June 02, 2015
In what was undoubtedly the biggest travesty in the history of the Universe, the Eagles canceled practice Monday because of rain that never came, inconveniencing me and several of my media ilk. Tuesday, it actually did rain, and the Eagles practiced. My notes from the day:
• Sam Bradford took some reps during 7-on-7's today. Mark Sanchez got the first reps, but when it wound back around from Sanchez to Barkley to Tebow, Bradford went after Tebow, so the order of Bradford-Sanchez-Barkley-Tebow was what you would expect. In other words, Bradford missed the first set of reps, but appeared to be the No. 1 QB in the order from there on out ... unless he was the No. 4 QB. Did that make sense? Good? Good.
Bradford barely moved his feet during his reps. He had deliberate movements, whereas the other quarterbacks had much more natural-looking footwork. Any casual observer could clearly see a difference. He's slightly more mobile than a JUGS machine right now. We'll see if that changes as the summer progresses.
• No, this happy fella isn't a newly signed quarterback. It's a tackling dummy designed to give the pass rushers a target to attack to try to force fumbles while they deliver a hit on the QB.
That's something the Eagles stress heavily. Last season, for example, Vinny Curry did a tremendous job forcing fumbles while delivering hits on the quarterback.
• Walter Thurmond worked with the ones at safety again today. It's only June, but he may be the leader right now for the starting safety job. Byron Maxwell singled out Thurmond as a guy who has impressed him so far throughout OTAs, saying that he has gotten his hands on a lot of passes. I should note here that Maxwell and Thurmond are likely boys from their days in Seattle. #SeahawkBias
• Players getting looks at kick returner today were Darren Sproles, Nelson Agholor, JaCorey Shepherd, Raheem Mostert, and Riley Cooper. Two things of note there:
• Of the new Eagles players, Ryan Mathews has the best helmet. It's basically the same one in the picture below. He didn't always wear the visor in San Diego. In fact, he went without the visor more often than not, so it will be interesting to see if he's heavy on utilizing his visor for the Eagles in 2015. The worst helmet among the new guys belongs to Miles Austin, who is sticking with his lame two-bar jawn pictured here. #HelmetAnalysis
• Have you ever been to a restaurant where the waiter/waitress has a new employee following them around to learn the ropes? When they greet your table, they're like, "OMG hieeee, welcome to Applebees! My name is Jenny, and I'll be your server today. This is Kristi. She's new here, and she'll be following me around. Would you like to start of with some sliders, potato skins, or maybe one of our ultimate margaritas?" Well, that's basically what JaCorey Shepherd and Brandon Boykin were like at practice today, as Shepherd shadowed Boykin at times to learn the defense.
• The Eagles have some tall defensive ends. Here's a list of the DEs currently on the roster who were acquired since Chip Kelly became head coach:
| Player | Height |
| Brian Mihalik | 6'9 |
| Frank Mays | 6'9 |
| Taylor Hart | 6'6 |
| Brandon Bair | 6'6 |
| Travis Raciti | 6'4 |
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