In Roob’s Eagles Observations: Early impressions of Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Hey, we actually have something to talk about!
We’re finally in full training camp mode, the first preseason game is only 12 days away and we’re in the early stages of seeing the 2024 Eagles take shape.
The biggest difference in Jalen, expectations of Nolan Smith and an Eagles Olympic star you may not have heard of. Here we go with our initial training camp set of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations.
1. My two-biggest takeaways from the first three training camp practices are just how fast Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley both look. Like, fast. Hurts has that old explosion back in his legs, and Kellen Moore seems to love dialing up all sorts of plays designed to get Hurts out in the open field – QB draws, read options, delays, RPOs, you name it. Seeing how dynamic Hurts looks now really makes you realize how much he was compromised at the end of last year. Here’s a guy who up until Week 7 last year was averaging 5.5 yards per carry in his career (not including kneel downs) and the last 10 games averaged 4.1 yards per carry (not including kneel downs). But forget the stats. Just the eye test said Hurts wasn’t right at the end of last year when he tried to run. And if there were any question before about how much Moore wants to make Hurts’ legs a big part of the offense there isn’t anymore. We’re seeing it every day on the practice field. But Hurts is also throwing the ball as well as I’ve ever seen him throw in training camp. He’s been sharp, accurate, unloading quickly, spreading it around to all his weapons. It’s only a few days, but a really auspicious start for Hurts, and he really seems to be comfortable in Moore’s scheme. And I’ll say the same about Barkley in his first few days of practice. He’s fast and lean and looks powerful and elusive both as a runner and receiver. Moore is doing a lot with Barkley, and you’ll see him lining up in the backfield, in the slot, even outside once in a while. The key with both Hurts and Barkley is keeping them healthy so they look just as fast in January as they do in July. That won’t be easy, but if the Eagles can get to the playoffs with Hurts and Barkley looking close to how they look now, this is going to be a very tough offense to stop.
2. There’s been a huge emphasis on conditioning this summer, and it’s safe to assume the Eagles believe there’s a direct connection between last year’s collapse and the team’s overall fitness level as the year went on. And not just Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter. When an entire team looks slow, sluggish and out of position, there are a lot of reasons for it, but the coaching and training staff – and players – seem to really be emphasizing conditioning more than in Nick Sirianni’s previous training camps. On Thursday, during the last period, everybody on the field – all 22 guys – finished every snap by sprinting to the end zone. We’ve seen guys do extra running after practice and we’ve seen the offense finish a lot of plays full-speed to the end zone, even if the play was whistled dead. Conditioning has been a buzz word around camp the first week and we’ll see if that emphasis pays off in the long run.
3. One secondary configuration we haven’t really talked about would have Kelee Ringo or Isaiah Rodgers at CB2 opposite Darius Slay, with Quinyon Mitchell handling the slot. With Cooper DeJean out for multiple weeks, the slot spot seems wide open. Avonte Maddox has been getting the 1st-team reps, but listening to Vic Fangio talk the other day about how Mitchell surprised him with his ability to swing inside and handle the slot it makes you wonder if that’s something we’ll see more of. “We just put him in there and tried it and it looked fine,” Fangio said Thursday. Maddox is a very good slot when he’s healthy, but I get the sense the Eagles ideally would like to have the seventh-year veteran back up everywhere, and if Mitchell can give the Eagles an answer at inside corner they could very well go in that direction. “He’s a talented guy,” Fangio said of Mitchell. “He’s smart. Has a good football feel. All of that really is more than I thought he had just from watching the college tape, so that’s been a plus. I think he’s a guy we can move around anywhere in the coverage part.”
4. We’re only a few days into camp, but Grant Calcaterra has already gapped the field – C.J. Uzomah, Albert Okwuegbunam, E.J. Jenkins – for the No. 2 tight end spot behind Dallas Goedert. Calcaterra is in his third year as a 6th-round pick, and his snaps dropped from 227 as a rookie to 118 last year. He’s only got nine career receptions, including a 40-yarder as a rookie. There’s not a huge body of work, but we know Calcaterra has good hands and can run. It’s just a matter of whether he can block well enough to not be a hindrance in the running game. You can’t just throw when TE2 is on the field. “Grant has really done an excellent job to be the second tight end currently,” Kellen Moore said Thursday. “His consistency throughout OTAs, early in training camp. He has a great awareness and understanding of the game. He teams up with Dallas really, really well, and so we’re excited about that.”
5A. Don’t assume that just because Fangio is an old-school coach – now in his 45thyear since starting out as defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Dunmore High outside Scranton – he’s not interested in analytics. “I love analytics,” Fangio said. And while he’s receptive to the numbers and trends presented to him by the Eagles’ analytics department, he said he also has his own system that he developed that he hasn’t shared with anybody else, even his closest coaching confidants. “I’ve been doing analytics myself my own way for years and I don’t share my process with anybody. I believe in analytics. I think analytics people miss the boat a little bit on what’s important, but I’m not going to tell them what’s important. I do it myself. I’ll use whatever they give me and decide what’s relevant and what isn’t relevant.”
5B. Fangio reminds me so much of Jim Johnson. The two coaching legends never worked together, but they both started their pro coaching careers in the USFL, they both spent 1986 through 2008 as NFL defensive coaches, they both worked with John Harbaugh and they both arrived in Philly late in their career. Fangio has the same no-nonsense, no-BS attitude that Johnson had. Just like Jim, he doesn’t suffer fools, he’s not afraid to answer a question about a player honestly and he won’t hesitate to correct a media member that asks a stupid question. It’s refreshing being around a coach who isn’t afraid to tell the truth.
6. Nolan Smith is one of the most interesting players on the roster. Coming off a pretty much non-existent rookie year – 188 snaps, one sack against the Dolphins when he was unblocked – Smith does look bigger and stronger, and his teammates have all been raving about where he is. You can’t tell much about edge rushers till the pads go on – which should happen Monday – but Smith is clearly the No. 3 edge behind Josh Sweat and Bryce Huff, and he got a handful of reps with the first defense on Saturday, which was good to see. I don’t think Brandon Graham will get more than 10 to 12 snaps per game, so Smith could be in the 20-to-30 range. The kid was a 1st-round pick and the Eagles really need a big-time jump from Year 1 to Year 2. I’d say anything less than six or seven sacks would be disappointing.
7. With the Olympics in full gear and track scheduled to start Thursday in Paris, it’s a good time to recall the great Ollie Matson, who won two medals in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. Matson placed third in the 400-meter dash in 46.94, finishing behind Jamaicans George Rhoden (Olympic-record 46.09) and Herb McKenley (46.20) and led off the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team, which placed second in 3:04.21, finishing behind Jamaica’s world-record 3:04.04. As soon as the Olympics were over, Matson reported to Cards training camp in Lake Forest, Ill., where he began his Hall of Fame NFL career. Matson was a six-time 1st-team all-pro, with 8,458 scrimmage yards and 73 total touchdowns (40 rushing, 23 receiving, 10 returning) over 15 seasons. He spent his last three years with the Eagles – 1964 through 1966 – and by then was just a role player in his mid-30s. He played in 40 games as an Eagle, with 608 rushing yards, 301 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972. Curiously, Matson’s coach with the Eagles was Joe Kuharich, who was his coach at the University of San Francisco as well as his rookie year with the Cardinals.
8. It’s early, but the more I think about it, the more I suspect Zack Baun is going to end up starting at off-ball linebacker opposite Devin White. Yeah, he’s competing with Nakobe Dean during camp, but I feel like if the Eagles wanted Dean to be the starter they would have just given him the job, kind of like they gave Tyler Steen the right guard spot without any sort of training camp competition. The Eagles believe Baun is smart and versatile and at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds has the length and range to be more effective in coverage than the 5-11, 230-pound Dean. He’s also probably a bit faster than Dean – it was a few years ago, but he ran a 4.65 at the Combine and Dean ran 4.74. The book on Dean is that he’s so smart and instinctive he can make up for his measurables not being ideal. I really want to see Dean get a fair shot and I’m still intrigued by the kid, and he’s looked fine in the early days of camp. But just the fact that Baun and Dean are splitting reps tells you the Eagles aren’t sold on Dean. I may be dead wrong here, but if the Eagles aren’t sold on Dean going into Year 3, I’m not sure there’s much he can do these next few weeks to beat out Baun.
9A. Maybe I’m crazy, but if the Eagles ever needed to use Britain Covey in the slot I’m convinced he could handle it. The dude has some zip running routes, he catches everything thrown his way and he’s quick and elusive with the ball in his hands. He’s been getting a healthy dose of reps on offense, so maybe we’ll see Covey this year as more than a punt returner. Covey has only played 77 offensive snaps in two seasons, but he did catch three passes for 35 yards in the regular-season finale disaster against the Giants in January. One thing we’ve learned about Kellen Moore is that he wants to use every single possible skill guy in a variety of roles, and that just may include Covey this fall.
9B. Covey’s 11.7 career punt return average is 4th-highest in the NFL over the last 25 years (minimum 50 returns). He trails only Jeff Ogden from 1999 through 2002 (13.1), Devin Duvernay from 2020 through 2023 (12.8) and Gunner Olszewski from 2019 through 2023 (11.9) and is tied with Devin Hester from 2006 through 2016. The only Eagle with a higher career punt return average is Ernie Steele, whose 14.7 average from 1942 through 1948 remains the NFL record.
9C. Steele, who spent his entire career with the Eagles, also had 1,337 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns and a 5.2 average, 31 catches for 520 yards and four TDs and 24 interceptions. He’s the only player in NFL history with 20 or more career interceptions and a rushing average over 5.0 (minimum 100 attempts).
9D. I can’t for the life of me understand why Steele isn’t in the Eagles Hall of Fame.
10. Joseph Ngata is my dark horse candidate for the WR3 spot. For a few reasons. No. 1, he’s the only outside receiver other than A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith that’s still here from last year, which tells you there’s something about him the Eagles like. Ngata was on the practice squad all last year after signing as an undrafted free agent. No. 2, he’s got the size you like at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, and he seems to catch the ball very well. And No. 3, he’s a kid who played at a high level at Clemson and at 23 would give the Eagles more youth than 28-year-old John Ross or 27-year-old Parris Campbell. Unlike Ross and Campbell, he’s not a reclamation project, a veteran trying to salvage his career. Ngata isn’t a speed demon, but he runs well enough – 4.54 at the Combine. If he can get open and consistently catch the ball in training camp he could be in the mix.
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