The Eagles ended their series of 12 practices open to the media by taking to Lincoln Financial Field. Here is everything you need to know from Sunday’s action.
The Elephant in the room
There were two main injury updates for the Eagles today. The first was that franchise QB Carson Wentz is currently day-to-day with a minor soft-tissue injury. This isn’t overly concerning, with the team clearly being cautious with their most important player in order to ensure he’s ready to go for week one.
The second update, however, is a little more concerning. First-round rookie Jalen Reagor suffered an upper-body injury on an Avonte Maddox pass breakup. It’s an injury that will roughly keep him out for 4 weeks, but the good news is that he won’t require surgery.
With the season set to start on the 13th of September, we can assume that he’d at least miss the opening two games (Washington & L.A) with hopes of returning in week 3 against Cinncinati.
This is obviously a huge blow, but it’s not the end of the world. DeSean Jackson will still be the starting Z receiver and it means that summer standout John Hightower will likely see a bump up the depth chart.
All along the Hightower
On that note, it wouldn’t be an Eagles practice without John Hightower making some noise.
It’s not too late to board the hype train, folks. The Boise State product has been red-hot this Summer and is looking ready and raring to step up and make an impact in the absence of Reagor, should he be called upon.
Breakin a Sweat
Good news: Josh Sweat decimated everyone in his path.
Bad news: Everyone in his path happened to be playing left tackle.
Obviously we can’t expect Pryor, who has been working at RG/RT for two years, to flip to LT effortlessly. But seeing Mailata, who has been consistently bullied by Joe Ostman, end up on the wrong end of the stick here too is hardly promising. If anything, this day only helps Jason Peters on his quest for some more money, which is less than ideal.
However, it’s still encouraging to see Peters, who has still been working at RG, working with all of the LT prospects as a mentor. Even when chasing the bag, he’s still putting the team first and that’s nice to see.
Everybody Hurts
Jalen Hurts had a day of two halves. The first included his first interception. The second saw him end practice with a 90-yard touchdown to Manasseh Bailey.
I know we would all hate to speculate on if Carson’s injury was a little more serious, but Hurts has had a really strong Summer and in a worst case scenario, I think the Eagles would be able to get by with Hurts at QB…and that can only be a good thing.
Don’t you know pump it up
With the regular season just 14 days away, Doug Pederson decided to simulate a game-day scenario by injecting crowd noise.
While the sound was notably awful for all in attendance, Pederson is doing all he can to prepare his players for the wave of simulated crowd noise they’ll face throughout the season.
Training Camp practices from tomorrow onward will not be open to the media, but we’ll do our best to prepare you for the team’s opener against Washington on the 13th of September!
This Summer has been a bit of a wild ride for us here at Philly Sports Network. The Pandemic has obviously changed the landscape of sport as we know it and as an independent outlet, there was a chance we may end up drowning in the same pool as so many businesses heartbreakingly have. We’re so, so thankful for all of your support over these last few months. Thank you for taking the time to read, listen, and watch our content. We love you. Hopefully we can all enjoy Eagles football together soon.
Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
