Eagles Training Camp Practice Notes: Strong day for Philadelphia’s cornerbacks

Today marked the 14th day of 2018 Philadelphia Eagles training camp. The Eagles practiced indoors since it was raining outside. Here’s what I observed.

• Daily Carson Wentz update: Today marked the 11th practice in a row with No. 11 not participating in 11-on-11. (That’s a lot of elevens.) Wentz made a couple impressive red zone throws today. He had an absolute dime to Shelton Gibson. His timing and accuracy was also perfect on a comeback to Mike Wallace in the end zone. Unfortunately, the veteran receiver bobbled the ball before Ronald Darby was able to come in and break it up. Wentz’s worst throw of the day was an interception right to Jalen Mills. After practice, Wentz was getting some extra work in. He was practicing rolling out and making throws on the move. He didn’t look restricted at all. I still believe he’s playing Week 1. He has 24 more days to be ready by then.

• Injury updates: Dallas Goedert was a limited participant in today’s practice. That’s an upgrade from not practicing at all on Sunday. Here’s visual proof that his arm is still attached to his body:

In other injury news, the following active roster players are still out: Nelson Agholor, Donnel Pumphrey, Corey Clement, Mack Hollins, and Markus Wheaton. Two undrafted free agents left practice early and did not return: Josh Adams and Chandon Sullivan. Adams was seen limping off the field after making a red zone reception. Sullivan landed hard on his head after making an impressive leaping interception.

• New Eagles quarterback Christian Hackenberg didn’t do much during practice. Just some light work during position drills. He’s still getting caught up to speed on the offense. Hackenberg is wearing the No. 8 jersey, which is a huge slap in the face to franchise legend Donnie Jones.

• Avonte Madox took first team nickel cornerback reps for the second day in a row. That brings the standings to six days of Sidney Jones, five days of De’Vante Bausby, two days of Maddox, and one day of Jalen Mills. I thought Maddox looked pretty good once again. He’s made good progress since looking lost at times during the spring. One of his standout plays was when he jumped real high to knock down a Nick Foles fade pass. I wonder if we’ll see Maddox start in the slot against the Patriots. Could be a good test for the rookie defensive back.

• Another good practice for Mills. The Green Goblin made a diving pass breakup on a Foles pass to Kamar Aiken, who is taking first team reps with Alshon Jeffery and Mack Hollins out. After making the play, Mills stared down Agholor — who was watching from the sidelines — for about a good 10 seconds. (NOTE: I originally tweeted Mills was staring down Jeffery. That was incorrect. My apologies.) Mills also picked off Wentz, as I mentioned earlier.

• Rasul Douglas bounced back today after having a rough stretch recently. The 2017 third-round pick broke up a Nate Sudfeld pass along the sideline intended for Shelton Gibson. Then he yelled in Gibson’s face. Douglas then had another pass breakup on the same exact play, except with Bryce Treggs at receiver. He’s been good at breaking on the ball when it comes to defending underneath throws.

• It wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t the best day for Sidney Jones. He got beat by Aiken on a Foles pass floated along the sideline. Then he allowed a touchdown while trailing DeAndre Carter in the back middle of the end zone. Then he got beat over the middle by Anthony Mahoungou late in practice. Those aren’t exactly household receivers he was losing to. Jones got completely shook by a crisp route from Gibson during red zone 1-on-1. Jones’ positive moments include getting out to the edge on a toss play and being in position to tackle Matt Jones near the line of scrimmage. Jones also came up with a pick six when he jumped in front of a short Sudfeld pass.

• A funny moment: Jones almost pulled Mahoungou’s shorts off after allowing the reception to the French rookie. Jones was trying to slow him down (since he can’t tackle him) but Mahoungou was running hard and it almost resorted in a mooning. Luckily for Mahoungou, he had his shorts on tight.

• The pressure of Hackenberg’s presence is mounting on Mighty Joe Callahan. Callahan threw two picks today; one bad one right at Nate Gerry and another that Chandon Sullivan made when jumping a comeback route.

• Sudfeld dropped a dime to Treggs in the back left corner of the end zone. He also threw two pick sixes today, so not ideal.

• Corey Graham was responsible for one of Sudfeld’s interceptions. The quarterback was trying to checkdown with a free rusher bearing down on him after he faked a play-action hand-off. Graham anticipated the throw and broke on it for the pick. Savvy. Graham also had a nice pass deflection on a short throw to Zach Ertz in the red zone. There’s a reason they brought old No. 24 back.

• Nate Gerry does this thing where he barks at people during plays. For example, when Graham made his interception, he started barking at Sudfeld as the quarterback tried to make a “tackle” on the return. Later on, Gerry started barking at Sudfeld as the quarterback took off towards the sideline on a scramble. Steven Means ran up to Gerry after that play, high-fived Gerry, and said: “Get his ass, Nate!” That’s Nate-on-Nate crime right there.

• Chandon Sullivan was having heck of a practice before he got hurt. After first picking off Callahan, he made a great full extension leap in the air to get another ball. Unfortunately he fell hard on that play. I feel like Sullivan has had some nice moments in the camp to the point where he deserves practice squad consideration. Whether that’s with the Eagles or another team.

• Fletcher Cox continues to be a monster. The guy is unblockable. He’s living in the backfield.

• Gibson continues to shine. The second-year player made a really impressive diving catch in the end zone on a play where Foles threw to a wide open space. I wasn’t sure if Gibson was going to be able to get to the ball but sure enough he did. That’s just not a play he was close to being able to make last year at this time. After making this touchdown grab, Gibson tossed the ball at the ground near the defensive backs. Malcolm Jenkins didn’t like that so he picked up the ball and threw it back at him. Malcolm doesn’t take crap from people. Gibson did drop one pass over the middle.

• Ronald Darby had a few pass breakups today, including one on a pass to Aiken. If only he could catch.

• Active day for Tre Sullivan. He picked off a pass that was first deflected by De’Vante Bausby and then knocked up into the air by Jeremy Reaves. Sullivan caused Josh Perkins to drop a ball after giving him a pop. Sullivan had a chance to make a nice pick in the back of the end zone but he dropped it. Missed opportunity. Wouldn’t have been an impossible catch.

• Jordan Hicks absolutely destroyed Darren Sproles twice during one pass protection. Impressive play by both sides. Sproles deserves credit for being able to recover so quickly. Hicks deserves credit for obliterating a guy who might be small but is very stout and tough. Hicks has generally looked very good at beating blocks in this drill. Very effective combination of speed and strength.

• Offensive line versus defensive line 1-on-1 notes: Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Derek Barnett battled into a stalemate. Destiny Vaeao drove back Chance Warmack with a bull rush. Elijah Qualls beat Darrell Greene with relative ease (and earned a fist bump from Eagles DL coach Chris Wilson). In a battle of two players whose names you might not recognize, Winston Craig beat Aaron Evans. Josh Sweat made a move to beat Jordan Mailata on the inside.

• The Eagles had Isaac Seumalo snapping the ball during 7-on-7 instead of doing OL vs. DL drills. That’s probably the right call considering Seumalo’s snap struggles. I also saw Seumalo doing some more snapping to Sudfeld after practice. Gotta get those reps in.

• Undrafted rookie free agent Bruce Hector received second team defensive tackle reps for the second day in a row. Don’t forget that he received the most guaranteed money of any Eagles UDFA signing. Hector might be able to sneak on to the 53-man roster with the Eagles being thin at DT.

• Some miscellaneous things: Kamu Grugier-Hill broke up a Wentz pass in 7-on-7. Wide receivers Rashard Davis and Aiken had drops. Aziz Shittu had a nice rush during 11-on-11.

• Not a good day for Jake Elliott, who has otherwise been fantastic all summer long. The second-year kicker missed four field goal attempts from 48 yards out. Two attempts went wide left and two went wide right.

• The Eagles now have SIX quarterbacks. QB coach Press Taylor was putting Michael Bennett through a footwork drill on the sideline while most of the rest of the team was going through special teams work. Funny to see.

• Brandon Graham was going through some jogging with a trainer after practice. Good to see him moving around well. Hopefully he’ll be off the PUP list by Week 1.

• Check out some video of Eagles practice below (or click here):

UP NEXT: The Eagles will have their final practice fully open to the media tomorrow starting at 9:35 AM ET. As always, stay tuned to Bleeding Green Nation.