After most of the White House noise has nearly completely died down, the Eagles held their 10th and final OTA practice on Thursday.
Back to football.
The Eagles hold a three-day mandatory minicamp next week, from Tuesday to Thursday, before a long layoff until training camp.
Here are 10 observations from Thursday's practice.
1. Another scary injury. A couple weeks after veteran linebacker Paul Worrilow was lost for the season with a torn ACL, another Eagles player was carted off the practice field.
This time, second-year wide receiver Greg Ward leaped up to try to catch a high pass from Carson Wentz during 7-on-7s and appeared to hurt his head/neck area. Ward was face down on the grass motionless as trainers checked for feeling in his extremities. Eventually, they flipped him on his back, helped him sit up and then stand and walk a couple short feet to the cart. Ward was able to sit in the front seat as the cart took him inside. So some good signs after an initially scary scene.
Update: Ward was in the locker room after practice walking around and even taking some shots on the pop-a-shot. He said he's fine.
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2. Plenty of veterans skipped out on Thursday's voluntary session. So Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox and Nigel Bradham weren't there. Michael Bennett and Darren Sproles, who haven't been to any open OTAs, were also not there.
Meanwhile, a few players still aren't practicing. Sidney Jones missed his second straight day of practice, as did Donnel Pumphrey and Josh Adams, among others.
3. With Jones still out, the Eagles tried Ronald Darby in the nickel corner spot on Thursday, which moved Rasul Douglas up to an outside starter along with Jalen Mills. This is the first time we've seen Darby in the slot.
The Eagles have previously said they think many of their players have the versatility to play both spots, but Douglas doesn't appear to be one. He's an outside guy.
This spring, we've now seen Darby, Jones and De'Vante Bausby in the slot with the first team and we know Mills has the ability. Jim Schwartz said they were going to try a few different guys there this spring and summer and that's what we've seen.
4. At one point today, Nick Foles hit Corey Clement on a deep go route and Clement caught the pass in the back of the end zone. Couldn't help but have a flashback to the Super Bowl. Hard to believe it's already been over four months.
5. Without Kelce and Johnson, the Eagles switched up their offensive line. Most notably, Stefen Wisniewski took over at center and Chance Warmack filled in at left guard. That's telling for Isaac Seumalo, because that means that if a center or a guard get injured this season, Warmack will be on the field before him either way.
At the tackle spot, Jason Peters (LT) and Taylor Hart (RT) took first-team reps in group install. Halapoulivaati Vaitai (LT) and Hart (RT) took reps in the team portion of practice. That shows you what the Eagles think of converted DT Hart.
6. During the offensive install period of practice, Peters took first- and second-team reps for the second consecutive day. Without getting those reps in 11-on-11s, it's pretty clear Peters wants to get in work in other ways.
7. It looked like Nelson Agholor got a chance to rest today, which led to Rashard Davis getting some first-team snaps in the slot. And the 22-year-old receiver made the most of them. He looks like a prototypical little slot receiver, but has the quickness to stand out. In addition, he is a pretty good return man. He's got a steep uphill battle to make the team, but is someone to watch in training camp.
8. Wentz didn't have his best day, but he's human. He threw one ball high, another low, some were on the money. The impressive thing has been his apparent trust in his left knee. He has no problem planting on it and his footwork looks solid. At one point, he was on a side field running sprints.
9. The play of the day came from Mack Hollins, who beat Mills on a double move. Foles hit him with a beautiful deep pass down the left sideline for a touchdown in 7-on-7s.
10. Mike Wallace made a nice leaping catch at one point. He's a 31-year-old vet, but he's looked spry this spring.
Stupid Observation of the Day: The Bryan Colangelo/Sixers news broke while we were all watching practice. The players obviously had no idea, but it's wild to see a story like that take over the conversations on the sideline.
