August 03, 2026
Day 4 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp was inside the practice bubble, with heavy rains flooding Philly. Usually the indoor practices kinda suck, but there was a lot of fun action today.
• As you saw in the headline, Jalen Hurts had his best day of camp so far. He was accurate all over the field, left-middle-right, and short-intermediate-deep. He ripped his best throw of the day down the seam to Elijah Moore, who got open deep down the middle of the field behind the linebackers. Moore double-caught the pass, but was able to control it and run in for a score.
I also thought Hurts made a nice throw to Dontayvion Wicks near the left sideline, plus another strike over the middle that hit Moore in stride, allowing him a chance for some yards after the catch.
He was effective in the red zone as well. On one TD pass, he rolled right found nothing in the corner of the end zone, then looked back toward the middle and threw a strike across his body to Wicks, who was covered on the play by Riq Woolen. He also threw a strike to DeVonta Smith near the front corner of the end zone.
Hurts even had a nice play as a runner. The offense ran one of the old scheme's signature plays, a well-executed red zone QB draw that was wide open, allowing Hurts to gallop in for an easy score.
Hurts did throw an INT today, his first of camp. He had what looked like a miscommunication with Moore. Moore went one way, and Hurts' throw went the other, right to Quinyon Mitchell, who made the easy pick-6.
• The Eagles' other super-important Jalen, Jalen Carter, also had a good day, as usual. There was one play against the second-team O-line in which he was doubled by Myles Hinton and Drew Kendall, and Carter tossed them like someone picked the right defensive play in Tecmo Bowl. Hinton went to the ground hard.
Carter also disrupted a pass play with immediate pressure that led to an A.J. Epenesa sack.
• Moro Ojomo was the other standout D-lineman today. He had a couple of impressive tackles for loss on run plays, teaming up on one of them with Byron Young.
• Backup EDGE Arnold Ebiketie showed something in coverage today. He stuck with Eli Stowers on a throw over the middle. It looked like a little crosser, and Ebiketie was able to break up the pass. I don't know how much Ebiketie dropped into coverage in Atlanta, but he looked pretty natural doing it. (Of course, this might be a bad look for Stowers, too, if you're a "glass half empty" type.)
• Makai Lemon disappeared from practice at some point early on in the day. Presumably, he's hurt, but there have been no updates yet.
Update: It is indeed an injury (exactly what we don't know yet), but it's "not significant," per Jeff McLane:
Whatever it was that limited Makai Lemon at practice, I’m told it wasn’t significant. https://t.co/ejG32nInWE
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 3, 2026
• Andy Dalton is outplaying Tanner McKee early in camp.
Dalton isn't doing anything special necessarily, but he is on time with his throws and he is taking what the defense is giving him. He connected with Hollywood Brown a number of times today, including on a two-point conversion after throwing a TD to the flat to Will Shipley. Dalton's best throw of the day was a strike in stride to Johnny Wilson over the middle.
McKee had a bad miss to Wilson, who got open down the field. McKee left the ball well short. Missed opportunity for a chunk play.
• I'll say this for Cole Payton... He is going to be fun to watch during the preseason games. Today he threw a YOLO ball deep down the field to Erik Ezukanma, who was surrounded by three defenders. It was actually an on-target throw that Ezukanma had a chance to haul in, but the defenders were able to break it up.
Payton is not afraid at all to let it rip.
He also had a red zone TD pass to TE Stone Smartt, who found a small hole in the defense to settle into; and another red zone TD pass that was deflected by Tariq Castro-Fields, but hauled in by Ezukanma after the deflection.
• I have enjoyed watching Tank Bigsby in camp so far. That dude is an Energizer Bunny. He had a lot of carries today, and a bunch of catches. If training camp is any indication, he will have a higher workload than he did last season, as he should.
• 🚨🚨🚨 Uar Bernard had a sack today! I mean, it was kind of a coverage sack, and Payton kinda ran into Bernard, but it was a sack nevertheless. Bernard was excited as were defensive teammates on the sideline. Some of the vets really seem to be rooting for him. Moro Ojomo, for example said after practice that he and Bernard share Nigerian descent, so they have that bond.
• EDGE Joshua Weru, another rookie from Africa, looks pretty natural running agility drills. He has almost no shot of making the team, but he absolutely has athleticism worth developing on the practice squad.
• Another undrafted rookie who has caught my attention early in camp is S Maximus Pulley. He had a diving catch for a would-be INT in the back of the end zone. I thought he got both feet in, but pretty much everyone around me disagreed, so I'll defer. He has also shown some physicality in the run game. He slammed into an offensive lineman during a goal line session today. He didn't make the play, but I just liked his fearlessness.
• We noted in prior notes posts that Nolan Smith (a) looks bulked up this year, and (b) is still wearing a big brace on his arm. A look:
Smith acknowledged that he "put on some LB's" this offseason. Jalyx Hunt also said that he added muscle.
• I got a chance to watch undrafted rookie LS Rocco Underwood have an extended field goal snapping session to holder Braden Mann, with Jake Elliott looking on.
Ideally, the long snapper will put 3.5 revolutions on the football so that when the ball reaches the holder, he can put the ball down, laces out. You do not want to have the holder to spin the ball these days so the laces point out. Back in 2017, I took my own slow motion video of Jon Dorenbos snapping during practice. Notice that he has the laces down on the snap, he puts a perfect 3.5 revolutions on the football, and my boy Donnie Jones can place the ball down with no need for a spin.
Anyway, most of Underwood's snaps required Mann to spin the ball. I'm sure Elliott didn't love Underwood's snapping session.
Side note: Part of the plot of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is that Miami Dolphins kicker turned murderous cop Ray Finkle is on the hunt for revenge against Dan Marino, who did not spin the ball so that the laces were out when he missed a potential game-winning kick in the Super Bowl. Maybe Marino could have spun the ball better. I dunno, I'd have to watch the tape. But Finkle should've been trying to get his revenge on the long snapper every bit as much as Marino, if not more so.
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
And on Threads and Bluesky: @JimmyKempski and @JimmyKempski
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
