August 09, 2022
Day 9 of Philadelphia Eagles 2022 training camp is in the books, and it was the hottest one of the summer far. These notes are being typed out of love as I sit in a pool of my own sweat.
• Let's start with the injuries today, because they're beginning to pile up. The guys who did not practice today (in alphabetical order):
Kelce is having a "routine cleanout" of his elbow, AKA a scope, AKA surgery, per the team. They did not provide a timetable for recovery, but he should be good to go for Week 1.
And the two guys who were limited:
My sense is that Kelce aside, none of the above injuries are likely to keep any of those players out for a substantial amount of time. It certainly wouldn't make sense to have DeVonta Smith practice until he's back to 100 percent.
The good news is that Dillard and Mailata returned to practice.
• If Eagles training camp is any indication, A.J. Brown is going to get eleventy billion targets this season. Over the last five or so practices, if Brown has been on the field and it's a pass play, you could reliably count on Jalen Hurts going his way. I suppose Brown's heavy target share recently in practice is partly due to the absence of Smith, who has missed the last four practices. It's also worth noting that Zach Pascal missed time earlier in camp, and Quez Watkins has missed portions of practice.
Still, it is very clear that Hurts trusts Brown. To be determined if Hurts will make a concerted effort to get Smith his share of targets as well whenever he returns to the lineup.
• There really isn't much to say about Hurts today, other than that he throws to Brown a lot. There were a lot of running plays and situational work, but he only attempted a dozen or so passes.
#Hurts verdict: Solid day — no wow throws, but also no bad results. Stock neutral 😐
• Gardner Minshew had a rough day, and he has had an alarming camp, in my opinion. He was intercepted twice in 7-on-7's, once by Davion Taylor after a nice pass breakup by K'Von Wallace. Shortly thereafter, Josiah Scott picked off Minshew. It'll be interesting to see how much Minshew plays against the Jets in the Eagles' first preseason game this Friday. The guess here is that Nick Sirianni will give him a lot of work and hope he's able to work through some of his struggles.
• Pascal had a really nice snag today during 7-on-7's. He was in a full sprint coming across the field, and Hurts led him a hair too far. Pascal reached out with one hand and plucked it out of the air. Impressive catch. We're just now getting our first looks at Pascal after he missed over a week of time with food poisoning.
• We mentioned above that the Eagles were working on some situational stuff today. For example, they ran some plays in which they were trying to get a first down, and then immediately get down in bounds to keep the clock running. Unsurprisingly, Miles Sanders was in for some of those plays.
If you'll recall, on the Eagles' final drive in Carolina last season, the Eagles had four huge runs to run out the clock and seal the game. Sanders made that drive harder than it needed to be, as he ran out of bounds TWICE, lol. It appears that Sirianni made sure to work on that situation this summer so that kind of thing doesn't happen again.
• I know I've mentioned him plenty in my practice notes so far, but Brandon Graham keeps making plays. He blew up a run play for a TFL, and he also had a sack in team drills. He doesn't have an off switch.
• I think the undrafted offensive lineman to watch for the future is Josh Sills. In college at West Virginia and Oklahoma State, Sills started at all five positions along the line. The Eagles love versatility, and they've played Sills at multiple spots so far. He has almost no chance of making the initial 53-man roster, but look for him to develop on the practice squad.
The Eagles have had success developing those kinds of undrafted guys over time, like Nate Herbig and Sua Opeta, for example.
• I kept an eye on J.J. Arcega-Whiteside today, just out of curiosity. He bulked up to around 240 pounds to play tight end this season. JJAW was never going to be mistaken for Tyreek Hill in the first place, but he does not seem to be moving as well as he did his first couple seasons in Philly. I would call him a deep longshot to make the roster at this point.
• Throughout training camp, I'll have some occasional one-on-one interviews with other Eagles beat writers while the players are stretching and doing other boring stuff. Today I chatted with Reuben Frank. Oh, and here's the iTunes link. Review, subscribe, etc.
Within those beat writer interviews, I'm asking each writer four different questions:
The predictions so far:
| Writer | Record | Playoffs | Playoff wins? | Hurts in 2023? |
| 7/27: Eliot Shorr-Parks, WIP | 10-7 | Yes | None | Yes |
| 7/29: Jeff McLane, Inquirer | 10-7 | Yes | None | No |
| 7/30: Bo Wulf, The Athletic | 11-6 | Yes | One win, over the Vikings | Yes |
| 8/2: Les Bowen, NJ.com | 11-6 | Yes | One win, over the 49ers | Undecided |
| 8/4: Fran Duffy, Eagles | 17-0 | Yes | Yes, unspecified | Yes |
| 8/9: Reuben Frank, NBC Philly | 12-5 | Yes | One win, over the 49ers | Yes |
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