Running Diary: Eagles Practice Observations

The Eagles had their first full-squad training camp practice Thursday afternoon. Here’s what we saw:

2:57 — The storms have pushed the festivities indoors. The Eagles’ practice bubble is undersized and gets cramped — especially when we’re talking about a 90-man roster — but Fletcher Cox doesn’t seem to mind.

“Ah, air conditioning,” he says as stretching gets underway. “I can get used to this.”

3:03 — Nelson Agholor and Nigel Bradham are both here. Brandon Brooks is not. He’s dealing with an injured hamstring and is day-to-day. Stefen Wisniewski is gettting reps with the ones at right guard in his absence. Also no sign of Ryan Mathews, who injured his ankle prior to camp and was placed on the NFI.

3:07 — One good thing about the tight quarters is it allows the media to get closer to the action. Here are the linebackers working on some pass-defense drills (and a nice one-handed grab by Bradham).

Up close with the linebackers pic.twitter.com/UoxaVfw0kk

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) July 28, 2016

3:19 — Doug Pederson is bringing back the “10-10-10” practices that were featured under Andy Reid, which cycles through 10 offensive plays, 10 defensive plays and 10 minutes of special teams work. That means that we shouldn’t read too much into results from team drills, as the unit not being featured is often assisting the other rather than fully competing against them. (The QBs might intentionally throw bad passes, for example, so the ‘D’ can work on interception returns.)

3:30 — Here, though, the ones are going at it — either that or Leodis McKelvin didn’t get the memo. He’s locked up with Jordan Matthews on the outside and punches a would-be catch out of the hands of the receiver. Both fall to the ground, and Matthews gives McKelvin’s facemask a little (playful?) shove before helping him to his feet.

3:33 — Ron Brooks is running opposite McKelvin at outside corner. When the team switches to nickel, Brooks moves inside and Nolan Carroll mans the outside post. Carroll comes up with a nice pass break-up along the left sideline as team drills continue.

Vinny Curry and Connor Barwin are the first-team defensive ends while Brandon Graham and Marcus Smith work with the twos. We saw this look a lot in the spring as well.

3:45 — Special teams time. Agholor, Rueben Randle and Darren Sproles are back returning punts. Sproles fields one, finds a tiny crack of daylight and throws on the jets. The 33-year-old still has that extra gear that’ll blow your hair back.

4:18 — It’s Carson Wentz‘s first true training camp practice. He receives a little veteran help here from Trey Burton, who contorts his body and makes a pretty one-handed grab over the middle.

4:35 — It seems like every time we see Wentz, there is a sequence where he shows both the talent he possesses and the work still in front of him. Another one here. He unleashes a wobbler that is off the mark and crashes to the ground. On the very next play, he launches a perfect spiral deep down the left side that falls right into the arms of Paul Turner in rhythm.

A good way for the rookie to end it.

We’ll be back at it tomorrow. Practice starts at 8:15.