I just caught the morning practice here at Lehigh University on this, the final day of Eagles training camp. After the jump, I'm basically going to cut and paste the notes I took from practice, but if you've got any specific questions about what I saw let me know.
Remember that this was a non-contact practice... so there wasn't much to see as far as the offensive line, line backers, and the running game.
First, the offensive line is finally getting healthy. Everyone but Shawn Andrews was back on the field practicing today.
McNabb was having a lot of fun today. He sprinted onto the field before the rest of the offense and was hamming it up for the crowds. He'd point to one half of the crowd for a cheer, then to other side to see if they could top it. Midway through practicing he had the sidelines cracking up as he was dancing for fans as they were taking pictures. Probably the funniest moment of the day came toward the end when McNabb came over to the crowd and got them to start an "Andy! Andy! Andy!" chant. Reid never looked over, but he did laugh and shake his head.
The play of the day came from Shaheer McBride, who made a fantastic one handed leaping grab on an overthrown A.J. Feeley pass. That drew huge cheers from the crowd. Overall, McBride actually had a very good day. He made a number of good catches in a hurry up drill towards the end of the day.
The most exciting part of practice was the WR vs DB one on one drills. Basically the WR lines up opposite the DB, the whislte blows and he tries to get open. The crowd would really get pumped for the big matchups, Desean Jackson vs Sheldon Brown, Asante Samuel vs Jason Avant, Maclin v Hobbs... The drill clearly favors the WR, so don't panic if it doesn't sound like the secondary did well...
Macho Harris struggled a bit as he was flat out burned by Jeremy Maclin and got a really tough move put on him from Reggie Brown. Harris tried to jam Brown, but Reggie basically threw off him and broke out over the middle for the catch... that drew an "Ohh!" from the crowd.
The premier matchup of the drill was Desean Jackson vs Sheldon Brown. Brown tried to jam him, but Desean side stepped it and just smoked him. Sheldon probably wasn't within 5 yards when Jackson caught the TD.
Maclin took on Brown and put a great move on Sheldon to get open over the middle. He should have had a TD but Maclin dropped the underthrown ball. Maclin's next turn was where he simply burned Macho Harris.
Jason Avant was clearly the best route runner of the bunch. He put great moves on both Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs. He actually beat Samuel deep on the final play of the drill. Actually, when Asante stepped up for that last play Desean Jackson ran over to the coaches and started campaigning for himself to be the WR to take on Asante. He clearly wanted a shot at Samuel. He was really excited however when Avant beat Asante.
Onto the full team drills...
Asante Samuel picked off Feeley in a very typical Asante way. He jumped a quick out pass and took the INT to the house. Asante Samuel, a quick out pass, and a QB that doesn't have a cannon arm is a recipe for disaster on the offense.
Omar Gaither was running with the number one defense. Joe Mays took snaps with them as well. It looks as if they are trying out the idea of "platooning" the guys where Mays takes running downs and Omar takes passing downs. It's hard not to love Gaither after going up to camp. He's by far the most vocal guy on the field.
Joselio Hanson broke up a McNabb pass to Brent Celek that would have been a first down in a hurry up drill.
Newly signed TE Rob Meyers made a nice 15 yard grab over the middle in double coverage during a hurry up drill. Also, he and Maclin both stayed on the field after practice to work on route running with coaches and to catch passes from Feeley.
Todd Pinkston and Desean Jackson seem to have taken a liking to one another. The two hung out mostly all morning. At one point, Pinky stood there tracing over Jackson's arm tattoo with a black magic marker. Odd.... Oh and for anyone wondering what Pinky's role would be as an intern coach, it seems he's mostly a cheerleader. He was out clapping and encouraging guys all day.
Lesean McCoy seemed to be used a lot like the Eagles use Brian Westbrook, he was even split out wide in 7 on 7 drills. He caught a rather long pass down the sideline that drill.
Special teams coach Ted Daisher probably showed more energy during the special teams drills than any of the players. That guy is intense.
Before practice, Ted Daisher has the punt team out and Jeremy Maclin & Danny Amendola were the only two return men. When the punt team re-assembled for some more work toward the end of practice, Desean Jackson joined those two.
G Cobb watched practice from the sidelines while listening to his iPod the entire time.
The team actually practiced a game ending kneel down. That prompted a lot of questions from the crowd, "Did they just practice taking a knee?"
Brian Westbrook came out to watch practice. He was hanging out on the side laughing with Desean Jackson. At one point McNabb saw him and yelled to the crowd "It's Brian! Then ran over to him pointing as he led the crowd in a Brian! Brian! cheer"