran
4. In that same session, quarterback Jalen Hurts stepped up and climbed the pocket against edge pressure and hit a streaking DeVonta Smith over the middle for a first down. This was one of the best reps I've seen from Hurts so far this summer. This play was a great example of the jump he's making at the position. – Ben
5. Linebacker Shaun Bradley flashed in back-to-back plays during this team period. First, he attacked the line of scrimmage and took on a pulling guard in the hole to contribute to the run stuff. Then, he followed that up with a diving highlight-reel interception that was a thing of beauty. – Fran
6. One of everyone's favorite drills in camp made its debut on Monday as the offensive and defensive lines convened for some one-on-one pass rush work. Working from the offense's right to left, I thought that side of the ball got the slight edge with the first-team unit (Lane Johnson, Isaac Seumalo, Jason Kelce, Landon Dickerson, and Jordan Mailata) getting wins in my notebook to start off the drill. Mailata's rep, in particular, was most impressive against a strong rush move from the defensive end. – Fran
7. With Hasson Reddick getting most of the rush reps over the right tackle, that pushed Brandon Graham inside a bit to get more of his rushes against the right guard. He had a bunch of impressive wins. This is not something foreign to Graham (his big forced fumble in the Super Bowl came from an inside rush), but it's still great to see him out there. – Ben
8. The two big-name rookies had their moments in this drill. Jordan Davis had a really impressive win on his second rep, crossing the face of the guard and knifing into the backfield. It's hard to find guys that big that move as fast as he does. Davis had a clean-up "sack" in team drills later as well. On the opposite side, Cam Jurgens showed off impressive anchor strength in pass protection, shutting the door on multiple bullrushes from Eagles nose tackles. Jurgens was one of the standouts from the drill. – Fran
9. It's not just about the draft picks though, Fran! Undrafted free agent Ali Fayad had a nice rush as well off the edge, spinning inside to get fast penetration of the "quarterback." Fayad was a very productive player at Western Michigan, and the undersized rusher showed good effort in team drills on Monday as well. – Ben
10. In the ensuing team period, Hurts dropped back and hit A.J. Brown for a nice catch-and-run on a slant route over the middle. These are the types of routes Brown made himself famous for in Tennessee. The two tried to hook up again later on a fade route that was tightly covered by cornerback James Bradberry. The Bradberry/Brown battle has been a fun, contested matchup with both guys getting wins throughout the last week. – Fran
11. On the other side of the field, we got a couple of impressive reps from cornerback Darius Slay. First, the Eagles threw some trickeration his way as tight end Dallas Goedert slipped down the sideline and actually got behind the Pro Bowl corner before Slay recovered and helped force a tightly contested incompletion. There was no panic from Slay on that play. Later, Slay would knock a ball up in the air that safety Marcus Epps would pick off. This secondary is playing with a lot of energy and confidence so far in camp. – Ben
Injury Report
Did Not Participate
TE Grant Calcaterra – Hamstring
WR Zach Pascal – Illness
Limited
WR Keric Wheatfall – COVID progression
DT Milton Williams – Elbow
