Monday marked the fourth Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice ahead of the 2024 season. Today’s session lasted for about 90 minutes. Here’s what I observed at the NovaCare Complex.

EAGLES PRACTICE NOTES

• JALEN HURTS UPDATE: Today was easily Hurts’ worst practice so far this summer.

In fairness, the Eagles’ starting quarterback was constantly under pressure with Tyler Steen and Lane Johnson missing from the starting offensive line. But Hurts exacerbated his protection’s struggles by holding onto the ball for an eternity.

Hurts still hasn’t put the ball in harm’s way, which is obviously good. And he did have back-to-back completions to Will Shipley and Kenny Gainwell (the wheel route is still undefeated) in 7-on-7.

But Hurts missed a chance for a highlight completion when he considerably overthrew an open John Ross in the end zone. The wobbly ball was his most off-target miss so far in camp.

Hurts had a deep completion to DeVonta Smith for a touchdown but it came after Milton Williams had him dead to rights in the backfield for a “sack.” Avonte Maddox was trailing well behind DeVonta with the thought that the play was already over. DeVonta made an impressive sideline catch that also came after Hurts was likely “sacked.”

I was originally thinking about going “thumbs sideways” for Hurts since the offense’s struggles weren’t entirely his fault. But I leaned towards the generous side on Day 3 when I was between up/sideways. So I’ll lean towards the other side and go thumbs down here to balance it out in this very serious and scientific activity.

Day 1: Thumbs up

Day 2: Thumbs up

Day 3: Thumbs up

Day 4: Thumbs down

• EAGLES INJURY UPDATES: Nick Sirianni said Tyler Steen (ankle) will be out “a little bit.” Saquon Barkley (personal reasons) and Lane Johnson (toe) did not practice. Johnson’s injury is not considered serious. Trevor Keegan (arm) left practice early but returned to the field after a trip inside the team’s facility. Keegan was seen signing autographs after practice, so, maybe it’s nothing too serious. Brett Toth (hamstring) was upgraded to limited after sitting out the first three days. Oren Burks (knee) hasn’t practiced since the first day of camp. Sydney Brown is still on active/PUP and Cooper DeJean is still on active/NFI.
• With Steen and Lane Johnson out, the Eagles had Mekhi Becton at right guard and Fred Johnson at right tackle. The altered second-team offensive line looked like this from left to right: Anim Dankwah, Trevor Keegan, Dylan McMahon, Matt Hennessy, Darian Kinnard. Hennessy was previously the second-team center and Kinnard had been playing at guard.
• Kudos to the Eagles’ defensive line for taking advantage of a weakened offensive line. Nolan Smith especially stood out with back-to-back “sacks” on Hurts. His first came when he used his flexibility to dip under Fred Johnson and get to Hurts before the quarterback could even realize what happened; a very quick win. On the next rep, Smith used an inside move to get past Johnson and get to Hurts. Obviously need to see Smith have success against higher quality competition but this was an encouraging day for his development.

• CORNERBACK TRAINING CAMP BATTLE: For the third day in a row, Kelee Ringo took the first first-team cornerback reps across from Darius Slay in 11-on-11. That’s three for Ringo to one for Isaiah Rodgers. But it was Rodgers who arguably made the play of the day by knocking down a Kenny Pickett pass in the end zone to prevent a deep touchdown to Joseph Ngata. It was a good ball by the backup quarterback; he gave his receiver a chance to make the grab. But it was an even better play by Rodgers, who continues to demonstrate impressive ball skills.
• LINEBACKER TRAINING CAMP BATTLE: For the fourth day in a row, Devin White and Zack Baun were the first first-team linebackers in 11-on-11. White continues to look explosive. The veteran linebacker had great coverage on a short pass to Will Shipley in the flat. White nearly broke up the pass but had to settle for pushing the running back out of bounds immediately after the ball was caught. Last year’s Eagles linebackers weren’t doing anything like that in practice.
• With Barkley out, Will Shipley saw an increased workload. It didn’t take long into practice for him to log multiple targets, including the aforementioned wheel route catch. That was a nice hands-extended, over-the-shoulder grab by the rookie. Shipley is looking like a pretty natural pass-catcher.
• A comment from Avonte Maddox’s post-practice press conference reflected a reality we’ve seen: Eagles wide receivers are lining up in different spots more often. Maddox specifically said he’s seeing DeVonta in the slot more often than before.
• Johnny Wilson saw some more first-team reps again today. He didn’t do anything with them that really stood out but it’s still noteworthy. Despite being drafted later than Ainias Smith, Wilson might have a better chance of making the team and having some kind of offensive role.
• Second-team safety James Bradberry had a nice diving pass breakup on a Pickett pass thrown over the middle. First time Bradberry has popped this summer.
• Not a great practice for Tyrion Davis-Price, who dropped multiple passes. TDP dealt with drops and also had a fumble back in spring practices.
• Griffin Hebert made a snazzy snag on a Will Grier throw during the developmental period towards the end of practice. Second practice where Hebert has stood out. Could be making his case to be on the practice squad again.
• Sorry for the delay in getting today’s notes posted. My car failing to start after practice wasn’t a very fun or welcomed development.

UP NEXT: The Eagles practice again tomorrow starting at 10:00 AM Eastern. It’ll be their first padded practice now that the mandated ramp up period is over.