Eagles Establishing Identity at Camp as Business Picks Up

The pads will be on for the first time this week for the Philadelphia Eagles.

PHILADELPHIA - A Monday walkthrough will mark the end of the acclimation period for the Philadelphia Eagles and coach Nick Sirianni’s team will be permitted to wear pads for the first time at Tuesday morning’s scheduled session.

For those who don’t know, the NFL and its Players Association jointly negotiated a ramp-up period to help alleviate injuries at the beginning of training camp.

That doesn’t mean the Eagles are required to put on the pads as soon as the legislation allows but Sirianni referenced just how important they are for evaluation purposes on a number of occasions before Sunday's practice.

The head coach first mentioned the pads Sunday when discussing undersized rookie edge rusher Nolan Smith, who has looked like a world-beater over the first three open practices by showing off his 4.39 speed at 238 pounds.

“You obviously see his talent with his athleticism and how hard he plays,” Sirianni said. “So, it's very noticeable of not only his get-off of how he gets off the football but also how he retraces to get to the football. Whether that's running down a play that's gotten behind him or whatnot, you see how hard he plays on a play-to-play basis.”

The context was added by the coach, however.

“It's always hard to tell with the O-line, D-line before you get the pads on,” Sirianni said. “... It will show out even more once we do.”

A query about another undersized player penciled in to take over at right guard on the offensive side, Cam Jurgens, was similarly stymied by Sirianni.

“I go back to the question on Nolan, it's always hard to tell when you don't have pads on,” he said. “So what you are looking for is the movements. What you are looking for is making sure that he's on the same page with who he is next to with Jason [Kelce] and Lane [Johnson], which he has been, and the communication that's happening there.”

What can be said is that Jurgens worked with the first team in all three practices and that’s obviously not a bad thing when it comes to projecting his future as the presumptive starter.

“I'm really pleased with the way he looks, and I'm also pleased with the communication that's happening between those three guys,” said Sirianni. “It makes an easier transition of having a new right guard when you have two guys like Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson that's playing between them.”

The final exam looms for Jurgens, though.

"I think to say that he is there and he is there exclusively would be unfair to the other guys that are competing with him because, again, you're going to find out more and more as the pads come on," said Sirianni. "... nothing is in stone, and we'll just keep working to make sure that we put the right five guys out there when we go."

The Eagles coach played coy when asked to confirm when the pads will go on.

“I don't know. I'm worried about today, and I don't know exactly the day they come on off the top of my head without looking at a schedule,” Sirianni claimed.

In theory, the Eagles could hold off until Thursday’s practice after an off day Wednesday but the pads are undoubtedly going on at some point this week.

In recent years players like Reed Blankenship, a 2022 undrafted rookie penciled in as a starter this season at safety, and Alex Singleton, now a starting linebacker in Denver, made their runs toward a roster spot when the pads came on.

Along with Smith and Jurgens, the pads will help sort out the situations at running back and linebacker, as well as presumably unveil Philadelphia’s strength up front on both sides of the football.

The players that showed the most physicality in the acclimation period were LB Nicholas Morrow and safety K’Von Wallace so perhaps that’s taken to another level when physicality becomes encouraged.

“It's early,” defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “Our biggest thing is we talked about our identity. … It's all going to start there. We want to play a physical brand of football. We want to be able to run and hit, and those things, there's not much that I'm going to do to do that. 

"Those are choices that [the players are] making."

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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