May 30, 2017
The Philadelphia Eagles kicked off their second round of OTAs on Tuesday, and the practice was open to the media in its entirety. As always, we have notes.
• It was rainy and awful. Yes, that's my first note.
• Again, practices are voluntary, but here are the absentees...
In other words, a lot of guys were missing.
• The highlight of the day was a Carson Wentz fade to Alshon Jeffery in the end zone, which Jeffery came down with over rookie CB Rasul Douglas. The play was fine, but Jeffery's reaction was the most noteworthy part. After the score, Jeffery spiked the ball at Douglas. That extra stuff can be good sometimes. It brings out competitiveness on both sides of the ball.
• While Douglas got beaten on that red zone play, he had a fantastic day otherwise. In a different red zone drill, he broke sharply on a slant route intended for Nelson Agholor and was able to make the play. Later in the practice, Douglas got his hands on three consecutive passes. He is always aware of where the ball is, which is why he was able to lead the nation in interceptions last year, with eight.
• One thing Nelson Agholor seems to be putting an emphasis on is contested catches. After he catches passes away from his body with his hands, he yanks the ball away from the (invisible) defender. It's catch, and yank. Agholor has not been good on contested catches, so his (or perhaps Mike Groh's) idea to do that is a good one. Agholor had an OK day. He made the catches he should have made, but was unable to come up some more difficult ones. His highlight of the day came on a double move against Jalen Mills in which Agholor beat Mills deep for a TD. That drew a "GOT EEEEEM!" from Torrey Smith.
• One player who continues to not make contested catches is Dorial Green-Beckham. DGB had an opportunity to make a play on a high pass over the middle, but the CB (I think it was C.J. Smith) was able to make the play.
• Other than the double move noted above, I thought Mills had a solid day. He had a pass breakup in the red zone, he intercepted a pass while covering Zach Ertz, and forced an incompletion with blanket coverage on Shelton Gibson.
• I have not yet seen Gibson stand out in any way yet.
• Mack Hollins runs good red zone slant routes. He gets his body square to the quarterback, giving him a big target, and snatches the ball with his hands. Hollins has impressed so far.
• Wentz got Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham to jump on hard counts. That's an underrated skill and one that has served Aaron Rodgers extraordinarily well throughout his career.
• Wendell Smallwood caught my eye with a few nice bursts through the line. He got first team reps today with LaGarrette Blount and Darren Sproles missing in action. However, late in practice, he fumbled, a huge mistake in non-contact drills.
• CB Aaron Grymes had a strong camp last year, as well as a very productive preseason. He would have made the team out of camp if not for an injury suffered in the Pittsburgh preseason game. Today he picked off Nick Foles in the red zone at around the 2 and had a nice return in the process.
• Last year, the Eagles would often add an extra blocker in jumbo sets. That was Matt Tobin. This year that role has gone to Dillon Gordon, which are essentially first-team reps. Gordon had that role in the first round of OTAs as well. He's looking like an early strong bet to make the roster.
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