FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – The Eagles kicked off the first of two joint practices against the New York Jets on Tuesday morning. The team had some personnel business to handle to get to the league-mandated 80-player roster limit by 4 PM. The Eagles, after waiving four players on Monday, waived linebacker Joe Ostman with an injury designation. Ostman was sidelined with a concussion.
Other injury notes: Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was limited with a groin injury. Rookie Milton Williams worked inside with the first-team defense on Tuesday and had an impressive practice. Staying along the defensive line, Javon Hargrave returned from an ankle injury. He was outstanding on Tuesday.
As for the action on the field ...
• The one-on-one period I took in was the Eagles' offensive line against the New York defensive front, where both teams got some good work in. Left tackle Jordan Mailata had an impressive rep against pass rusher Bryce Huff, who tried to win with a chop move to the outside. At right tackle, Matt Pryor had a good rep. The guy who had the best set of reps in this drill was second-year tackle Jack Driscoll, who displayed a strong anchor vs. multiple bull rushes as well as an outside move. – Fran Duffy
• For one-on-one drills, I watched the Eagles' running backs and tight ends go against the New York linebackers and safeties. Running back Miles Sanders ran a sharp angle route against star linebacker C.J. Mosley from the Jets. Sanders won on a double move later in the drill. Dallas Goedert had a couple of nice grabs as well, one on a crossing route where he showed off his speed and another where he showed his quickness out of breaks with a sharp hitch route. – Ben Fennell
• After that session, the team broke into special teams action, and I studied the two teams as they went head-to-hand in some kickoff drills. The Eagles were working as the kickoff coverage unit, with the Jets working on blocks as a return group. Rookie cornerback Zech McPhearson flashed multiple times, as did wide receivers J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Travis Fulgham. The two teams swapped positions later in the practice, and Arcega-Whiteside again flashed with a nice block, while safety Andrew Adams stood out as well. – Fran
• In the first team period, I stood over by the defense. Anthony Harris lined up in the box early on and destroyed the block attempt from a wide receiver on his way to disrupting the play. His former teammate in Minnesota, linebacker Eric Wilson, followed that up with a stop behind the line of scrimmage. The defensive line really took over in this period as well, with Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat, and Javon Hargrave all standing out with quickness and power over the rest of the period. Rookie Milton Williams stood out as well, chasing a play from the back side and then getting a sack on another play as well. Williams is really coming on. – Ben
• In the first team period on offense, Miles Sanders had a couple of nice runs, most notably a run to the left side where the offensive line opened a huge hole to run through. Shortly afterward, Hurts hit Zach Ertz on a sail route on the right side for a completion. Looking back through my notes after the practice, this was the least eventful of the team periods for the Eagles' offense, but that was a good sign of things to come for the rest of the morning. – Fran
• Another team period, and another impressive showing for the defensive line. A couple of plays stood out to me. First, Fletcher Cox beat the right guard for a sack early on. Soon after, Graham won with an inside move and got another sack of Zach Wilson, who made some nice throws in this session as well. – Ben
• Over on the other field, the offense was humming. Hurts completed three straight passes to start things off, finding Miles Sanders on a wheel route, rolling to his right to hit Jalen Reagor (No. 18 made a nice catch going to the ground), and then hitting Travis Fulgham on a deep curl route. I thought the timing on that was really good. Soon after, Joe Flacco ripped two passes to Richard Rodgers and John Hightower, hitting both pass catchers on the money for first downs. Hurts returned to the field, hitting Dallas Goedert on a deep crossing route and Reagor on a corner route before hitting on some of his longest completions of the day.
The second-year quarterback dropped back and hit Goedert on a double move way downfield for a huge play. It was a perfectly placed throw on the outside shoulder, and Goedert looked it in for the explosive play. On the next play, Hurts broke to his left and heaved a pass downfield to Quez Watkins, who attacked the ball in the air and came down with it hard. Watkins left the field gingerly but returned soon after. – Fran
• In the next period, Boston Scott had an impressive run down the right side for a big play, and on the very next snap he pulled in a one-handed grab from quarterback Joe Flacco in the flat. Scott has really carved out a role in this offense. – Fran
• Both teams got together from some "scrimmage" periods in a two-minute drill setting, and the Eagles' offense moved the ball down the field with a nine-play touchdown drive. Kenny Gainwell got the first three touches here, first on a run followed by two short completions over the middle of the field. Jalen Reagor drew a pass interference penalty to move the ball in a hurry-up situation, and a couple of plays later Jalen Hurts moved the sticks with a scramble down the right sideline, and the drive ended a few plays later when Hurts found Reagor on a sprint-out play to the right side for the score. – Fran
• The defensive drive was considerably shorter, as they forced a three-and-out on their chance on the field. Alex Singleton sniffed out a screen pass on first down. Brandon Graham came up with a sack off play-action on the second play, and then Josh Sweat forced a fumble recovered by T.J. Edwards on the third play. – Ben
• The second-team offense took the field for their shot at the two-minute drill, and again the Eagles came away with points. Flacco completed several passes in a row to Scott, Fulgham, Greg Ward, and Rodgers, before the New York defense stood tall with a couple of forced incompletions. The Eagles settled for a field goal attempt. – Fran
• The final session of the day featured the second-team defense. On first down, Zech McPhearson impacted a slant route right at the catch point for a short gain, and two plays later the secondary came up with a huge play. Safety Andrew Adams – who nearly picked off a handful of passes last week in practices against the Patriots – came up with the practice-ending pick in the middle of the field. It was a great play by Adams, who has really flashed during his time on the field. – Ben
