Eagles Notebook: Quez Watkins, Marcus Epps Turn in Plays of Day

Here's plenty more from the first day of training camp

PHILADELPHIA – Practice? Who needs practice?

Training camp opened on Wednesday and the Eagles took the field for the first time in a session that ran 58 minutes.

It probably took some of the few fans who attended longer than that to get to the team’s training facility with rush hour traffic and construction points.

Well, at least the Eagles will be back at it on Thursday when…oh wait. They’re having a walkthrough, which means it is closed to media and fans. It is one of four walkthroughs on the team’s schedule before their first preseason game on Aug. 12 against the visiting New York Jets.

“It's all about player health, what went down last year, our numbers as far as soft tissue injuries, right?,” said head coach Nick Sirianni prior to practice. “So our third day, which (Thursday) would be our third day, they had hard conditioning (Tuesday). They're going to have an intense practice (Wednesday).

"In our third day, numbers tell us not only on our team, but throughout the league that soft tissue injuries shoot up that day. So that's the reason for that.”

“Then that is the same data that we're following for those other three walk-throughs that we're going to have. Is it different from last year? Yes. But the other thing you're getting is more high-volume days because of that walkthrough there.”

Sirianni said there are three different types of practices – green, yellow, and red.

“We have a couple more walk-throughs than we had, but there are more green days now, which means there are more high-intensity practices,” he said. “So, the distances of how much we're running at the skill positions, how much we are running at every position, is going to be more in this camp than it was last camp.”

“That doesn't mean we're not going to get soft tissue injuries, right? There are probably going to be some. We're doing as much as we possibly can to prevent those things.”

PICTURES FROM CAMP

Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni

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The GM (left) and coach meet the media prior to the start of the first training camp practice on July 27, 2022.

Jalen Hurts after first training camp practice

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It was an up-and-down day for the QB, though that is to be expected since it was the first day of training camp practice.

Grant Calcaterra signs autographs

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The rookie TE had a pair of touchdown catches on his first day.

Eagle defense

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James Bradberry (24) and the rest of his defensive teammates work on a drill.

Nakobe Dean (left) and JaCoby Stevens sign autographs

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The two linebackers worked primairly with the third-team grouping.

OFFENSIVE PLAY OF THE DAY

Jalen Hurts’ back-shoulder throw to Quez Watkins in the end zone during 11-on-11 red-zone drills.

The QB did a nice job helping offset some tight coverage from Avonte Maddox on the play and Watkins did a nice job working his way back to the ball.

It was one of two TD grabs Watkins had in red-zone work. The other came on a designed rollout, with Hurts going to his right and finding Watkins crossing in the back of the end zone, running away from James Bradberry.

DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE DAY

Marcus Epps end zone interception. The safety, on whom so many in the organization are counting on step into a starting role, undercut Hurts’ throw to Dallas Goedert. Hurts threw the ball later than he should have, but Epps recognized it and made the pick.

OFFENSIVE PERSONNEL COMBINATIONS

Second-round pick Cam Jurgens took first-team reps at center with Jason Kelce not practicing as he works his way back from Covid.

Interestingly, Sua Opeta took reps with the first team at right guard. That could be because both Isaac Seumalo and Jack Driscoll are both working their way back from season-ending injuries and the Eagles want to go slow with them, though both Seumalo and Driscoll practiced.

DEFENSIVE PERSONNEL COMBINATIONS

First-round pick Jordan Davis too second-team reps at nose tackle, with first-team reps going to second-year DL Marlon Tuipulotu. In the five-man fronts, most of the first-team reps went to Haason Reddick on the left side and Josh Sweat on the right with Tuipulotu joined by DTs Milton Williams and Javon Hargrave.

Fletcher Cox was limited as he works his way back from covid.

Third-round pick, linebacker Nakobe Dean, got most of his time with the third-team group.

Meanwhile, with Anthony Harris limited as he works his way back from covid, K’Von Wallace got first-team reps.

PLAYS THAT STOOD OUT

Linebacker T.J. Edwards did a nice job covering A.J. Brown on an underneath throw and was able to rip the ball out of Brown’s hands after it appeared he had made the receptions.

Rookie tight end Grant Calcaterra had a pair of touchdown catches, one a nifty grab of a post pattern in the end zone that he needed a lunge to reach.

PRACTICE REPORT

In addition to Kelce, WR Kearic Wheatfall is working his way back from covid and did not practice nor did WR Zach Pascal due to an illness.

Also, the Eagles placed TEs Tyree Jackson and Richard Rodgers, and OL Brett Toth on the physically unable to perform list (PUP), and signed TE Jaeden Graham, C Cameron Tom, and WR Lance Lenoir.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.