Eagles training camp is winding down, and the preseason finale is just a few days away, but the coaches aren’t ramping down the physicality of practice. On Tuesday, the Eagles were in pads and participated in some tough team drills. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio threw just about every blitz in his playbook at the offense, and the offense – already down a few starters from injury – lost wide receiver Johnny Wilson early and struggled at times to match the physicality of the defense.
There were plenty of situational drills after a short session of wide receiver-defensive back 1-on-1s at the start of practice, so plenty of action was on display, including a couple of takeaways by the defense.
Without further ado, the game balls …
Defense game ball: Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, EDGEs
This comes with the caveat that left tackle Jordan Mailata didn’t practice (concussion) and left guard Landon Dickerson continues to be out after undergoing knee surgery, which forced Matt Pryor to play left tackle and Brett Toth to continue to fill in at left guard. So in fairness, it should’ve been a good day for the Eagles’ edge rush.
But also, you have to capitalize on those opportunities, and Hunt and Smith did – sometimes on the same play. Hunt, who hasn’t flashed as much as anticipated this camp, gave Pryor some good work on the left side, several times beating the veteran backup lineman to pressure quarterback Jalen Hurts.
As mentioned, Fangio dialed up some exotic looks and pressures, including a rare Zero blitz and an overloaded front that aligned Hunt and Smith together over the left side of the offensive line that became an outside rush for Smith and an inside stunt with a defensive tackle for Hunt. On the very next snap, Hunt’s pressure probably would’ve been a sack, but he held up and let Hurts throw the ball – which was picked off by Smith as a dropper.
That’s the whole point of camp – to tinker with different alignments, personnel groupings and schemes to see how the offense responds from a protection scheme standpoint and from a production standpoint.
Hunt and Smith have generally had quiet camps compared to Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche, which – as Jimmy Kempski pointed out – could be a mild concern headed into the season.
Offense game ball: John Metchie III, WR
Without a true flash player on offense in a practice that lacked A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and had Dallas Goedert limited, we’ll go with the new guy, who acclimated himself quickly into his new surroundings.
Watching Metchie doing pre-practice drills, you can see he has advanced footwork and is a hands-catcher who sees the ball in and can adjust when the ball isn’t perfectly placed, which are always good foundational traits to have. Metchie mostly worked with the backups but did make some cameos on the first team.
He didn’t have a perfect practice; he dropped a pass in 1-on-1s and also couldn’t beat Jakorian Bennett on a slant. But Metchie also caught a nice pass down the right seam from Kyle McCord and later in team drills, he motioned from the left slot to outside right and sat down in the zone to reel in a quick pass from Jalen Hurts.
Overall, a good effort for his Eagles practice debut. Look for Metchie to see plenty of action against the Jets on Friday in the preseason finale.
Honorable mention: Jahan Dotson. Dotson took over as WR1 and had a few nice grabs, including a comeback route on third down to move the chains in a team drill.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
