The Eagles were forced to practice inside the bubble for the second straight day, even though the rain subsided shortly after it began.
Still, with how sloppy the quarterbacks were indoors, it’s probably a good thing the team wasn’t outside. It might have been even worse.
This was the first real full-team practice of camp, but tomorrow morning will mark the first day in pads, followed by Sunday’s open practice at the Linc.
Here are some observations from Friday:
• Brandon Brooks (hamstring) and Ryan Mathews (ankle) were still out. In their places, Stefen Wisniewski and Darren Sproles took most of the first-team reps. Head coach Doug Pederson said Brooks and Mathews are day to day and he expects to have them back next week.
• The quarterbacks looked bad in 11-on-11s. All of them. Overthrows, underthrows, balls behind receivers – this morning’s practice really had it all. They all struggled.
• Sam Bradford overthrew his receivers several times and opened up 11-on-11s with an underthrown ball that was picked off. He also threw the ball behind a few players.
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• Chase Daniel had one bad overthrow to Chris Givens that forced him out of bounds in 11-on-11s just about a minute after Bradford did the same thing to him. After the second one, Givens turned around and was visibly frustrated by the throws.
• Carson Wentz continues to struggle finding timing with some of the third-string receivers. No, many of these guys won’t make the team, but after a week of throwing to these guys, you’d figure they’d be on the same page a little more.
• One impressive play Wentz did make, though, came when he was forced up in the pocket. Clearly the most athletic quarterback on the roster, Wentz moved up and found tight end M.J. McFarland on the run. It was a big play because we know Wentz can take off and run, but here he had the presence of mind to keep his eyes downfield.
• It seemed like Jordan Matthews, Chris Givens and Nelson Agholor were the three receivers who were on the field most with the first team. But Josh Huff and Rueben Randle did get some first-team snaps. Agholor had a pretty good day and made a great diving catch during the individual portion of practice. And Huff got some work in the slot.
• It wasn’t just the receivers who rotated with the first team on Friday. On defense, while Leodis McKelvin, Ron Brooks and Nolan Carroll got most of the reps with the ones, Eric Rowe and Jalen Mills got a couple too.
• And Rowe made the best of it. His “hiccups” this spring were well documented (see story), but on the first play of 11-on-11s, he made a nice leaping interception on an underthrown ball from Bradford. Earlier this week, he said he thinks he corrected his problems and is looking forward to proving himself when the pads come on.
• The offense spent some time working on end-arounds. Matthews got one, Huff got another. They also played around with some fake end-arounds. Maybe they’ll never use them in a game, but they exist as a reminder that this playbook is significantly more in-depth than Chip Kelly’s.
• Many fans I’ve heard from just expect Cody Parkey to easily win the kicker job over Caleb Sturgis. Well, that’s not happening so far. I thought, at least in the practices we saw, Sturgis was much better than Parkey this spring. That has now continued into camp. Sturgis was perfect on Friday, while Parkey missed two makeable field goals. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Sturgis beats him out.
• On one play in 11-on-11s, it looked like Nigel Bradham screwed up his assignment, which left Zach Ertz wide open in the middle of the field. Ertz tripped over his feet, but it had the potential to be a touchdown play. Afterward, Malcolm Jenkins went over the play with Bradham on the field. That tells you how smart Jenkins is. Bradham has played in this defense before, but Jenkins is the one there to help him go over the play. Jenkins is a Pro Bowl caliber player, but means more to the team than his individual play.
• The orange linebacker donuts were back today. This time, they were paired with a giant ball. I don’t tire of watching these drills. I can’t think of any relevant reason to do so, but I’d like to see the linebackers dive through the donut one time.
