Blake Countess had three eyes on Wednesday.
The first two were under his helmet, scanning the field in anticipation of throws coming from fellow rookie Carson Wentz.
The third was on top of his helmet.
The rookie safety wore a small cylindrical camera, about the width of a silver dollar, on the top left of his helmet — just above the Eagles’ logo — during the third practice of training camp. The footage from the camera will give the team a different vantage point while looking at practice film.
“Technology, you can't stay up fast enough with it,” head coach Doug Pederson said after practice. “Those are great devices to have. In fact, we used them in Kansas City with the quarterbacks. We've had them on their helmets before.
“It gives you an opportunity to kind of see from the players' vantage point where they're looking, where their eyes are. Are they in the right direction? Are they on the right reads? And defensively are [they] in the right spots? And then you can evaluate and help correct the player.”
On Wednesday, Countess was the only player wearing the camera, but the rookie said the team plans on using them more, eventually for receivers and quarterbacks.
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How can it help Countess to get better?
“Eye progressions, just seeing where I’m looking at and being more disciplined with my eyes,” the sixth-round pick said. “Throughout the play, if your eyes are bad, you’re probably going to get beat, especially as a defensive back.”
Pederson said sometimes the helmet cams give back some shaky video, so using it on Countess was a test of sorts.
But the Chiefs used them for their quarterbacks and if the feedback from this preliminary camera is good, the Eagles might put them on the helmets of their quarterbacks soon.
“The thing is, too, with technology,” Pederson said, “if it helps you win football games, I'm all for it.”
As for Countess, the team told him about the camera on Tuesday and when he got into the locker room on Wednesday, there it was, attached to his helmet.
Why did they pick him?
“I don’t know,” he said with a laugh. “I wish I knew.”
