On the third day, Doug told them to rest.
After two days of training camp practice, Doug Pederson held veterans out Wednesday. Remember, the full team doesn’t practice until Thursday, so that meant instead of 38 players on the field Wednesday morning, there were even fewer.
Sam Bradford, Chase Daniel, JaCorey Shepherd, Nolan Carroll and Cody Parkey weren’t on the field on the day the rest of the veterans are reporting.
Because Bradford and Daniel were out, it meant a ton of reps for Carson Wentz. That’s where we’ll start in today’s observations:
• Wentz didn’t have a great day but it wasn’t all his fault. He didn’t seem to be on the same page with his receivers on several occasions. It’s important to remember that most of the players in camp right now won’t make the roster. Earlier this week, Wentz talked about the importance of getting on the same page with his receivers. He worked on it with some veterans in San Diego earlier this summer.
• Even though there were just two quarterbacks on the field, the Eagles still made McLeod Bethel-Thompson line up as a tight end and receiver. After catching a pass from Wentz, Bethel-Thompson had to run back to the line of scrimmage and take a snap as a QB.
• Cornerback Aaron Grymes hasn’t looked like a rookie, probably because he kind of isn’t. The former CFL corner is a rookie by NFL standards, but his previous professional experience has been showing up. He broke up several more passes today.
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• We’ve talked a lot about Jalen Mills this week, and rightfully so. The young rookie has been really impressive. But today, I saw something that could get him in trouble in the future. He’s aggressive; sometimes maybe too much. On the first play of 7-on-7s, he mugged a receiver and later in the practice, he came close to what might have been another DPI. Aggressive is good. It’s all about walking the fine line.
• Another note about the veteran day off. That’s important to keep an eye on. Chip Kelly treated everyone the same. Pederson isn’t going to do that. He’ll allow vets to take a breather every once in a while. It might save some of his older players like Jason Peters.
• For a while, Eagles receivers were practicing a little rub route near the goal line. Those little tricks can help a team without top-end receivers.
• Undrafted rookie Myke Tavarres looks bigger than he did a few months ago. In fact, he said he’s up to 240 pounds, after arriving at 225. He’s one of the undrafted linebackers that has a chance to make the 53-man roster.
• Tight end M.J. McFarland doesn’t have much of a shot to make the roster, with four guys ahead of him on the depth chart. But the 6-5, 255-pounder made some nice grabs today in traffic.
• Undrafted defensive tackle Connor Wujciak got surgery and needed a pin in his hand this spring. Back then, he had a big cast on his hand. Now he has a smaller cast around his thumb.
• Observations will be much easier when the entire team is in camp tomorrow. They’ll finally put on the pads a couple days later, on Saturday.
