Play of the Day

During a 7-on-7 period, quarterback Jalen Hurts drew some "oohs" and "aahs' from the crowd in attendance after a beautifully placed throw down the right sideline to A.J. Brown. The ball was put on the outside shoulder where only Brown could get it after he got on top of the cornerback courtesy of a double move early on.

Position Spotlight: Running Back

The buzz of Training Camp is in many ways circled around Saquon Barkley, and No. 26 hasn't disappointed. He runs with decisiveness and purpose. He has great vision and his movement skills are top level. We'll see when the pads go on and the reps are live how he runs with power, but that's never been an issue in the past and the Eagles believe that he will thrive in this offense as a running back and as a weapon in the passing game. Barkley is gifted in every way and the expectation is that he's going to touch the football a lot in this offense.

But it's going to require much more than Barkley alone to help carry the running game through 17 regular-season games and then, hopefully, a long postseason gauntlet. The Eagles are thrilled to have Barkley and they think the multiple skills of Kenneth Gainwell will provide a strong complement to their main ball carrier.

Gainwell has been a productive player in his three Eagles seasons, averaging 4.4 yards per rushing attempt with 11 ground touchdowns and adding 86 receptions. Gainwell is bigger, stronger, and faster, and more sure of himself in this offense and he is off to a flying start in Kellen Moore's offense.

Draft pick Will Shipley brings a versatile game after a stellar career at Clemson. The fourth-round draft pick has a lot to learn as he assimilates his game into the Eagles' offense, and we could see quite a bit of Shipley in the preseason games ahead.

There are three more young backs on the roster: Lew Nichols, who spent time last season on the Eagles' practice squad; Tyrion Davis-Price, signed as a free agent after two seasons with the 49ers; and rookie Kendall Milton, added in the post-2024 NFL Draft period.

Injury Update/Roster Moves

Linebacker Oren Burks did not practice on Thursday due to a knee injury. He was the only addition to the injury list. Tackle/guard Brett Toth also did not practice again with a hamstring injury. Guard Landon Dickerson (toe laceration) returned to practice in a limited capacity.

The Eagles signed wide receiver Griffin Hebert on Thursday. Hebert finished 2023 on the team's practice squad. The team waived rookie tackle Gottlieb Ayedze off of the Non-Football Injury list to make room for Hebert.

Fran Duffy's Key Takeaways

• Practice began on Thursday with some special teams work, as the team went through its first kickoff drills of the summer. With the new kickoff return rules introduced in the NFL this fall, these drills hold extra importance for all 32 teams in camp. While a handful of receivers caught "kicks" in the end zone, the coverage units went through their coverage lanes to prepare for drills later in the session.

• Individual drills are next up, and my eyes are on the tight end position. Dallas Goedert returns as the top player at the position, but there will be competition for snaps behind him in this offense after the offseason departure of Jack Stoll. The group went through a drill where they practiced running option routes against one of the assistant coaches. If the coach played them tight through the route, like they were playing man-to-man, then the tight end would run away from them toward the sideline. If they were playing soft, then the player would stop and turn back to the quarterback for the ball. These periods are important for players as they go through the paces of routes they'll run that day in practice. Each player ran a couple reps before working on some blocking drills for the rest of the session.

• The first 11-on-11 action is underway and the offense strikes first with a long run from Saquon Barkley, who cut this run back against the grain. His explosiveness was on display as he got up to the second level in a flash on his way to a big gain. Barkley caught a handful of passes again in Thursday's session, busting off a couple of nice runs on the ground as well.

• In the final rep for the first-team offense in that drill, Jalen Hurts kept the ball on a QB keeper and took off down the left side. Out in front of him as a blocker was none other than center Cam Jurgens. It goes without saying that the third-year offensive lineman has big shoes to fill this fall in place of longtime center Jason Kelce, but Jurgens' movement skills should not be discounted as he was one of the top athletic testers at the position coming out of the NFL Draft in recent memory.

• I debated myself silently on the sideline whether the beautiful pass from Hurts to Brown during 7-on-7 was the best throw of the day because he had another one late in the session where he hit Brown on a quick slant route right in front of the media on the near sideline. On that throw, Hurts had to throw around the rush, changing his arm angle slightly to throw around a defender, and put it on the receiver in tight coverage in stride. You could count on one hand how many Hurts passes ended up on the ground on Thursday ... and you wouldn't need all five fingers to get there.

• One of those incompletions did come in that 7-on-7 period when Avonte Maddox closed on a throw and ran right through the catch point to knock it down. The Hurts pass was intended for veteran tight end C.J. Uzomah, and Maddox read it and closed fast. Maddox, who has worked with the starters in the slot and also as a reserve safety so far in camp, has looked good through two days.

• Another player in the back seven who flashed to me on Thursday was linebacker Nakobe Dean. The third-year linebacker was in on several wrap-ups of Barkley and Kenneth Gainwell this morning, and I could feel the energy and passion he was bringing to the defense in practice. Any time the first- or second-team units finished a series of reps, they sprinted to the goal line for extra conditioning. Dean was the ringleader on defense urging his teammates on to get running each of those times.

• Jalen Carter got home on a quick, quick pressure of Jalen Hurts in the next period, forcing Hurts out of the pocket to get rid of the ball quickly to DeVonta Smith along the sideline for a near-toe tap grab. Three plays later, the 2023 ninth overall pick sniffed out a wide receiver screen in the flats. I can't wait to see Carter in his second season, and we'll get a taste of what's to come as 1-on-1 drills begin in the coming days.

• Kickoff drills happened next, as the team convened at midfield to go over coverage responsibilities and work on vice tackling technique (where two defenders converge on a ball carrier together at the same time). Later in the drill, the team stepped it up and notch with full game speed running downfield. Any guesses on who was the first cover man to reach the ball carrier? Josh Jobe. The young corner has made a name for himself on special teams in his first couple of seasons in Eagles green, and that figures to continue here in 2024.

• Another team session starts and another young defensive lineman gets into the fray as second-year pass rusher Nolan Smith got to Hurts twice on one play. A quick pressure early forced Hurts off his spot and then as he rolled right Smith's persistence showed up in pursuit. Like Carter, I'm excited to see Smith's development in his second year in Philadelphia.

• Hurts answered two snaps later. After a completion to Goedert in the flat, Hurts looked to his left and hit DeVonta Smith on a deep out route along the sideline for a big completion and a first down. C.J. Gardner-Johnson was there in coverage and was frustrated with himself after the play, responding by doing a back flip to get off the ground. Put that on the list of things I wish I could pull off.

May the Best Players Win

Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio on his philosophy when it comes to playing rookies: "I'm all for playing the best guys. I think if you looked at my history when we've had rookies, we've played them, provided they're good enough. We aren't playing somebody just because they're young.

If we were an expansion team like I was in two places, we might just throw them out there to see what we got. We've got more serious business here. If they're worthy of playing, they will play."

A Close-Knit Group

LB Devin White on the group chat he created with Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown: "I started it, on the way back here to get ready for Training Camp, I just sent them an empty glass, you know, a picture of an empty glass and before they could text back I just said, 'Hey let's pour a little more into it every day, one day at a time just pouring into it.' That's kind of how we started and then everybody chimed in and gave some food of knowledge and we just went from there."

The Future is Now

DE Brandon Graham on who he is looking forward to seeing step up following the retirement of Fletcher Cox: "The future is 98 (Jalen Carter), 90 (Jordan Davis), and 93 (Milton Williams). They've got to step up into a big role. They got to bring their energy. Don't try to be Fletch. Fletch was Fletcher. You can't replace those types of guys, but you can have guys step up for sure and make sure that they are ready for their moment when that time comes."

Putting in Extra Work

T Jordan Mailata on having the offensive linemen run sprints following the first day of practice: "Just trying to maintain the standard. Everybody thinks it's a joke, but it's something that we live by. It's unacceptable that we had three false starts yesterday and that was including myself from the very first play of practice. There needs to be discipline to uphold the standard and that's where it came from."

'We're in the Business of Winning Games'

DT Jordan Davis on Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio's approach: "It's all business. That's what I'm used to, (Georgia Head Coach) Kirby Smart, even my high school coach, I said it before, they're all business and it's all football. I'm not going to go to Vic and ask him how his day is and how his family is and stuff like that. He's worried about football. He's worried about winning games. That's what I'm worried about. We in the business of winning games and any coach that's down with that is good with me."

Like Riding a Bike

Center Cam Jurgens on the transition going back and forth from guard to center: "It's the NFL, nothing's easy, but I feel a lot more comfortable being back there and the nice thing about being at guard last year, I wasn't going up there and just worrying about my blocking assignment, I was still thinking like I was a center, what protections and what calls we were gonna make and still going through my normal routine just because it was so ingrained in me, it's kind of all I've done. So, that aspect of it hasn't changed as much and it's a little bit like riding a bike, or blocking 300-pound dudes, 350, who knows."

Hungry for More

DE Bryce Huff on preparing for the high increase in snaps this season: "Just coming out here and giving full effort every play, when we have conditioning I just go all out, when we have reps when they tell us to run through the end zone I'm gonna run through the end zone and just give my best effort so that on gameday I'll have a great wind in conditioning to get the job done."

'A Special Dude'

TE Dallas Goedert on his battles with S C.J. Gardner-Johnson: "He's definitely a special dude. My biggest thing for him is he's the same person every day. He's over the top with excitement. He loves being out here playing. He loves talking trash, but at the same time, you respect him, he respects you. It's nothing disrespectful and it's really fun. He brings the energy. So, if you have a bad play, he's going to let you know about it. If you have a good play, he's going to give you a high-five. And that's how it should be. He's going to hold everybody accountable, but he holds himself accountable to a really high standard as well."

Turning the Page

DT Jalen Carter on learning from last season: "I was going through a lot, not bad or nothing like that, but just seeing progressively, the whole season, I learned a lot, but as I said, I'm here, new season, new me."