Eagles Training Camp Practice Notes: Jalen Hurts is on fire

Today marked the fourth Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice ahead of the 2023 season. Here’s what I observed at the NovaCare Complex. UPDATE: Today’s BGN Radio practice recap podcast is live!

EAGLES PRACTICE NOTES

• The Eagles were wearing pads for the first time this summer. As expected, they did not live tackle to the ground ... but the extra protection allowed for a more physical practice. It was the longest session of camp thus far.

• JALEN HURTS WATCH: Hurts is on fire right now. After turning in a sharp practice on Sunday, he looked great again on Tuesday morning. The fourth-year quarterback accurately distributed the ball to different targets all over the field. To no surprise, the Hurts to A.J. Brown connection was especially lethal. The highlight play came when Hurts aired it out and put the ball right on Brown’s hands in the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown with James Bradberry trailing in coverage. Hurts also hit Brown on an out to the left sideline and a curl route for a first down. Hurts threw a rope to DeVonta Smith, who managed to get open deep on an extended play. He hit Smitty in stride again just along the left sideline in 7-on-7. Hurts also had a really nice anticipation throw to Dallas Goedert that hit the tight end over the middle exactly as he came out of his break. At the risk of jinxing him, Hurts has still yet to throw an interception in training camp. Nice to see him stacking strong outings like this. Stock up!

• EAGLES INJURY REPORT: Haason Reddick, Avonte Maddox, and Derek Barnett are still limited. Devon Allen is still on the NFI list. Deon Cain is a new addition to the report; he missed practice with an ankle injury.

• A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are looking really, really good. I missed this play while I was focused on OL vs. DL:

• Offensive line vs. defensive line notes: Josh Sweat and Jordan Davis ran a stunt where Davis (who is huge and can take up space) opened up room for Sweat to get a sack. Moving to more of the pure 1-on-1 action: Davis got totally stuffed by Landon Dickerson ... Cam Jurgens held his own against Fletcher Cox and later staved off Marlon Tuipulotu ... Derek Barnett got pushed into the ground while trying to go around the edge of Jordan Mailata ... Jalen Carter gave Tyler Steen some trouble ... Nolan Smith absolutely dusted Chim Okorafor ... Kyron Johnson (apparently no longer playing off-ball LB like he did in OTAs) beat Fred Johnson with a dip and rip that earned praise from teammates ... Patrick Johnson proved to be too much for Trevor Reid ... Milton Williams flashed power and got the best of Sua Opeta multiple times ... Dennis Kelly shut down Tarron Jackson.

• The Eagles’ running backs were getting overmatched when I looked over at them trying to block linebackers in 1-on-1. Rashaad Penny probably held up the best? D’Andre Swift didn’t even look very interested in stopping Nakobe Dean. Christian Elliss easily beat Kennedy Brooks. Nicholas Morrow used a spin to get around Kenneth Gainwell.

• Terrell Edmunds was back at first team safety. But the Eagles broke up some three safety steps with Reed Blankenship and K’Von Wallace on the back end with Edmunds lining up in the box.

• Mekhi Garner laid out Charleston Rambo after the receiver caught a short pass (No. 43 on No. 43 crime). Definitely a big hit that you’d like to see your defender make in a game but not so sure the coaches love it as much. Garner is the same guy who punted the ball after making an interception in OTAs, which prompted Nick Sirianni to chew him out.

• Josh Jobe put a big pop on Dan Arnold after the tight end caught a short pass and took off running up the field. This rep reminded me of Jobe’s (garbage time) big hit in the Eagles’ blowout playoff win over the New York Giants. Dude can lay the wood:

• Joseph Ngata made an over-the-shoulder catch for a deep touchdown in 1-on-1. The UDFA WR continues to push for a roster spot.

• Another tough day for Marcus Mariota. We’ve previously noted that he’s not being helped by an overmatched second-team offensive line. Still, it’d be nice to see fewer mistakes. He simply overthrew Dan Arnold to get picked off by K’Von Wallace today. To his credit, Mariota responded to that mistake by coming back and throwing a nice strike to Greg Ward for a first down on the very next rep. That play drew some praise from Sirianni.

• Rashaad Penny and D’Andre Swift were getting some work in with assistant head coach/running backs coach Jemal Singleton during the special teams period. Miles Sanders used to work with Singleton during that time. Kenneth Gainwell, Trey Sermon, and Boston Scott all participated in ST drills.

• Penny had a nice run on a stretch play to the right side. Took advantage of a hole and hit it hard.

• Greedy Williams has been flagged multiple times for being too grabby. Today it was a defensive holding on Britain Covey. To his credit, Greedy had tight coverage on a slant target to Tyrie Cleveland to help force an incompletion.

• Still waiting for the first Nakobe Dean flashy practice moment since the team drafted him.

• Brett Toth is really struggling with snapping the ball. It’s to the point where, as Jimmy Kempski noted in today’s BGN Radio practice recap podcast, the Eagles should consider using a different second-team center in order to avoid having practice reps ruined.

• Jake Elliott was perfect on his field goal attempts that started off practice. No surprise there.

UP NEXT: Eagles players have off on Wednesday before returning to practice on Thursday at 10:00 AM Eastern.