Eagles Training Camp Practice Notes: Not Carson Wentz’s sharpest day

Today marked the thirteenth 2019 Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice. The starters got a lot of work in for the second day in a row. Read on to see what I observed!

PRACTICE NOTES

• CARSON WENTZ UPDATE: Second straight unspectacular day from the Eagles’ starting quarterback.

The bad: Wentz once again struggled with some overthrows. Nelson Agholor had Sidney Jones beat on a wheel route up the sideline but Wentz overthrew it by a touch. Wentz threw a bullet up the seam meant for Zach Ertz that ended up in the hands of Rasul Douglas; the corner couldn’t hold on to the ball. Wentz somehow managed to overthrow the 6-6 Carlton Agudosi on a target over the middle. Wentz threw a little too high on a deep ball along the sideline that DeSean Jackson had to wait and then jump for with Avonte Maddox around to contest the play. Wentz had a very quick throw knocked down by Andrew Sendejo at the line of scrimmage; the defense keeps getting Wentz on those attempts. Wentz overthrew a deep ball touchdown for Marken Michel in 7-on-7. Wentz had a pass over the middle for Agholor broken up by Malcolm Jenkins. Later, Jenkins stepped in front of a Wentz target for Agholor to pick it off. Kudos to Jason Kelce for running up to Jenkins and stripping the safety on that play. Wentz’s final throw of the day intended for JJ Arcega-Whiteside was contested by Rodney McLeod and tipped low into the air where Avonte Maddox was able to make a pretty sick diving interception. Mack Hollins chased Maddox all the way down the field to the end zone on the return but, alas, no successful strip attempt.

The good: Wentz and Alshon Jeffery were clicking today; all of the quarterback’s targets for his big receiver were completed. Wentz made a nice throw to Jeffery while on the run. Wentz completed a few passes to Jeffery over the middle in tight coverage. Wentz also hit Jeffery for a tip toe completion along the sideline. Good to see those guys on the same page. Elsewhere, Wentz made a nice throw to DeSean Jackson on a post. Douglas high fived DeSean after the play to give the receiver respect for such a nice route. Wentz had a real nice ball where he looked off the defense right and then threw left to a crossing Agholor along the sideline where Nelly then spun out away from Maddox for a nice YAC gain.

While Wentz hasn’t looked at the top of his game for the past two days, let’s not ignore that the defense deserves credit for showing up. They’re not making it super easy on him.

• EAGLES INJURY UPDATE: I wrote up a big Eagles injury update yesterday that [you should read.] Vinny Curry missed today’s practice due to sickness. Rodney McLeod got rolled up on in 11-on-11 and walked off the field a little slowly but he told reporters he’s okay. Mack Hollins and Corey Clement seemed to be full go in 11-on-11, Hollins even took some first team reps. Ronald Darby is getting work in 7-on-7 so he’s ramping up. Jalen Mills was running on a side field so he’s making some progress.

• A couple interesting play design notes. The Eagles ran a fake toss to Miles Sanders that actually ended up being an inside handoff to Nelson Agholor, which is what the team used against the Falcons back during their 2018 playoff run. The offense also ran a look where DeSean caught a ball on a quick slant and was set up with a lot of blocking in front of him so he could get YAC that way.

• Miles Sanders broke off a big run up the middle after dodging some defenders in his way. He’s done that a number of times in camp now so it feels like it’s only a matter of time before we see that in real game action.

• Cody Kessler didn’t do much to impress. He had some bad throws, including an attempt towards the sideline that was off target. His one good throw I noticed was a completion to a tip-toeing Hollins along the sideline in 7-on-7.

• Josh Sweat had an active practice. The second-year defensive end disrupted a Sanders run attempt that allowed Timmy Jernigan to swallow up the running back. Sweat also did a nice job of driving Dillard back with power towards the quarterback.

• Jernigan, by the way, has had a very strong offseason. He looks like he’s back in early 2017 season form. The Eagles’ talent and depth at defensive tackle is pretty impressive. Jim Schwartz’s defense is going to generate a lot of interior disruption in 2019.

• Nathan Gerry and Zach Brown were the first team linebackers to start out but the combination of L.J. Fort and Alex Singleton also worked in there. Can Singleton, who had a good first preseason game, manage to crack the 53?

• Speaking of Brown, he was in position to absolutely blow up Sanders on a run attempt. Sanders would’ve gotten rocked if today was a live tackling session.

• Ronald Darby gave up a couple contested catches in 7-on-7. Good to see he was actually able to hang with guys, though.

• I wasn’t able to see this myself from where I was watching 7-on-7 but good friend and BGN alumnus Jimmy Kempski told me that new guy Eli Harold had a good rush on Matt Pryor during offensive line versus defensive line 1-on-1s. Pryor’s usually good during that drill. I later did see Harold get stoned by Dillard pretty easily during 11-on-11.

• Other new guy Kasim Edebali generated some pressure and had a “tackle for loss” on a Wendell Smallwood attempt. There’s a competitive battle going on for those backup defensive end spots.

• Johnathan Cyprien broke up a pass on a Kessler throw over the middle. Good contest by him. Cyppy Cup could end up cracking the roster with Blake Countess injured for “multiple weeks.”

• Charles Johnson had a real bad drop on a play where he had a lot of YAC opportunity if he made the catch.

• Donnel Pumphrey dropped both a punt return and a catch. Not great.

• The Eagles were doing some unusual kind of three man weave drill that I haven’t seen them do before. Wentz was making throws on the run to receivers as they constantly stayed in motion and moved down the field. Also saw the Eagles working on some hook and ladder stuff as well.

• Some scenes from camp today include Doug Pederson, Mr. Popular:

And two-time World Cup champion Julie Ertz, who might be better than Thorson:

UP NEXT

The Eagles will be back at practice on Monday morning starting at 9:45 AM ET. It’ll be a lighter session since it’s a 10-10-10 day. Stay tuned to BGN for more coverage, as always.