A Couple of Days In

The Eagles have had a couple of Training Camp practices. That’s way too early to draw any conclusions, but we can talk about what we’ve seen so far.

The headline at this point is the performance of Jalen Hurts and the offense.

Went to Eagles practice today! Thought Jalen Hurts was impressive.

Much more on his plate – protections without Kelce, shifts, motions.

Ball rarely hit the ground – accuracy impressive.

If this practice is any indication, he’s still a big, big part of the designed run game. pic.twitter.com/EGOUJ8S8dx

— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) July 25, 2024

The Eagles got to the Super Bowl in 2022 because of Hurts and the offense. The defense had a good year, but the offense was the key. The Eagles have invested a lot of money and resources into the offense so they need this group to be great. Not good, great.

So far the offense has looked like the real deal. Hurts has been fantastic through two practices. The pass catchers are making plays. Saquon Barkley is off to a strong start. You can see his talent and versatility. The combination of Hurts and Barkley is going to give defenses fits.

Kellen Moore was hired as the offensive coordinator to make changes to the offense. Jet motion is being used on a regular basis. Receivers are moving around to different sides and spots. Empty sets are being mixed in. There has been a mixture of pistol and shotgun.

None of this is groundbreaking, which is why it was so frustrating that Nick Sirianni wouldn’t mix it in last year. He was overly stubborn and it hurt the offense. Sirianni hired Moore to mix in these ideas and give the offense a boost. Defenses are too smart and versatile for a static offense. You must give them different looks. You have to throw some eye candy at them. It is good to see the offense showing this in camp. It sure looks like Moore is truly running the offense.

Depth is still a question for the offense. Parris Campbell was solid on day one. Will he be good enough for the team to really trust him? The rookie receivers are struggling so far. You wonder if Howie will be looking around the league for someone else to bring in.

Backup TE isn’t set. Will CJ Uzomah or Grant Calcaterra win that job?

There isn’t any live tackling so it is hard to truly judge the defense. The biggest takeaway for me is that Vic Fangio isn’t walking on egg shells. He is blunt with his players and is demanding. Last year the defense was soft. We don’t know how good this group will be, but I cannot imagine Fangio letting them be soft.

Devin White: “[Vic Fangio] will call you right out. Tell you that you weren’t good enough, that was piss poor. He’ll do it 1-on-1, and in front of everybody in the film room. He’ll correct anybody to everyone. Jalen Carter caught one yesterday for not doing something right.” pic.twitter.com/DGqhzxDwng

— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) July 25, 2024

The players seem to embrace Fangio and his demanding ways.

“It’s all business. It’s all football. All we care about winning. The W is the most important stat”

-Jordan Davis likes Vic Fangio. He says Vic is old-school. He says he’s not gonna ask Vic about his day and how his family is. Vic Fangio is all football and winning pic.twitter.com/Xkp3NqqYaq

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) July 26, 2024

There is a lot of competition on defense. Fangio is going to give everyone a chance to show what they can do and he’ll figure out roles for them.

Linebacker is still a mystery. Devin White seems to have a real chip on his shoulder. I think he understands his career is at a crossroads and this is a critical year for him. Fangio continues to mention Zack Baun so we know he’ll get every chance to win a starting role.

Howie Roseman said a lot of good things about Nakobe Dean in his press conference. I thought it was interesting that he doubled-down on Dean. That makes me curious to see Dean in action. He has had some good moments in camp so far.

Nakobe Dean has gotten some quality reps in the early going here. Had a TFL with the first-team defense and got into the backfield on a passing play a few plays earlier as well. #Eagles

— EJ Smith (@EJSmith94) July 24, 2024

I still think Ben VanSumeren is a guy to keep an eye on. Most roster projections in the spring had him getting cut. I think VanSumeren could be a key role player. He is good on STs. Fangio the other day talked about the importance of raw ability and movement skills. That is VanSumeren. He is a gifted athlete who is still learning how to play LB. Fangio could see him as someone worth developing.

There are a ton of guys competing in the secondary. CJ Gardner-Johnson has brought energy and attitude back to the defense. Fangio talked about how impressive Quinyon Mitchell is physically. You can just see what a gifted athlete he is. There are still lots of questions on the back end. The difference is that there might actually be some good answers this year.

It feels like the Eagles are off to a good start. This is a talented roster. The coaches just need some players to step up at certain positions if this team is going to get back to where it wants to be.

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