The offense, which had accumulated 37 points, had shifted into cruise control, with fourth-year running back Kenny Gainwell handling the carries to salt the game away.
Will Shipley, who stood idly on the sideline as the clock dwindled, wasn’t expecting to make his second cameo in two weeks – until a shoe malfunction surfaced, suddenly springing the rookie into action.
“Ship, get in there! Kenny’s shoe came off!” Shipley heard from a coach on the sideline.
Shipley broke the huddle with only one thought running through his mind, on a constant loop. Protect the football.
He fielded the handoff, surged forward, accelerated through the hole – almost as if shot from a cannon – and eluded multiple tacklers en route to what appeared to be his first NFL touchdown, a 17-yarder.
The sequence, however, was nullified by a holding penalty.
Naturally, for Shipley, a player conditioned to be selfless and team-oriented, the touchdown that came off the board meant very little. Instead, he decided to see the positive in a play that symbolized hard work paying dividends.
It also represented a confidence booster.
Even without achieving the ultimate depiction of offensive glory, Shipley managed to leave his mark on the 37-17 win. He recorded a tackle on special teams coverage, continued to grow in his role as the personal protector on punt, and blocked well in the return game.
Sure, much of Shipley’s weekly impact can’t be measured in the box score or on a scoreboard, but he’s fine with that.
As part of an Inside The Birds “Rookie Diary” series, I’ll be checking in with Shipley throughout the season, learning more about the first-year running back and chronicling his rookie campaign.
On Thursday, we chatted for our seventh installment.
As usual, we covered a variety of topics, including his first NFL touchdown that wasn’t, sitting atop the special teams leaderboard in a specific category, revisiting his weekly goal, the Eagles’ annual Halloween rookie outing at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and we also delved into his initial introduction into sports, specifically what prompted Shipley to ultimately choose football. And, of course, there was plenty of food conversation.
Andrew: I understand tonight [Thursday] the Eagles have tailored dinner to your preferences. What’s on the menu?
Will: “We got dinner right now, after practice. I’m going with some of my grandmother’s best-cooked meals. We got chicken sausage, jambalaya, with some Shepard’s Pie, some cornbread on the side and then some greens to go with it, ’cause you always gotta get some veggies in.”
Andrew: How does that process work, they just asked you what you wanted?
Will: “They do a player spotlight meal every week. I think it’s kind of been like the newcomers and the rookies. It’s my turn this week, and they asked me, so I hit my grandmother up and asked her to send over some of her favorite meals that she used to cook for my brother and I when we were a bit younger.”
Andrew: Did you get through that 10-pound brisket from Costco?
Will: “[Laughs] No, we’re cooking some tonight. After tonight, we’ll be two-thirds through the 10-pound Costo beef.”
Andrew: What else have you done with it?
Will: “We did some beef and sweet potatoes with avocados. It’s one of our favorite meals. We put it on some pita bread and did that. We actually made some pizzas with it, with a pita bread base. That was really good. So, yeah, we’re trying a ton of different things right now. We found this guy on YouTube – I’m trying to remember his name – but he does a lot of air fryer recipes. So, we went and bought an air fryer last week and we’ve been trying a couple of those, too. So, it’s been good. I’ve been enjoying it.”
Andrew: Have to ask about your touchdown [called back due to penalty]. You had the 17-yarder right up the middle. What did you see on that play, and what was your initial reaction with the end result?
Will: “I was just happy to get the opportunity to go in there. I wasn’t sure if it was gonna come or not; we started kinda taking away towards the end of the game, going up by a good amount. Kenny [Gainwell] was in there and had a little bit of a shoe malfunction. So, not that I wasn’t ready to go out there — I wasn’t expecting to go out there. So, coach was yelling, ‘Ship, get in there! Kenny’s shoe came off!’ I was like, ‘Alright.’ So, just go in there and first play — I kinda knew they were gonna be run plays because of the four-minute situation — just protect the football was really the only thing going through my brain. Four-minute, don’t wanna give the ball back and, man, it just opened up like the red sea. It was beautiful. Broke a tackle or two, and once I was inside the five [yard line], I was like, ‘No way I’m going down.’ [Laughs] It was gonna take God himself to bring me down at that point. I was so blessed to get in there. Even though it was a flag penalty, I think, for me, it didn’t even matter ’cause the six points didn’t matter. But it was just kind of a godwink for me, all the work and everything, to kind of see it come to fruition. And just the confidence that I got from that is gonna pay dividends, for sure.”
Andrew: Did you feel more comfortable? Last time we spoke you’d said the next time your number was called you wanted to play free.
Will: “Yeah, a hundred percent I was. I went out there, and honestly, I didn’t really have time to think about anything else, because like I said, it was very unexpected. So, I went out there and made sure I heard Jalen [Hurts] in the huddle call the play, and just went out there and played free, to be honest with you. It’s just a refreshing feeling to finally just feel that, and not even talking about getting in the end zone, but to feel that sense of relief out there and confidence. I think that’s honestly one of the biggest things you can gain in this league. If you’re here, you’re here for a reason. But to know that you could do it while you’re here and be really successful, and to get that confidence behind you, I think that’s really important. I think that’s what I gained this past week.”
Andrew: I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but you actually have four special teams tackles now, so you lead the unit. You actually have four tackles now. You and Ben [VanSumeren] had been neck-and-neck and now you’re in the lead. Are you keeping track of that?
Will: “No, I wasn’t. I was actually wondering today in special teams how many I had. So, that’s good to hear. I know we’ve talked about just the competitive nature of the whole group and how we get after one another. But we’re ultimately a team, and glad to be helping out any way I can. Hopefully I can continue to get some more, maybe miss some and give a couple to Ben [laughs]. We’ll see.”
Andrew: How did you fare in your goals from last week, kick coverage and blocking on kick return?
Will: “It was good. Definitely still areas to improve. I did a good job just staying inside shoulder on kickoff return and giving Kenny [Gainwell] a chance to break a couple of ’em. We’re really close on kickoff return. We’re one or two guys away every single time, so if we could just come together as a unit, and all 11 of us do our job, I really believe that that play is gonna benefit us down the road. So, it’s comin’ for sure. And then, kickoff coverage, I still think I did alright. Still just a lot of areas to improve. We only got a couple of ’em; one of ’em, they were doubling Jalyx [Hunt] inside of me, and then had someone out to kick me out. Maybe anticipated that a little too much and gave the returner an outside line, which, you know, I can’t do. That’s one of my responsibilities. We still got the tackle and actually made them fumble out of bounds. But yeah, I think just always areas to improve, you know what I mean? And that’s how I’m always gonna view the game and even view practice. I got to think about practice today, and I’m like, ‘Alright, yeah, I had a couple good plays, but this one and this one. And I gotta think about this, too.’ It’s just different situations. That’s just kind of how I’m wired. I’m just always trying to see different ways I can get better.”
Andrew: There’s some excitement around the city with the return of the Kelly Green uniforms. Do you have an opinion on the look?
Will: “I’m frickin’ pumped. We got our helmets right up there, and every time we get to wear them, I’m like, ‘Holy cow, man!’ This is unbelievable. I can’t believe I’m in an Eagles uniform, much less the Kelly Green one. It’s such a blessing, man. It just still hits ya different at some times. Week 9, and I’m still getting used to it. Getting used to being an Eagle and appreciating it all.”
Andrew: Obviously, you were a highly acclaimed lacrosse player. Did you have any dreams of going pro in lacrosse or was football always the goal?
Will: “Lacrosse is my first sport. It’s what I really loved. And it’s funny, my brother [James] played lacrosse at UPenn and I played football at Clemson, but we actually flip-flopped; football was his first sport, lacrosse was mine. I ended up teaching him lacrosse and he taught me football. We flip-flopped, he went to college for lacrosse and I went to college for football. So, that’s just a funny story I like to tell.
“But yeah, that was one of my biggest loves. I had a couple offers – very early – lacrosse recruiting was very early for me. It was eighth grade. I could have committed to play college lacrosse at some pretty high level D1 schools, but after I got that first football offer, that’s when I really knew what I wanted to do.
“One, just lacrosse didn’t really offer full scholarships for the most part, and that was a big role. And it’s really just scoring touchdowns [laughs]. At the end of the day, I could sit here and give you a 100 reasons why I chose football over lacrosse, but scoring touchdowns, there’s nothing like it. I’ll love it for the rest of my life. Making tackles, just different stuff like that.
“But lacrosse is something I still do to this day. Me and my brother will get out there and throw around. I’ll hit the wall every once in a while. It’s very relaxing and something I love to do. Another little fun fact, now that I’m thinking about it, my last lacrosse game ever was played with my brother. My sophomore year, his senior year, and we won the state championship together. Then junior year got cancelled ’cause of COVID, so I never played another lacrosse game ever.”
Andrew: What was the first thing you bought with your signing bonus?
Will: “Oh, that’s a great question, too. Let me think back … I think my grandmother and I went to Restoration Hardware in Charlotte, North Carolina. A little food spot. I know Restoration Hardware is a furniture spot, but in Charlotte, they have a rooftop food spot up there. My grandmother loves it to death. We go there every time I’m home. That, P.F. Changs, a couple different spots that we have that we love going to together. But, yeah, that’s the first thing I did with it. We went there and we splurged a little bit. I think we got two meals each and we enjoyed it.”
Andrew: Did you and the other rookies do anything for Halloween?
Will: “We got to go over to, I think it’s the CHOP Hospital … the Children’s Hospital over here in Philly. Just go spend about an hour or two hours with those kids, do different things. I know I was at the station where we were making masks and capes. And Johnny [Wilson] was over there drawing. Jalyx was playing some games with them. We had a lot of different events going on at the hospital. But it was incredible. I mean, we had so much fun. Not only just helping put smiles on some of those kids’ faces, but them also putting smiles on our faces. And realizing that the positions we’re in, we’re so blessed. We’re so blessed to be able to change or alter someone’s life just off of what we say or what we do. And we can’t take that for granted. It was great for me, you know, I’m very involved with the Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte. It’s very near and dear to my heart, so to be able to come here and do it in Philly, was a great feeling as well.”
Andrew: What’s one thing you’re looking to work on this week?
Will: “I would say, just go out there and really have fun this week. And kind of get that childhood mindset back in terms of just going out there and play, not worried about making mistakes and just playing free. That’s one of the biggest things for me, in terms of, I think, taking a step forward. Because when I do that, I play confident and I play free and I play better. That’s just how it is. So, just making sure that my preparation is where it needs to be. I know my confidence is where it needs to be now, and just going out and making some plays.”
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