Eagles Training Camp Overreactions Day 2: "Crispy" Offense, Leader In The House

Jalen Hurts and the offense struggled in the spring, but what a difference the last two months have made.

Eagles players prepare for Day 2 of training camp / By Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Day 2 looked a lot like Day 1 at Eagles camp, which is to say there were clouds and humidity, but there was also plenty of mixing and matching with defensive personnel and an offense that again looked relatively in sync.

Here are my five overreactions from Thursday:

BACKBURNER THE PANIC

Let’s face it, the offense was a concern in the spring. Jalen Hurts threw several interceptions and had another one or two dropped. He was throwing over the middle and it was clear he wasn’t comfortable doing that. The Kellen Moore offense, with its throws in the middle of the field, tight-end heavy usage, and liberal use of motion, seemed to baffle the quarterback.

Less than two months later, the quarterback and the offense have been, dare we say, crisp?

I asked Mailata if that was the case or if my eyes were playing tricks.

“I think you’re seeing things,” he said jokingly. “Nah, it’s crisp. It’s crispy this year.”

Asked if he was surprised after how it looked in the spring that it has come this far this fast, he said: “Almost all of us were here in OTAs, and seeing the plays we had there we knew it was going to be a pretty exciting offense, and Kellen adds such a flare to his playbook, but not surprising at all.”

Hurts threw a long touchdown to Dallas Goedert on Wednesday. He followed that up on Thursday with a nice heave down the right sideline for a big gain to A.J. Brown, who made an over-the-shoulder catch with Darius Slay nearby.

Imagine what the offense will look like in another two months.

Eagles linebacker Devin White talks after Day 2 of training camp. / By Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

LEADER IN THE HOUSE

Devin White will be the best free-agent signing on the defense. Maybe even better than the one on offense, Saquon Barkley? Time will tell, but right now there’s no denying White carries himself as that unit’s top dog.

He dropped a few pounds from spring to get to his playing weight of 238, 239. He said he was “mostly in the 240s, but getting back down to the 230s so I can fly.”

Two days in and he looks like he is flying. And isn’t this what you want a leader to say when he was asked about his fresh start after things ended badly in Tampa?

“I’m just grateful to be out here playing the game I love," he said. "I didn’t want to make anything about me. The start is over. It started when I came to OTAs, now I just want to be a great team player, a guy they can lean on and help win football games in whatever way that is.

“Just showing up every day and being consistent and doing my part because I know doing my part is enough. There’s a lot of great guys and if they do their part and I do my part we’re going to be a great football team.”

Pencil him in to wear the green dot communication device inside his helmet this fall.

MADDOX FLASHES

It's always nice to see your slot cornerback make a play, especially when Avonte Maddox, who played the position so well in his first six years with the Eagles - when healthy - was probably ticketed for more of a full-time role at safety until rookie Cooper DeJean landed on the NFL list and will miss three very important weeks.

Maddox made perhaps the best defensive play of the day when he popped the ball out of tight end C.J. Uzomah's hands efore Uzomah could secure it and turn up the field.

HOT TOPIC

Whenever Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter talk to reporters, which they did on Thursday, a conditioning question is always right around the corner, then the next corner, the corner after that, and so on.

“It’s always a work in progress,” said Davis. “Obviously, I’m not where I (pause)… I’m better than when I came in, or where I left. …You put a little sweat in the bucket, and eventually, the bucket is going to get filled. …We’re not going to be track sprinters.”

Both defensive tackles made at least one solid play on Thursday, with Davis stuffing Saquon Barkley in the hole on one run and Carter tapping down - rather than tackling since that isn't allowed yet - Britain Covey behind the line of scrimmage on another.

WAITING ON NOLAN

It dawned on me when I saw second-year linebacker/edge rusher Nolan Smith dancing to the music that is always present during practice while waiting to do a kickoff coverage rep…where’s he been?

Smith didn’t do much to stand out on Day 1, and, just as I was about to write in my notebook, ‘Where’s Nolan?’ he ended up in the backfield on the first set of 11-on-11 after his special team rep with what would have been a sack.

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