Eagles Practice Notes: Carson Wentz continues to make progress, Dallas Goedert shows off red zone dominance

The Philadelphia Eagles resumed their 2018 OTA practice schedule on Wednesday. The practice session was open to media and I was there to watch it. Keep in mind that these are all non-contact drills at this point; players aren’t allowed to wear pads yet. There’s only so much to be gleaned from players running around in shorts, but here’s what I noticed.

• Carson Wentz update: The Eagles’ franchise quarterback continues to look good in practice. Wentz participated in 7-on-7 drills for the first time in a practice that was open to the media. He previously did some 7-on-7 work earlier this week, according to a report from ESPN (Doug Pederson confirmed as much). Wentz’s reps in 7-on-7 were limited. He only took two at a time; four in total. Three of his dropbacks were short passes (within 10 yards) completed to Zach Ertz and only to Mike Wallace. Wentz did more work in 4-on-4 drills. He looked good stepping into his throws and delivering accurate passes. When the rest of the team was going through 11-on-11s, Wentz took off his brace to run some sprints on an empty practice field. One last Wentz note: the Eagles played country music for the entire practice. I’ve never experienced that since I started attending practices in 2013. Just another sign this is really Wentz’s team.

• Attendance updates: Darren Sproles and Michael Bennett are still the only two Eagles skipping out on voluntary practices. Sproles and Bennett will be subject to fines if they don’t show up at mandatory minicamp next week. I’d guess they’ll be here.

• Injury updates: Donnel Pumphrey and Sidney Jones were new additions to the injury list. It’s unclear exactly what’s bothering them. Not a good look for Pump, who really needs to have a strong offseason. Marquess Wilson also sat out for the first time this spring. Brandon Graham, Tim Jernigan, Haloti Ngata, LaRoy Reynolds, Joe Walker, Josh Adams and Chris Maragos are still not practicing. Jordan Hicks and Isaac Seumalo still aren’t doing team drills. Fletcher Cox and Nigel Bradham weren’t seen at practice today.

• De’Vante Bausby really stood out in the first two OTA practice sessions open to the media and that was no different today. The 6-2, 190 pound corner logged two interceptions and one pass breakup as he saw time as the Eagles’ first team slot corner. Bausby’s first interception came on a play where he had tight coverage on Nelson Agholor on a quick out in the end zone. He stepped in front of the receiver and made a contested interception on a Nick Foles throw. Not too long after, Bausby undercut a Greg Ward route to pick off Nate Sudfeld. Teammates sprayed him with water as he ran down the sideline for a would-be pick six. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Bausby later knocked down a pass near the line of scrimmage. The 25-year-old corner has had a great offseason so far. It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep this up in training camp and the preseason. If he does, the Eagles will have some interesting decisions to make at corner when it comes to roster construction and playing time.

• Dallas Goedert (AKA Philly Goedert) really stood out to me as the Eagles did a bunch of red zone work today. The 6-4, 240 pound target basically looked unguardable down there. Goedert made a few leaping catches, including one where he beat Corey Nelson. He had another touchdown grab in the middle of the end zone thanks to a pass from Sudfeld.

• Speaking of STUDFELD, he made one of the best throws of practice when he floated a ball to Shelton Gibson, who made an over-the-shoulder-catch, in the back corner of the end zone. Gibson lost control of the ball after he went to the ground but the NFL officials in attendance ruled it was a catch. #SheltonCaughtIt. Generally speaking, I thought Sudfeld showed good accuracy during red zone drills. He didn’t have a problem fitting the ball into tight windows.

• Joe Callahan made the nicest throw I’ve seen from him this spring when he aired it out deep to Bryce Treggs for a touchdown. Malcolm Jenkins and undrafted rookie Chandon Sullivan didn’t seem to be on the same page in terms of coverage on the play.

• Markus Wheaton burned Ronald Darby (?) deep for a touchdown in 4-on-4 drills. Some people responded to me tweeting about this by crapping on Darby. Relax. First of all, I’m not 100% sure it was his responsibility depending on what the safety was trying to do. Second, there’s no press allowed and there’s no pass rush. So relax a little bit. People can be a little too harsh on Darby, in my view.

• Up and down practice for Rasul Douglas. He did have good coverage on a play where Joe Callahan tried to air it out deep to the receiver he was covering. Douglas, not one shy to talk trash, was yelling “HELL NO!” over and over. Later, Douglas got toasted badly by Greg Ward. And then he got flagged for pass interference (or defensive holding) on Nelson Agholor. Those quicker/smaller guys figure to give him trouble.

• Avonte Maddox notched a nice pass breakup on a ball thrown to Tim Wilson. Wilson called for pass interference but the refs didn’t agree with him. Just good, physical play from the rookie corner.

• Tim Wilson later caught a wobbly deep pass from Nick Foles for a touchdown. Beat Rodney McLeod in coverage.

• McLeod absolutely rocked Jay Ajayi on a short pass in the flat. It looked accidental in the sense that I don’t think McLeod meant to run into him that hard. Hard to totally avoid contact in “non-contact” drills.

• Rashard Davis, who only checks in at 5-9, 175 pounds, made a real nice leaping catch in traffic. Good ball from Foles, too.

• Kamu Grugier-Hill notched another pass breakup by knocking down a throw from Sudfeld. BGN contributor Dave Spadaro recently noted that Kamu is currently in the lead for the WILL linebacker job.

• I found it interesting that Jason Peters was taking some second team reps during group install. He didn’t leave the field when the rest of the first team offensive line walked off. I guess he wanted the extra reps. He gave a high five to Halapoulivaati Vaitai after walking off. Peters was limited when it came to actual team drill reps, which is to be expected.

• Richard Rodgers has a reputation for being slow. After getting to watch him in a few practices, I totally get where that comes from.

• Undrafted rookie free agent Joe Ostman beat third string right tackle Matt Pryor while rushing off the edge. Ostman (generously listed at 6-3, 255) looks pretty small for a defensive end. It wouldn’t be hard to mistake him for a linebacker. Despite this, I’m still interested to see what he can show this offseason. His college tape was too enjoyable for him to be a total nobody.

• Jordan Mailata continues to predictably take his lumps at left tackle. BGN Radio’s John Barchard noted that Mailata got turned around by Josh Sweat at one point. It’s certainly not good to be known as a turnstile on the offensive line.

• Eagles quarterbacks went through a drill where they had a big medical ball thing rolled at them in order to simulate a pass rusher. Football drills are funny to watch sometimes.

• Jeffrey Lurie attended Eagles practice today. He walked out right next to me, which you can see at one point in the video below.

• Watch an unedited video of Eagles practice below via the Bleeding Green Nation Facebook page (click here if you can’t see it).

• Nelson Agholor interview (click here if you can’t see it).

• Brandon Brooks interview (click here if you can’t see it).

• Jason Kelce interview (click here if you can’t see it).

• Doug Pederson press conference video (click here if you can’t see it).

Remaining offseason workout schedule

OTA Offseason Workouts: June 7.

Mandatory Minicamp: June 12-14.

BGN Coverage: The following practices are open to the media: June 7, June 12-14. I’ll be at all of those practices. Follow me for live updates: @BrandonGowton.