Eagles Minicamp Practice Notes: Defense ahead of offense thus far
The Philad e lphia Eagles held the first of two minicamp practices on Tuesday and I was at the NovaCare Jefferson Health Training Complex to watch the action unfold. Here’s what I observed! ATTENDANCE UPDATES ABSENT: Unlike voluntary OTAs, it’s mandatory to attend minicamp. The only player absent was Joe Tryon-Shoyinka . It’s currently unclear whether his absence was approved or if he’s subject to fines by not attending. The cost for missing Day 1 is $17,986. NOTABLY PRESENT: Lane Johnson and Jalen Carter were at practice after missing the Eagles’ two media-attended OTA practices over the past two weeks. INJURY UPDATES DID NOT PARTICIPATE Makai Lemon ( hamstring ) did not practice, as expected. Assuming he’s out again on Wednesday, which seems like a safe bet, the Eagles’ first-round pick will have missed at least four of the team’s eight total spring practices. Hardly the end of the world but not ideal. Jihaad Campbell , Grant Calcaterra , Britain Covey , Carson Steele , Chandler Martin , and Tucker Large attended practice but did not participate. Campbell, Martin, and Large were doing some rehab work off to the side while the rest of the team practiced. LIMITED PARTICIPATION Jalen Carter did not participate in team drills. Is he not 100% recovered from injury? Is the team just being extra cautious? Is this a “hold” in situation? Jonathan Greenard , Cole Wisniewski, and Drew Kendall also took part in position drills but not team drills. JALEN HURTS UPDATE: Hurts wasn’t very sharp today. Early in 7-on-7, a downfield target to DeVonta Smith with Riq Woolen trailing was overthrown and incomplete. Hurts missed a crossing DeVonta over the middle with an inaccurate pass. Hurts to DeVonta was incomplete yet again on a play where it looked like there was a tight window for the wide receiver to get the ball between Woolen and Smael Mondon Jr. Hurts was guilty of holding the ball too long on some reps to get “sacked.” One such instance might’ve wiped out what ended up being a completion to E.J. Jenkins over the middle that Hurts made by throwing against his body while rolling right. Good play if it counted, which it might not have. I wouldn’t put all of the offense’s struggles on Hurts; they’re just clearly behind the defense, which is to be expected since 1) Vic Fangio is really good, 2) it’s not unusual for defenses to be ahead of offenses at this time of year, and 3) the defense is in the third year of their system while the offense is new. Still lots of kinks to iron out. Can’t recall many, if any, times that Woolen or Quinyon Mitchell have given up catches this spring. It seems to me that Hurts is targeting Saquon Barkley more often than he has in the past. This isn’t the first offseason in recent years where some have wondered if passing to the running back could be a bigger part of the offense, so, you have to take these observations with a grain of salt. But maybe it’s truly different this time?! Barkley doesn’t have the best hands but he is very effective with the ball in them in terms of yards after catch potential. Should be a bigger part of the offense than not at all. BACKUP QUARTERBACK BATTLE (?): The Eagles have held three media-attended spring practices and Andy Dalton has been QB2 for all of them. It sure seems like Tanner McKee has been demoted to QB3. If Dalton goes up directly after Hurts again tomorrow, we’ll have even more confirmation. I don’t really get it, to be honest. Dalton obviously has more starting experience in the NFL but McKee has shown legitimate promise and I think it’s worth fostering that potential, not pushing him down the depth chart as he enters a contract year. On that note, I thought McKee looked like the better quarterback on Tuesday. McKee ripped a ball over the middle to Elijah Moore in stride for a first down and more. He found Hollywood Brown (twice, including a real tight window throw) and Samori Toure for touchdown connections. Dalton, meanwhile, got picked off by Jalyx Hu [... truncated ...]
