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The Philadelphia Eagles opened their Tuesday OTA practice to the media (after postponing Monday's session) and I was there to soak it all in. Literally. It was raining and now I'm drenched.
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Keep in mind that these are all non-contact drills at this point. Players aren't allowed to wear shells yet. There's only so much to be gleaned from players running around in shorts, but here's what I noted from Tuesday's session:
• Cold and rainy at practice. Jimmy Kempski forgot to bring a sweater and he was shivering. Players had to deal with wet fields so there was slipping at times, but no one seemingly got hurt.
• Speaking of injuries, let's get those out of the way. Players who did not practice: OLB Marcus Smith (knee), S Earl Wolff (knee), RB Kenjon Barner (?), and WR Josh Huff (hip). ILB DeMeco Ryans (Achilles) and DE Brandon Bair (?) did some warm up drills with the injured guys but seemed to practice later on.
• Sam Bradford did not warm up with the team. He did take about five snaps in 7-on-7s, which wasn't many compared to the other quarterbacks. The most noteworthy thing I saw him do was throw a nice ball on a medium pass to Devante Davis. Here's some video of Bradford doing some warm up throws. [Video1] [Video2]
• More video: here is DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews doing the RB leash drill.
• Nelson Agholor returned to practice today after missing last week's session due to attending the NFLPA event. Agholor spent a good amount of time returning kickoffs during special teams drills. There was no one defending him, obviously, but he looked really fast.
Another thing about Agholor: he screams after he fields the ball and starts running. It's kind of funny. The Agholor Roar, if you will. Maybe an intimidation tactic?
• IMPORTANT - The following players took a break during practice to pee in the bushes: Emmanuel Acho, Chris Maragos, Randall Evans, Vinny Curry. I know this kind of thing is usually what Kempski covers, but I couldn't stop myself from contributing to #WeeWeeWatch2015.
• Matt Barkley had a mixed day. Some good throws, some not so good. He was almost picked off by Brandon Boykin early in 7-on-7s. He had a real nice throw along the sideline to a leaping Miles Austin.
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• One of Barkley's throws was seemingly picked off by Byron Maxwell. But as Maxwell went to the ground, Jordan Matthews tried to wrestle it away from him. Both players stayed on the ground for a decent amount of time, which almost believed me to think someone was hurt. But they weren't. They just didn't want to be the one who gave up on the ball. After practice, Matthews noted Maxwell is the toughest cornerback he faced last season.
• Matthews lined up as the outside wide receiver a good amount today. Jeff Maehl (!) took his place in the slot with the first team. Riley Cooper was the other outside wide receiver. Keep in mind Huff, who was getting first team looks on the outside last week, was out today.
• Blink 182 was on the practice playlist.
• JaCorey Shepherd was the only defensive player returning kicks. I noticed the rookie cornerback spent time shadowing Brandon Boykin in a formation drill. Is the team planning to use him in the slot?
• Cody Parkey looked good on his kickoffs attempts. Most went halfway deep into the end zone while one went all the way through the back. UDFA punter Kip Smith tried a few kickoff attempts and they were predictably not pretty.
• UDFA running back Ryan Mostert muffed a kick return due to the ball being wet. Agholor didn't seem to have any problems, though.
• Eric Rowe being lined up on Agholor looked like it was going to be interesting until Tim Tebow sailed a pass out of bounds. Rowe also spent some time lined up on the second team across from Seyi Ajirotutu.
• Tebow was pretty bad. Randall Evans did a nice job of breaking up one of his passes before Tebow threw behind his target on the next play. One of the good throws Tebow had was dropped by Trey Burton. To Tebow's credit, he does look pretty good when he keeps the read option and takes off down the field. More of a runner than any of the other Eagles quarterbacks, obviously.
• Walter Thurmond, not Chris Maragos, took first team reps at safety.
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• Jaylen Watkins did a great job of fighting for position with Agholor on a deep ball from Tebow. Watkins, who was playing cornerback, should have had the interception but he dropped it.
• Nolan Carroll started at cornerback and had a nice breakup of a pass intended for Riley Cooper.
• Best for last: Jordan Matthews made an amazing one-handed over the shoulder catch along the sideline. Good ball from Mark Sanchez. After practice, Matthews said of the catch: "I already turned the page, man. Don't worry about it."
Up next: This concludes the second week of Eagles OTAs. BGN will have a lot more OTA coverage today so check back often.
Remaining offseason workout schedule:
OTA Offseason Workouts: June 2, June 4, June 8-11.
Mandatory Minicamp: June 16-18.
BGN Coverage: The following practices are open to the media: June 8, June 9, and June 16-18.