August 27, 2020

Eagles practice notes, Day 10: Wide receivers up, O-line down

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

(Pool Photo) Chris Szagola/Associated Press

18 + 82 = 💯. Sorry.

Day 10 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books, and with a day off on Friday, the Eagles finished off their week with another lively practice. Let's get to the notes.

• Are you tired of hearing about how good the wide receivers look? Well, they were good again today.

From about the 20-yard line, Nate Sudfeld lofted a 50-50 ball to the back of the end zone, which John Hightower went up and high-pointed over Craig James. Great play. Hightower mayyyybe pushed off a smidge, but he didn't extend his arms egregiously, which usually doesn't get called. Every other team in the league gets away with that. Why shouldn't the Eagles.
Every day, Deontay Burnett makes a great play. Today he Moss'd Cre'Von LeBlanc near the sideline, and was able to keep two feet in bounds. Burnett has made a strong argument for a roster spot, but they can't keep seven, can they?
DeSean Jackson had some fun matchups today with Darius Slay, and both guys won their share of them. DeSean beat Slay on a deep post during 7-on-7's, and then jumped into the padded fence that lines the perimeter of the NovaCare Complex. Settle down on that, maybe, DeSean. Later, Slay ran stride for stride with DeSean down the sideline for a nice pass breakup. DeSean has also caught his share of passes on square-ins deep down the middle of the field. In addition to catching bombs, he's been a weapon in that part of the field over his career as well.
Jalen Reagor seems legitimately interested in blocking, something some scouts said he didn't do sometimes in college. He got some atta boys from the sidelines (Miles Sanders seemed particularly interested, unsurprisingly) on a running play in which he locked up Slay. (Blocking Slay doesn't count, in my view. 😉)
And finally, the moment many of you have been waiting for. Greg Ward threw a pass on a trick play. He connected with J.J. Arcega-Whiteside.

• The offensive line is a major concern this season. In case you missed it, Andre Dillard is reportedly done for the season, which means that Jason Peters is very likely the new LT.

The Eagles obviously already lost Brandon Brooks, and Peters isn't exactly a model of durability. And oh-by-the-way there's Lane Johnson, who was listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury on Sunday, and hasn't been seen since.

With Peters getting a maintenance day today, the first-team offensive line looked like this:

LT	LG	C	RG	RT
Jordan Mailata	Isaac Seumalo	Jason Kelce	Nate Herbig	Matt Pryor

😬

Have the Eagles had better offensive line depth heading into a season? Yes. Yes, they have.

• Adrian Killins showed the best and worst parts of his game today. On one running play, he had a big hole to run through, and he blazed into the open field for a big gain. Killins thinks that he's the fastest player on the team, and he might be. On another run up the middle, however, Hassan Ridgeway stuck his arm out, Killins ran into it, and Ridgeway's arm won, emphatically. Killins won't be confused for Earl Campbell in the tackle-breaking department.

In regard to the fourth running back battle, I've mostly had Elijah Holyfield in the lead for that job. I'm beginning to rethink that. Holyfield offers no real differentiating skill, but Killins does, with his speed. Or maybe they'll only keep three?

• One of the underrated things that Fletcher Cox has done a great job of over his career is sniffing out and disrupting screens. He got a hand on a screen pass a few days ago, and then another one today, after which he wagged his finger, Jalen Mills-style.

• After the conclusion of the 2020 NFL Draft, I feel like the player that fans seemed to be happiest about in terms of value for where he was picked, was S K'Von Wallace. We've barely mentioned him, because he hasn't really stood out much, surprisingly. If you're a "glass half full" type, maybe it's a good thing he hasn't been noticed much because he hasn't really been beaten?

• Genard Avery went down on Wednesday with what looked like a serious injury, and was even carted off the field. It turns out that it wasn't really serious at all. 🎉

#Eagles DE Genard Avery, who was carted off yesterday at practice, suffered a bone-bruise in his knee that is not nearly as serious as it looked, source said. Some positive news.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 27, 2020