Philadelphia Eagles training camp is now complete, with Day 18 of practice in the books. The Birds had a walkthrough, then a short practice, and then another walkthrough to close it out.
• First, a long list of injuries 🦅🩼
Did not practice:
- WR A.J. Brown – hamstring
- CB Tariq Castro-Fields – hamstring
- S Lewis Cine – groin
- LG Landon Dickerson – knee
- LT Jordan Mailata – concussion
- QB Tanner McKee – finger
- S Andrew Mukuba – hamstring
- CB Kelee Ringo – quad
- WR DeVonta Smith – groin
- EDGE Josh Uche – groin
- WR Johnny Wilson – knee/ankle
Mukuba is likely to be a starter at some point this season, in my opinion, but his injury hurts his chances of starting Week 1.
Wilson’s injury will likely be serious enough to land him on injured reserve, which will open up an opportunity for the Eagles to keep six receivers — A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson, Ainias Smith, Darius Cooper, and John Metchie — on the initial 53.
• Kelee Ringo’s appearance on the injury report might end his chances of winning the starting CB2 job. Adoree’ Jackson got first-team reps at CB2 for the third straight day.
• Moro Ojomo was a stud all camp long, and he finished strong. He had a rep today against Kenyon Green in which he forklifted Green into oblivion. What’s a forklift? It’s when you grab the offensive lineman’s wrist and lift it up in the air, thus eliminating the lineman’s ability to get hands on you. Once you do that, it’s game over.
Ojomo basically had Green’s hand raised over his head as if Green had just won a boxing match. It was as impressive a pass rush move as I’ve seen all summer. And the forklift makes sense as a signature move for Ojomo. He’s short, so he can get under offensive linemen, but he also has long arms, so he has a long reach and can grab their wrists from afar.
• Smael Mondon and Nolan Smith both had sacks. Mondon’s came on a blitz. Smith’s came on an inside move vs. Lane Johnson. Anyone who beats Lane gets special kudos. Smith has had a quiet camp, as he had a concussion and has been nursing a left shoulder injury, but he should be going all out when the games matter.
• The Eagles’ offensive line backups have not been impressive this summer. On the one hand, that’s very clearly a concern, and not one to minimize. However, relative to the rest of the league, they’re still in better shape than any other team. I mean, there’s a Matt Pryor-level player starting on almost every team in the NFL. In Philly, the worry is that he’s probably the top backup right now. If swing tackle is near the top of the list of concerns, then the roster is pretty damn good.
• Rookie UDFA WR Darius Cooper closed camp in promising fashion. He had a rep in which he found a soft spot in the zone, gave Jalen Hurts a target to throw to, came back toward the ball when it was in the air, and made a leaping catch in traffic in between Quinyon Mitchell and Jihaad Campbell. Well done!
He also caught a TD on a little out route in the end zone.
• The Eagles ran a nifty route today near the goal line. Jahan Dotson came across the middle on what started out as a drag route, but then he turned it up the field, and Hurts connected with him on a little lob pass to the back of the end zone. It looked something like this.
Dotson had another strong day, and has a chance to be significantly more involved in the offense than he was a year ago.
• Kyle McCord got most of the second-team reps today ahead of Dorian Thompson-Robinson, in relief of the injured Tanner McKee. He made an absolutely horrendous decision, throwing into triple coverage, and the result was a Jeremiah Trotter Jr. INT. I do think McCord has some arm talent, but his command of the offense has not been very impressive.
• A.J. Brown hasn’t practiced in a while, but has still been involved. During drills, Cooper ran a fade route in the end zone, and he caught a ball over his shoulder. After the rep, Brown seemed to instruct Cooper not to let the ball come to him over the shoulder (palms up, thumbs out), and instead attacking the ball in the air (palms facing the QB, thumbs in).
• Lane Johnson played scout team defensive lineman today, a rare sight. He was helping the third-team offense prepare for the preseason game against the Jets on Friday. That got me thinking, what might have Lane’s career been like if he played on the other side of the ball? He probably would’ve been pretty good there, too.
• Aaaaand that’ll do it for practice notes this summer. Thanks for reading along. Eagles-Jets at MetLife on Friday night.
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