Eagles Minicamp Day 1 Observations: Ringo Rules, Reed's Splash and Becton's Big Body Inside

The Eagles had their first minicamp practice in the Nick Sirianni era on Tuesday

Eagles WR DeVonta Smith / John McMullen/Eagles SI

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles' first mandatory minicamp practice of the Nick Sirianni was Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex.

The session lasted just over an hour in steamy temperatures reaching a training camp-like 85 degrees.

Philadelphia is scheduled for two more practices on Wednesday and Thursday before breaking until late July, and the 2024 training camp.

Here's what we say from Day 1 of the camp:

-Attendance was nearly perfect with Pro Bowl left guard Landon Dickerson the lone healthy player missing and his absence was an excused one.

Veteran defensive back James Bradberry was at practice for the first time this spring when reporters were present.

Sirianni threw a bit of a curve ball before the session when he revealed that the Eagles would try Bradberry at safety. That 9-to-5 hook off the table never materialized, though, because the veteran suffered an injury during individual drills and spent some time in the injury tent. Bradberry ultimately emerged from the tent without his helmet and was held out of team drills.

With starting safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship available, presumably Bradberry would have gotten some work with the second team. Without him, the Eagles went with Avonte Maddox and Tristin McCollum as the second-teamers.

-Also on the injury front, second-year safety Sydney Brown, rehabbing from a torn ACL, was working out on a separate field with trainers and watched when team work started.

Backup offensive tackle Le'Raven Clark, who had been placed on injured reserve, was spotted watching practice with the help of a Roll-A-Bout and a walking boot on his right leg, typically an indication of an Achilles or Lisfranc injury.

Speedy Receiver Jacob Harris missed his second straight practice with reporters present with an unknown injury. Harris was watching with his jersey on again.

-The replacement at LG for Dickerson with the first team, was the 6-foot-8 Mekhi Becton, who had been manning the right tackle spot in voluntary work when Lane Johnson was not at practice. Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland called Becton "a fun player to coach" on Monday and mentioned his versatility.

-Receiver DeVonta Smith returned to practice after missing the two days of voluntary OTAs open to reporters. Smith noted he has been at the facility at times, however. The offense just looks better with Smith out there alongside A.J. Brown. Parris Campbell was the WR3 in 11 personnel looks as expected but Sirianni is keeping that open-ended for now even mentioning potential personnel tweaks (21 or 12) to get the best options on the field.

-The player of the day was second-year cornerback Kelee Ringo, who started outside opposite Darius Slay over Isaiah Rodgers with Avonte Maddox in the slot.

Ringo was sticky in coverage all day, running stride for stride with speedsters Campbell and John Ross on deep shots and giving Brown, one of the best receivers in the NFL, all he could handle. Even when the All-Pro WR got the best of Ringo on a comeback route the young CB was right there in Brown's hip pocket.

Rodgers who had been the at right cornerback in the OTAs stayed there on the second team opposite rookie first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell and continues to play well, locking down second-year wideout Joseph Nagata on one rep.

-The Eagles' unveiled a big nickel package with rookie cornerbacks Mitchell and Cooper DeJean playing inside, essentially as the second linebacker with Slay, Ringo, and Maddox as the CBs.

-The starting linebackers remained Devin White and Zack Baun but Nakobe Dean again mixed in a bit and also handled second-team work alongside Oren Burks.

Dean's return from a Lisfranc injury dopped Ben VanSumeren to the third team with rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. BVS had a tough day in coverage and was beaten soundly by Kenny Gainwell on a wheel route but backup quarterback Kenny Pickett badly overthrew the football.

-During 11-on-11 work, the Eagles started with a five-man front of Bryce Huff at the left overhang player, Jalen Carter, and Milton Williams as the 4i techniques inside, and Jordan Davis at nose/shade tackle. Josh Sweat debuted his new No. 19 as the right overhang player.

-Saquon Barkey continued to be used as more of a decoy in the passing game. On one rep, Barkley lined up wide and took up Ringo's attention when Jalen Hurts went the other way.

-The play of the day came on defense when Reed Blankenship jumped a Hurts slant pass to Smith and deflected the ball in the air for White to intercept.

-The offense as a whole continues to use more motion and bunch formations to give the receivers more space to work with. There was also some jet motion looks with both Brown and Smith.

-The Eagles have yet to work on kickoff returns with reporters present but they've worked on punt returns in all three practices.

The returners on Tuesday were Britain Covey, rookie Ainias Smith, Isaiah Rodgers, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Cooper DeJean in that order. This was the first time CJGJ has been used as a potential returner.

The first two punts from Braden Mann were muffs for Covey and Ainias Smith, something uncharacteristic for the former. It was the second consecutive misplayed ball for Smith dating back to last week and he also had a drop on offense in team drills. Smith did get another rep, however, and finally handled the punt.

-Michael Clay also put his punt gunners to work on downing punts inside the 10-yard line. Sirianni got involved after a few questionable reps. Josh Jobe was the highlight, jumping over the goal line and tapping the ball back into the playing field, enabling his teammates to down it inside the 5-yard line.

-The Eagles had four tryout players on hand, including familiar face Griffin Hebert, a receiver who spent time on the practice squad last season. Fellow receiver Brandon Smith and kicker B.T. Potter were on hand, as well as veteran cornerback Parry Nickerson, who got time as the third-team slot cornerback.

MORE NFL: Eagles Mincamp Overreactions: Keep An Eye On Mekhi Becton, Kelee Ringo