The final full practice ahead of Friday's preseason opener was moved up an hour to a 9 AM start due to the heat. The Eagles practiced for an hour, but it was an intense, crisp practice that featured a lot of action in a condensed amount of time. Here are seven takeaways from the session:
1. The Eagles' offense once again went through a ball security circuit early in practice. All of the ball handlers run through a gamut of drills that the coaches utilize on a near-daily basis. Today, Running Backs/Assistant Head Coach Jemal Singleton wore a boxing glove and was violently working to punch the ball out as guys stood in line waiting for their turn to go through the circuit, which featured foam bats, long poles, and other contraptions trying to knock footballs to the ground. – Fran Duffy
2. I thought Jalen Hurts came out comfortable today in practice, as he was willing to cut the ball loose to all areas of the field. This started on the very first play of the first team session, where the quarterback rolled to his right and hit A.J. Brown streaking across the field. The play may have been blown dead due to pressure from cornerback Avonte Maddox, but that doesn't erase the throw from Hurts, who later hit Jalen Reagor on a rope on the left sideline. – Fran
3. One of the themes of today's practice was the amount of rotations with the first-team units on both sides of the ball. We saw all kinds of combinations at safety, linebacker, and along the offensive line. In this session, the first-team safeties were Marcus Epps and K'Von Wallace. Andre Chachere worked with the starters later in the period. The big plays from the first-team unit in this drill included a pass breakup from Darius Slay, where he stepped in front of a pass intended for Brown in the middle of the field on a dig route. Josh Sweat also corralled Miles Sanders on a perimeter run for a tackle for loss. With the second-team offense, tight end Noah Togiai reeled in an impressive one-handed catch in the middle of the field from Minshew. – Ben
4. It's time for 7-on-7 drills and here we get our daily dose of an A.J. Brown "wow" play. This was a deep shot to Brown on the right sideline that Brown looked in at the front pylon for the score. Hurts threw a similar ball on the very next play to Zach Pascal for another touchdown, and this placement was perfect. The quarterback hit Pascal over the shoulder on a slot fade – I thought this was one of his best downfield balls in camp. Hurts connected with Quez Watkins underneath for a nice catch-and-run later in the drill. – Ben
5. The second-team offense had one of its sharper sessions of the summer today. Minshew came out in this drill and hit Richard Rodgers and Lance Lenoir for two straight completions, following it up with a great throw to Pascal on a double move in the end zone. Paschal ran a great route and was wide open, but it still required a good throw to complete the touchdown. – Fran
6. The next session was a two-minute drill period, with the pass game matriculating the ball down the field before getting stopped inside the 5-yard line. Jalen Hurts completed consecutive passes to Pascal over the middle (with Pascal making a really nice snag on the second one), and later hit Watkins on a speed out to move the chains. Both Andre Dillard and Sua Opeta got reps with the first-team unit on the left side of the offensive line in this drill. – Ben
7. After a quick special teams session, the squad wrapped the practice with some more 11-on-11 work. Hurts got started fast with a completion to Brown along the left side on a deep curl route before hitting Dallas Goedert on an out-breaker two plays later to move the chains. Miles Sanders had a nice run up the middle in this drill as well. For the backup units, the two best plays came from two second-year players. Cornerback Zech McPhearson made a nice diving pass breakup on a shallow cross before tight end Jack Stoll reeled in a nice throw down the seam from Gardner Minshew to end the day. – Fran
