The Eagles practiced under the bright lights and in front of a roaring crowd of thousands on Sunday night for their annual open training camp session at Lincoln Financial Field.
And in the first good look at the team for many, two of its stars put on a show, with one on each side of the ball – up until Landon Dickerson’s injury near the end left everyone holding their breath.
Here are the game ball honors from Sunday night’s open practice at the Linc…
Defense: Quinyon Mitchell, CB
Mitchell is rapidly turning his side of the field into an island.
He’s been the only corner through camp so far to cover top receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith effectively, and that continued on into Sunday night underneath the stadium lights.
In one of the early 11-on-11 reps moving toward midfield, Jalen Hurts tried to air it out for Smith down the left sideline, but Mitchell stayed glued to him and kept in front of the ball as it arrived for the breakup.
Later on, in another 11-on-11 series for the first team, Hurts was looking to connect on a quick slant to Smith right off the snap, but Mitchell had the immediate read on it and cracked down to get his hand out and bat the ball away.
Mitchell was great last season as a rookie, especially through the playoffs. But in his second camp, he’s been looking so much better, and all against the team’s very best in Brown and Smith, which just so happen to be two of the best wideouts in the NFL.
The cornerback spot opposite him is another story, but Mitchell looks poised right now to be a major threat that opposing offenses will have to worry about this coming season.
Well, either that or to just consider his side of the field a no-fly zone.
Honorable mention: The entire first-string defensive line. They ate up the offensive line on Sunday night, and frequently had Hurts leaving the pocket or getting touched up for a practice sack. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Jihaad Campbell as the linebackers a level up also snuck in some delayed blitzes that put Hurts on the run.
Offense: DeVonta Smith, WR
Turns out you take Mitchell off of Smith in coverage, and he’ll light it up.
Spotting the ball within the offensive 30-yard line, Smith ran a wheel route down the right sideline and Hurts, out of the gun, tossed it up for him in the end zone.
The pass hit its mark between a trailing Cooper DeJean and a shifting over Sydney Brown in coverage, and Smith made the impressive catch to come down with it for the touchdown, getting met with a roar from a fired-up Linc crowd as he got up.
Hey, nights like this, fans always want to see the stars do something cool.
Smith delivered.
Of note: Brown did run out of the tunnel in pads Sunday night, but didn’t participate in the team reps. He’s still limited by a hamstring injury.
Honorable mention: WR Taylor Morin collected another touchdown on a goal-to-go out route with the second team in the back half of the practice, which has him stacking up another solid outing in camp. As mentioned previously, the undrafted rookie out of Wake Forest is a long shot to make the actual 53-man roster, but he does seem to be working his way into the practice squad picture.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
