July 27, 2022   4 MIN READ

Camp Notes: Day 1 Observations

More Comfortable Hurts Leads Opening Practice

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The Eagles got in their first 2022 training camp practice Wednesday morning under typical hot-and-hazy conditions in late July.

Jalen Hurts

ITB photo: Jalen Hurts and the Eagles held their first training camp practice of the 2022 season Wednesday.

The team only practiced for 57 minutes, including a short 10-minute walk-through to close the day, but still got in some good work in on the first day.

Inside Notes

The team mainly did 7-on-7 red-zone drills in addition to individual work with coaches.

While the practice was short, I’d say it was very business-like and intense. Not much standing around, which I tend to see at other training camps.

Jalen Hurts

We had heard QB Jalen Hurts seemed more comfortable during their OTA practices during the two weeks of 7-on-7 work and that showed up again.

We saw last summer that even in these drills Hurts would often bail from the pocket when it wasn’t needed, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday. He let the play run its course and often found his next progression instead of bailing if his first read wasn’t open (more on this on tomorrow’s ITB pod).

We’re interested to see what happens when the practices take on a great importance next week when they can get in pads and also later in August against the Dolphins and Browns in joint practices. That’s when you’ll really get a better idea of how good Hurts is with timing passes.

Overall, a good first day, but keep in mind 7-on-7 drills are done for the passing game and there was little pass rush, so let’s not read into for more than it was.

Isaac Seumalo

As expected, seventh-year OL Isaac Seumalo lined up with the starters at right guard. As long as he’s comfortable with the position switch from the left side, he’ll be the starter Week 1 against the host Lions.

Jason Huntley

While he’s a long-shot to make the team, third-year pro Jason Huntley is the team’s fastest running back.

Huntley scored on an outside zone run and you can see why the Eagles claimed him off waivers two years ago from the Lions. We saw some of these runs in years past in camp, but he needs to give the coaches something to think about when making roster decisions at the end of August. Being fast only gets you so far in this business.

Injuries/Fill-Ins

With veteran C Jason Kelce recovering from a bout of COVID-19, he got the day off  – he watched practice in a jersey without a helmet) – as rookie C Cam Jurgens got some work in with the first-team offense.

We noted a while back on Inside the Birds that word around the team is that veteran DE Brandon Graham (Achilles) was not only well ahead of schedule, but moved around really well in OTA practices. We were looking to see how he would look early on in training camp and he moved around really well  and showed a good change of direction movement.

Front Seven

For those wondering about the defensive front – it’s much like we saw last season (at least in today’s limited practice). That’s a lot of “30” and “40” fronts. Our expectation coming into this camp is that you’ll see them being more multiple up front and that’s what the team showcased for the first practice, even in red-zone drills.

New OLB Haason Reddick’s speed was on display – even in 7-on-7 drills, which are done for passing game reasons. His short-area quickness will show up when the games count. The team has no one like him to make the QB move off of his spot from the edge.

We’ll talk way more about what I saw on the next pod, but I’d say their solid depth on both sides of the ball is apparent. I came out of camp last year thinking they were depth-deficient in too many areas, and that showed up at various times during the regular season.

– Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) is co-host of the “Inside the Birds” podcast and staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.

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