Eagles reportedly set to hold two full speed scrimmages in training camp

Remember when Brian Baldinger said he was hearing whispers about some big Philadelphia Eagles news? Well, we finally have the reveal!

Baldy dropped the following tidbit during an appearance on the Around the NFL podcast (hat tip to Bo Wulf):

“I talked to some teams like the Eagles. They’re going to have two scrimmages. Once you put the pads on starting August 17, I mean they want to try to get to as much full speed contact work [as possible].”

Okay, so this isn’t actually the big news Baldy was teasing. He was referring to the Jason Peters re-signing.

Still, it’s worth noting that the Eagles will be running some more intense practice scenarios this offseason given the lack of actual preseason games and joint training camp sessions.

Doug Pederson previously brought up the possibility of scrimmages back in June.

Q. How do you make up for the lack of preseason games, and how will you find ways to evaluate the back end of the roster guys and not only that, you have, I believe, about 72 percent of players returning snaps, guys who played last year returning. So, you also have to evaluate those guys, as well. How do you do that without preseason games?

PEDERSON: “[…] Just coming up with creative ways, whether I do more scrimmage situations. I do a couple live practices during camp, anyway, and I have to do maybe some more scrimmages and put our young players and put the guys we need answers on in those situations. I have to come up with ways of having game-like situations in practice because we are missing the preseason games. So it can definitely be done. We’ll be creative about it as a staff, and we’ll eventually have the answers we need at the end of camp.

The Eagles are permitted to hold padded practices starting Monday, August 17. Their scrimmages will occur at some point between then and before roster cuts take place on Saturday, September 5.

Pederson clearly sees some upside in preparing his team for the season by simulating game contact in practice. One must also acknowledge the downside of injury and now COVID-19 infection as well.

Assuming training camp media access goes the way I hope it does, reporters might be able to watch these scrimmages. If that’s the case, I’ll have my observations posted for you to read here on Bleeding Green Nation.