July 26, 2023
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
Jalen Hurts during warmups for the first practice of training camp at the NovaCare Complex on July 26, 2023 in South Philadelphia.
The Eagles opened training camp, officially, Wednesday afternoon, practicing for just over an hour in front of media members and some season ticket holders and — well — it wasn't their best effort.
A bevy of penalties, missed throws and mistakes led Nick Sirianni to have some words with his players a few times toward the end of practice.
Jalen Hurts is trying to follow up his near MVP campaign with a $51 million a year worthy season in 2023, and he, too looked a little less than his stellar self in the first sets of place for the upcoming season.
As we'll do after every single practice open to the press this summer, here's a look at each of the first team plays in 7-on-7 and full team drills from training camp practice No. 1
Wednesday was red zone day, and things kicked off inside the 20 with full team drills:
• Hurts rolled to his left and threw it incomplete — it was not intended for a receiver.
• Hurts pump faked and dumped the ball off to DeVonta Smith who was open in the flat. There were no pads or tackling today, so this one likely would have gone for a minimal gain.
• Hurts handed the ball off to Rashaad Penny, who got his first touch as an Eagle. He picked up a few yards up the middle.
• Finally a positive play, hurts threw a bullet to Dallas Goedert in the end zone for a touchdown. The line of scrimmage here was about the 10 yardline.
After the second and third teams got some action, the lineman went to another field leaving the rest of the team for 7-on-7.
• Hurts threw it incomplete to Goedert on a comeback route in the end zone. He was pretty well covered.
• A complete pass went to A.J. Brown on the left side of the field. It went for around 11 yards, but was not a touchdown.
• A scramble to the left helped Goedert get open. He snagged about an 8-yard catch in the end zone for the second touchdown of the day.
• A pretty good throw to Smith at the sideline saw him pushed out of bounds at the 1-yardline.
• A throw to Kenny Gainwell was broken up by a great play from safety Reed Blankenship. It seemed pretty clear the defense had the upper hand for most of the day.
The offensive and defensive linemen returned and the offense set up at the 25-yardline facing the NovaCare center for more 11-on-11.
• A play-action fake handoff to D'Andre Swift and then short pass to the newly acquired running back was his first action with the first team, getting five or so yards.
• The next play was a handoff to Swift for a few yards.
• Hurts scrambled on a broken play for what would likely have been a first down, 10 or 12 yards into the red zone.
• A handoff to Gainwell went for a few yards.
• A clear RPO play saw Hurts elect to keep it and go up the middle after what looked like an audible at the line of scrimmage.
One last set of plays followed, more 11-on-11 starting at the 10 yardline.
• Brown went in motion from the left to the right, and then was thrown the ball for about a five-yard gain over the middle.
• Hurts lined up under center and tossed it to Gainwell on his left for a few yards.
• A handoff this time went to Boston Scott, who didn't pick up much.
• A play-action throw came up empty as Goedert was well covered with some safety help over the middle.
• With five receivers on the field and in the shotgun, Hurts ran right between the tackles with a designed run.
• Coach Sirianni yelled that this was a "four point play," and the down and distance was third and eight from the eight. With five receivers spread out, Hurts had nowhere to throw. It would likely have been a sack, but he kept the play going and scrambled for a few yards.
The play-calling was very conservative as the team got its feet wet, but there wasn't a ton to really feel good about after the first 20 first team plays of training camp.
Hurts' stats: 7-for-11, two touchdowns, three running plays.
The Birds have no practice tomorrow but will be back at it Friday morning.
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