Eagles Camp Day 7: Roster Moves and 50,000 Fans at The Linc - Notebook
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles had their lone open practice of the summer with a crowd of more than 50,000 showing at Lincoln Financial Field for a session that went an hour and 40 minutes.
Jalen Hurts hit the field to a chorus of MVP chants and there were also plenty of E-A-G-L-E-S cheers throughout the night, along with a “Dallas Sucks” curveball thrown in.
The big news happened off the field before the practice when the Eagles signed veteran off-ball linebackers Myles Jack and Zach Cunninghan to identical one-year, $2.5 million contracts.
Philadelphia doesn’t practice a lot but they’ve been on the field enough to realize there are some significant issues with what’s regarded as one of the deepest rosters in football.
The most notable is at off-ball linebacker where the unproven group of Nakobe Dean, Nicholas Morrow, and Christian Elliss were being penciled in to replace 2022 starters T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White, who departed via free agency.
Once Dean, who the organization still believes has a significant upside, went down with an ankle injury Thursday it became evident just how thin things were and the immediate reaction was bringing in what is significant help on August.
Howie Roseman also brought back veteran offensive lineman Josh Andrews to go along with the reinstituted Josh Sills, who is returning to the team after being acquitted from some very serious sexual assault charges in Ohio Friday.
The Eagles have struggled with depth on the interior offensive line behind projected starters Landon Dickerson, Jason Kelce, and Cam Jurgens. The backup centers – Brett Toth and Julian Good-Jones – have had consistent issues with shotgun snaps and that manifested itself again for the latter on Sunday night.
To make room for all of the above, the Eagles had to make a pair of moves and released linebacker Davion Taylor, a 2020 third-round pick, and waived/injured receiver Charleston Rambo.
Here’s what we observed:
-Dean (ankle), cornerback James Bradberry (groin), receiver Deon Cain (ankle), and edge rusher Patrick Johnson (ankle) missed the practice. The injury to Johnson is not believed to be serious which is positive news after he was carted off Friday in a scary scene. Johnson was spotted on the sideline in street clothes.
-The Eagles ran a hurry-up period near the end of practice in which the offense was down eight points. Jalen Hurts converted with the first-team offense with a great throw to A.J. Brown in which the star receiver simply elevated over Josh Jobe. Hurts then ran it in for a two-point conversation, although he likely would have had to take a hit from Reed Blankenship if it were live.
Marcus Mariota and the second team also scored on a nice throw to undrafted rookie Josepth Ngata with Shaun Bradley training in coverage but the conversion attempt was badly botched thanks to a strong rush in Mariota’s face.
-Rookie safety Sydney Brown has tremendous burst and darted through to stop running back Kennedy Brooks in a live period. If Brown figures out to harness his athleticism, look out.
-Terrell Edmunds is showing his versatility as both a safety and linebacker in the big nickel and he had an impressive pass breakup on a Jalen Hurts pass to DeVonta Smith. Smith, on the other hand, got tremendous separation on a drag route under linebacker Christian Elliss.
-Third-year defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu had an impressive bull rush on Good-Jones in which he pushed the offensive lineman into the makeshift quarterback.
-No one is pushing Britain Covey at punt returner and Olamide Zaccheaus dropped one punt attempt tonight perhaps furthering the distance between Covey and any hopefuls.
-Rookie defensive tackle Moro Ojomo looked like he was poked in the eye on one-on-one drills and was forced to eventually leave the session.
-On the first play of the live period between reserve players, versatile second-year player Kyron Johnson knifed through the offensive line to sack Ian Book. Johnson, a 2022 sixth-round pick, is having a nice little run this summer and improves his chances with the ability to play off the edge, give a snap or two at off-ball linebacker, and also be a standout special teams player.
-Head coach Nick Sirianni refuses to name Cam Jurgens the starting right guard because he doesn’t have to.
“I just don't need to say anything yet,” the coach told SI.com’s Eagles Today before practice. “But it is your job to try to get me to say it. I don't have to make that decision who the starters are right now. I've learned to take it one day at a time in this league. But I appreciate the question.”
The way Sirianni was smiling when he said it was essentially the wink that Jurgens is the starting RG.
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
