Eagles News: Jason Kelce thinks Brandon Brooks will be back “if not for Game 1 then very early on”

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Jason Kelce believes Brandon Brooks will return ‘very early on’ in the regular season - NBCSP
“I fully expect Brandon Brooks to be back,” Kelce said after OTA practice Tuesday. “I’m not a medical staff person, but I think if you look at Achilles injuries in general over the past five years, they’ve been a pretty easy recovery. I shouldn’t be saying this, something can always go wrong in a rehab, there can always be setbacks, some guys heal faster than others. But those Achilles injuries have been pretty routine at this point. The only thing is that once you tear one, you have the other one. That’s the only thing I’m even remotely hesitant about.” [...] “I think he’ll be back,” Kelce said. “Maybe not for training camp or any of the preseason games, but I think he’ll be back, if not for Game 1 then very early on. His rehab looks like it’s going really well, too, for whatever that’s worth.”

Eagles OTA Practice Notes: The Carson Wentz to DeSean Jackson connection is looking good - BGN
CARSON WENTZ UPDATE: Louis Riddick just might be on to something because Wentz was looking awfully sharp out there today. I didn’t see an incompletion from him in 3-on-3 drills. Wentz dropped a dime to Zach Ertz on along the sideline during 11-on-11. (UPDATE: The Eagles posted a video of this play.) Then Wentz hit DeSean Jackson over the middle from about 35 yards for a touchdown. Wentz found an open Jackson for another touchdown in red zone drills. Wentz and Jackson haven’t connected on a 40+ yard deep bomb just yet — Wentz aired one out today but Rasul Douglas had good coverage and it was incomplete — but they already seem to have a good chemistry in the short and intermediate passing game. That’s an encouraging sign at such an early point in the offseason. Another highlight came when Wentz lobbed up a pass to JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who made one of his signature jump ball catches in the corner of the end zone. Sidney Jones basically got Moss’d in coverage. Good to see Wentz making those kind of trust throws after struggling to do that at times in 2018. It wasn’t a flawless practice for Wentz as Kamu Grugier-Hill and Jones broke up a couple of his attempts but there was a lot more good than bad.

Eagles OTA observations: Carson Wentz quickly developing rapport with DeSean Jackson - PhillyVoice
Nelson Agholor also made a high number of catches working the middle of the defense. Agholor showed up to camp this year ripped, and he has looked good through the first two practices. He has been trying to take on something of a leadership role, as he was trying to give pointers to some of the UDFA receivers after their reps. I’ll also note here quickly that Wentz and Agholor have their own hand shake this season. First they slap hands, and do a little jazz fingers thing, as shown at the 5:40 mark of the Chappelle’s Show “Racial Draft’ sketch.

The Wentz OTA Extravaganza - BGN Radio
Michael Kist and Brandon Lee Gowton go over all the happenings from the Eagles’ Organized Team Activities on May 28th! Carson to DeSean, Goedert and JJAW doing big things, how the rest of the roster is shaking out PLUS is Carson primed for an MVP caliber season?! One analyst seems to think so. Presented by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Catching Up - Iggles Blitz
It is good to hear Douglas mentioned positively. Maybe this will be the season when Douglas breaks through and wins a starting job. He’s been a productive player in the last two years. As for Ridgeway, very encouraging to hear that. The Eagles are deep at DT, but you can never have enough good DL. Howie Roseman did mention the scouts have liked Ridgeway for a while now. Sounds like he’s been a good fit. Several reporters asked about Sidney Jones. Schwartz talked about the up and down 2018 season. He pointed out that Jones can build on what went well, but he can also learn from his struggles. You aren’t going to last long in the NFL if you can’t handle some adversity.

Quarterbacks beware: Jim Schwartz not expecting any drop-off in Eagles’ pass-rush production in 2019 - Daily News
Michael Bennett and Chris Long combined for 15½ of the Eagles’ 44 sacks last season and had 121 of the defense’s 337 total quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus data. But Long is 34 and Bennett is 33. The Eagles are hopeful that the addition of Jackson and the return of Curry, who played for the Eagles from 2012-17 before signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, as well as the return to health of 2017 first-rounder Derek Barnett and Tim Jernigan, will make their pass rush even better this season. Barnett played just six games last season before season-ending shoulder surgery. Jernigan played in only three games after spending most of the year rehabbing an offseason back injury. “We’re excited about the new guys coming in,” Schwartz said. “We’ve added some experienced players. It’s good to get Vinny back. It really looks like he hasn’t missed a beat from where he was when he last played a game for us two years ago. “And then adding a guy like Malik inside, he’s a really good inside pass rusher. He’s a really good complement to Fletch [Fletcher Cox] inside. Plus, [Jernigan is] on the road to being more healthy. We haven’t really seen Timmy at his best since the Super Bowl.”

The right fit: Jackson, teammates revel with No. 10 on field - PE.com
“D-Jack makes the quarterback’s job easy,” said Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz, reacquainted with Jackson after playing with him in the 2013 season. “He’s a special, special player. We haven’t had a player like him since he left six years ago. I couldn’t tell you how excited I am to have him back. I couldn’t tell you how much he’s changed too in the past six years, just his approach to the game. He’s such a good player. He can do anything he wants at the receiver position. There’s no route he can’t run, no play you don’t want to get him involved in. Defenses just have to know where he is every play or it’s going to be a 70-yard touchdown. He just makes everyone else’s job so much easier. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him back.

The NFL’s top offensive linemen in pure pass sets - PFF
5. C Jason Kelce, Philadelphia Eagles. Kelce may very well be the best all-around center in the NFL, and his 2018 season further proved that point. The Cincinnati grad turned Philadelphia legend led all centers in run-blocking grade (80.6) while ranking second behind Oakland’s Hudson in pass-blocking grade (88.0). As a blocker in pure pass sets last season, Kelce was next level, as expected, with an 82.9 grade and only four pressures allowed on 163 pass-blocking snaps. He was also one of 11 offensive linemen who didn’t allow a sack or hit on such snaps.

Retired DE Long aims to destigmatize marijuana - ESPN
He said the buzz he received from the interview wasn’t a “good thing” because stories written about his comments buried the lead. ”The lead was not that I smoked marijuana. The lead was that I talked about trying to destigmatize it. And hopefully the NFL will hear some of their players talk -- former or current, if you have the balls -- to say ‘Something needs to change,’” he said. The NFL and NFLPA announced new joint initiatives last week that could conceivably lead to a change in the league’s attitude toward marijuana as a pain management treatment. A joint pain management committee will conduct research into pain management and alternative therapies, which could lead the league down previously unexplored roads.

Haloti Ngata returning to Ravens to retire - PFT
Veteran defensive tackle Haloti Ngata spent the last four years with the Lions and Eagles, but he’s returning home one last time tomorrow. The Ravens announced that Ngata would retire as a member of the team at a ceremony Wednesday.

Nick Foles excused from Jaguars OTAs - Big Cat Country
It’s never a good sign when a coach has to couch a player’s absence by saying “thoughts and prayers” are with them and their family. From a football standpoint, missing a single day of practice in May is unlikely to have any huge effects long term, as by all accounts Foles already has a firm grasp of the Jaguars new offense thanks to his familiarity with offensive coordinator John DeFilippo. But the most important thing is that Foles does whatever he needs to for his family.

Four things New York Giants fans should be worried about - Big Blue View
No one in the Giants organization wants to embarrass Manning. They would like things to end well, not with the bitterness that came when the franchise moved on from Phil Simms after the 1993 season. Manning isn’t Warner. He isn’t Ryan Fitzpatrick, Joe Flacco or Tyrod Taylor. His accomplishments and longevity in a Giants uniform can’t help but complicate the transition. The Giants pulled the rug out from underneath Warner in 2004 when the Giants were 5-4 and still in playoff contention. I can’t imagine they would do that to Manning. I doubt they would hesitate if they start 0-6 like they did in 2013 or 1-7 like they did last season, but not if there is a chance at the playoffs. Like I said, it’s complicated.

Each NFL team’s backup quarterback right now, ranked by tier - SB Nation
These are the young quarterbacks who can start in a pinch, but aren’t rock-solid parts of their franchise’s future plans. These are the mid-to-late round picks still in the first few years of their NFL careers with limited regular season resumes from which to build. They don’t inspire confidence, but there’s a certain measure of hope that comes with the announcement they’ll be making an unexpected start. Rookies Grier and Minshew could each flame out horribly, but they bring a combination of collegiate production and potential to teams that’d prefer to leave them on the bench the next four years. Dobbs was good enough to convince Pittsburgh to release Landry Jones, which means ... something. Nate Sudfeld now gets the chance to fill Nick Foles’ shoes as Philadelphia’s unexpected savior should Carson Wentz get injured again.

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