Saturday’s dangerously high temperatures and heat index might have been a decent enough reason for the Eagles to take things easy.
Doug Pederson had different plans.
Here are some observations from Saturday morning’s sweat-soaked practice:
• Man, it was a scorcher. When practice ended at 10:42, the temperature, according to the Weather Channel app, was 90 degrees, and it felt like 105. Still, Pederson worked his players hard on Saturday morning for the thud practice. It lasted two hours and 42 minutes.
The team had giant fan misters on the sideline, but there wasn’t much relief from the heat.
Intern Austin actually melted. Just kidding. He made it through the heat and then wrote about it (see story).
• Several players were back at practice, including Malcolm Jenkins, Jason Peters and Wendell Smallwood (see story). It looked like those three were limited, though. Brandon Brooks, who left Thursday’s game early with a biceps injury, came out for the start of practice, but went inside early. Pederson said Brooks is fine.
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• With Lane Johnson’s suspension looming, the Eagles are preparing to not have him for 10 games. Johnson worked with the second team at right tackle, while Allen Barbre slid out to first-team right tackle. His left guard spot was taken by rookie Isaac Seumalo.
So here’s how the first-team offensive line looked, from left to right: Jason Peters, Seumalo, Jason Kelce, Brooks, Barbre.
And second team: Matt Tobin, Dennis Kelly, Josh Andrews, Stefen Wisniewski, Johnson.
I was somewhat surprised Seumalo, and not Wisniewksi, took over at left guard, although both struggled plenty on Thursday night.
• A few thoughts on Lane Johnson. Ultimately, it’s on him. He put something into his body and then tested positive. It’s on him because those are the rules. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from fans; most are completely blaming this on Lane and a few think the system needs fixing.
I kinda think it’s both. The NFLPA in a statement released to CSNPhilly said it will test any substance a player sends them free of charge (see story). That’s pretty damning without knowing any other context. But here’s something I do know: the system is screwed up. That companies are able to leave out ingredients on bottles because the FDA doesn’t stringently regulate supplements is crazy.
Eventually, there has to be a better system. And maybe there will be a better one … eventually. But that won’t help Johnson this year; he seemed resigned to his fate.
• Carson Wentz was very limited with sore ribs that ended up being a hairline fracture (see story). The team hopes to have him back by the end of the preseason, but this means he’ll miss valuable practice reps. Ultimately, Pederson’s plan was to make this a redshirt year for Wentz, so if Sam Bradford stays healthy, this injury might not mean much in the long-term.
Go ahead and rip Pederson for leaving Wentz in a preseason game for too long if you want. But I won’t. I can’t blame Pederson for wanting to see more of the rookie; all the game reps are valuable for him.
• Josh Huff didn’t practice on Saturday for reasons unknown and Jordan Matthews is still out with a knee injury. So Future Hall of Famer Paul Turner took first-team reps in the slot. He didn’t do anything extraordinary, but he’s just been solid all camp. The undrafted rookie out of Louisiana Tech has been more consistent than just about any of the other skill position players and definitely deserved some first-team reps. Can he make the team? I’m not sure, but it’s time for the Eagles to at least think about it.
• No live tackling on Saturday – we’re done with that in camp – but still a pretty physical day. The team did 11-on-11 red zone drills for a little while. On one play Fletcher Cox stuffed rookie running back Byron Marshall. On another, offensive tackle Dillon Gordon lined up as a fullback and delivered a huge block.
• Nelson Agholor had another drop on a high ball. No, it wasn’t a perfect pass from Sam Bradford; it was high and a little behind Agholor. But c’mon, this kid’s gotta start making plays. He dropped a similar ball in the game on Thursday night. Not every ball is going to be perfect. Sometimes receivers just need to make plays and Agholor hasn’t done that in his short NFL career.
• Nolan Carroll made a nice play in coverage against Chris Givens during the first 11-on-11 session. Carroll is my guess at the starting corner opposite Leodis McKelvin.
• Speaking of McKelvin, at around 10:30 a.m., as practice was winding down and it was a million degrees, the Waycross, Georgia native started running gassers. Maybe he was just trying to prevent a cramp, but my first thought was, “this guy’s out of his mind.” My second thought was, “yup, this guy’s definitely out of his mind.”
