Eagles News: Darius Slay has “high hopes” for his eventual successor

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Darius Slay identifies the cornerback who’ll replace him - NBCSP
And once you got past what a remarkable effort Smith made on that rep, you couldn’t help notice who was covering him. Not Darius Slay. Not James Bradberry. Not Avonte Maddox. It was Zech McPhearson, the second-year 4th-round pick out of Texas Tech. There are nine cornerbacks in camp battling for playing time and roster spots, but plays like that make coaches take notice. “We’ve been working together this whole offseason and I’ve got a lot of high hopes for him,” Slay said of McPhearson after practice. “He’s just grinding, working hard. “I’m trying to teach him everything I know because one of these days he’ll be taking my position. That’s the goal for me as a veteran guy. I want a younger guy to be the next me or even better. So my goal is to keep working him.” McPhearson only played two defensive snaps the first half of last year, but he played 177 snaps the second half, mostly at the end of blowout wins and losses.

Summer camp begins for the NFC East - BGN
New thing to worry about: Nakobe Dean. If the Eagles are correct that Nakobe Dean’s health concerns that saw him fall to the 3rd round are not an issue going forward, then they potentially have the steal of the draft. Everyone always thinks some mid-round pick is potentially the steal of the draft, not every mid-round pick dropped from a possible 1st round selection to 83rd overall for availability and not ability. Nobody questions Dean’s ability. But if Dean’s availability concerns are real, then it’ll be yet another long season at the LB position.

Training Camp Interview Series: Eliot Shorr-Parks make his Eagles record prediction - BGN Radio
On the premiere episode, Jimmy Kempski speaks with 94WIP Eagles Reporter, Eliot Shorr-Parks. The two put their “Twitter beef” to rest and Shorr-Parks shares his Eagles record prediction.

Philadelphia Eagles’ Gardner Minshew spent offseason in old prison bus, focused on ‘Super Bowl or bust’ - ESPN
Trainer Anthony Tumbarello didn’t know if Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Gardner Minshew was serious at first when he told Tumbarello he wanted to live in a bus outside of Tumbarello’s gym in Bonita Springs, Florida, this offseason. But sure enough, on Feb. 20 following a few weeks of cross-country travel, Tumbarello said he heard the “beep, beep, beep” sound coming from the back of the industrial building where his gym is as Minshew pulled the beast into a spot near the garage. And there it remained for the better part of five months before Minshew reported to training camp this week, where he’ll look to build on a successful first year in Philadelphia. “Hey, I don’t know any trainer in the country that can say their professional athlete pulled up in a bus and was eating, sleeping and living in the gym 24/7 getting ready for the season,” Tumbarello said. Bus living is something Minshew has wanted to do since high school, he said in an Instagram video detailing his long, strange trip this summer. “I just love the freedom that it affords me. It affords me a place to come and focus,” he said. “I’m living at the gym, eat, sleep, shower here. Everything. It’s kind of my own little island here. I love it.”

More than ball: Jalen Hurts understands the value of team chemistry - PE.com
There are touch points, if you will, that are so very important for quarterback Jalen Hurts, and they all come so naturally for a leader who understands the importance of chemistry and trust and building a rapport that lasts. And the truth is that for Hurts it doesn’t matter if he’s hanging out with his teammates in the locker room or at the movies or in the cafeteria or at the bowling alley. Time spent together is time well spent. Early in the morning, Hurts is one of the first to arrive at the NovaCare Complex ready to “attack the day” and he is soon joined by his receiving corps with the aim of getting, in some way, shape, or form, “1,000 reps a day,” whether that’s on the field or mental or a combination of the two. Time together ... “We communicate, we get on the same page and we talk through things and I think that’s going to help us in the end,” he said. “Anytime I can spend time with my teammates, whether it’s in Florida or Cali or Texas or Philly, here, at home, the bowling alley, it all matters. When you’re playing a team sport, it’s not all about X’s and O’s. A lot of it is ball, but the other part of it is getting to know that person, being on the same page with that person, knowing how that person thinks, and just getting to know him thoroughly. We have a lot of time to do that right now.”

The Value of Undrafted Free Agents - Football Outsiders
NFL franchises like to get snaps from Day 3 draftees and from UDFAs because, in many cases, they have to. So much cap space is tied up their top 10 players that they need to get snaps from “cheaper” players. Players drafted into the NFL get a guaranteed contract, but high first round draft picks get a much larger guarantees than Day 3 draftees. Even if those guys never make a 53-man roster they will get a substantial (at least by most standards) payout. Brock Purdy, quarterback from Iowa State, was the last player drafted in the 2022 draft (aka Mr. Irrelevent). According to overthecap.com, he is guaranteed $77,012 even if he never makes the team or the practice squad for the 49ers. Now compare that to Carson Strong, who was signed by the Eagles as an UDFA. Strong has been guaranteed $320,000. Quarterbacks tend to be outliers for salary, so let’s compare another end-of-draft guy to a comparable UDFA.

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott: ‘I plan for this to be the golden year’ - NFL.com
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott turns 29 years old today and already has designs on making it his best year yet. “It will be the golden birthday,” Prescott said Thursday, via ESPN. “I plan for this to be the golden year.” Entering his seventh season, the Cowboys haven’t had as much playoff success as they’d like with Prescott, winning one of four playoff games under his leadership. The Cowboys haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1995. They’re 4-11 in the playoffs since lifting that Lombardi, the lowest winning percentage among 27 teams to play in 10-plus postseason games in that span. Prescott knows the pressure is on to get over the hump finally.

Dallas Cowboys WR Michael Gallup says playing Week 1 is “not a reasonable possibility” - Blogging The Boys
It has long made sense ever since Michael Gallup tore his ACL against the Arizona Cardinals that he would miss time in 2022. Of course, between that moment and this one, Gallup signed a brand new deal with the Dallas Cowboys and the team traded away Amari Cooper, heightening his importance and value to the offense. However long Gallup winds up missing doesn’t impact his overall worth to the team, but given how not-exactly-deep the team is at wide receiver any absence could be significant. The word “could” has always been how this situation has been couched given that nothing has been official to this point. It has purely been heavy speculation up until now that Gallup would miss time this regular season, but after Thursday’s practice ended he met with the media and confirmed that he would at least be missing Week 1.

Giants training camp, Day 2: A big commotion about motion - Big Blue View
Saquon Barkley said on Thursday that as he enters his fifth year in the league he wants to “evolve my game” and “become an overall better player.” Barkley is being used far more creatively as a receiver, both from the backfield and aligned in the slot or out wide, than he has been in his first four seasons. “I think this offense is giving me an opportunity to do that,” Barkley said. “I just want to be a versatile player and do whatever I can to help the team win.” Barkley’s goal for 2022? “I just want to show the Giants that the guy they drafted is still here,” he said.

A deeper dive into Washington’s first round trade in the 2022 draft - Hogs Haven
I made my feelings well known at the time. I loved Washington’s trade back from the number 11 pick in the 2022 draft with the Saints. It was exactly what I had been clamoring for. With the Carson Wentz trade, Washington was down a third round pick going into the draft, and there’s reason to believe that applied some additional pressure to the front office to parlay their high first rounder into additional draft capital early on, in order to take full advantage of the draft. Of course, at the time, we knew the terms of the trade: Washington would give up #11 and, in turn, would receive #16, #98, and #120 from the New Orleans Saints. The Saints would go on to pick Ohio State WR Chris Olave at #11, and Washington would take Penn State WR Jahan Dotson at #16. Later, they would take Alabama RB Brian Robinson at #98, and would swap picks #120 and #189 for #144 and #149 with the Panthers. Those two Washington picks would be turned into QB Sam Howell and TE Cole Turner. What we had heard rumors of, but didn’t firmly know at the time, was that there were other parties interested in trading back with Washington, including at #16, that the team turned down.

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