Eagles training camp observations: Quez Watkins steals the show originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It felt really good to see fans back in the stands at the Linc.
The Eagles held their first of two public practices at the stadium on Sunday night. It wasn’t a packed house but much of the lower bowl was full and after a season with very limited fans, it felt good to hear some cheering.
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The Eagles announced their attendance as 25,896. Practice lasted 1 hour and 51 minutes.
One of the loudest cheers of the night came when Zach Ertz took the field before the practice. It was a nice moment after what has been a strange offseason.
1. A few housekeeping notes:
• Brandon Brooks, who has been out since straining his hamstring on the second day of camp, returned to practice on Sunday night. He was a limited participant.
Also limited: Ryan Kerrigan (thumb), Michael Walker (foot).
• Isaac Seumalo (hamstring) is now listed as day-to-day after coming into training camp listed as week-to-week. It appears he’s getting closer.
The other day-to-day players: Grayland Arnold (hamstring), Genard Avery (groin), Jason Croom (knee), Obi Melifonwu (hamstring).
• Week-to-week: John Hightower (groin), DeVonta Smith (knee), JaCoby Stevens (hamstring), Davion Taylor (calf), Casey Tucker (biceps).
2. Quez Watkins had a great night to continue what has been a very good camp for the second-year wideout. He had the catch of the night late in team drills when he out-jumped Anthony Harris on a deep ball of about 50 yards for a touchdown. It was a perfect capper on the night for Watkins, who finally got out there for a first-team rep.
During WR-DB 1-on-1s, Watkins caught an acrobatic pass over Craig James in the end zone for a touchdown. Later in team drills, Watkins had a diving grab near the goal line.
Watkins did take a big hit during 7-on-7s, but he returned to practice and appeared to be fine. Watkins deserves more first-team reps.
3. In the last period of practice, the offense got a nice little drive going. They converted on a third down when Hurts completed a 30-yard pass down the sideline to Travis Fulgham. It was his best catch of camp. And then Fulgham also caught a pass to move the sticks on fourth-down. But ultimately, they were stopped on a third down and the drive was over.
On the second team, Joe Flacco was picked off by Marcus Epps on a pass intended for Tyree Jackson.
4. Some other notes from WR-DB 1-on-1 drills:
• Jalen Reagor beat Steve Nelson deep down the left sideline for a nice touchdown.
• Avonte Maddox had very tight coverage on Greg Ward Jr. down the field to force an incompletion.
• Rookie Zech McPhearson had a nice PBU on a rep against Jhamon Ausbon. He timed it perfectly and climbed his back to force an incompletion.
• Eric Wilson covered Kenny Gainwell about 40 yards downfield for an incompletion. Impressive speed from the linebacker to stick with the speedy rookie running back.
• Miles Sanders again struggled with a couple drops during this period. This is becoming a real concern.
5. Josh Sweat, who has had a great summer, absolutely put Andre Dillard on roller skates during team drills. Sunday night was Jordan Mailata’s night with the first team, which means Dillard saw Sweat with the twos. Sweat went right through him. It wasn’t a great night for Dillard but he was a little better in OL-DL 1-on-1s.
6. Other notes from OL-DL 1-on-1 drills:
• Fletcher Cox vs. Jack Driscoll isn’t fair. Driscoll is just starting to cross train at right guard and Cox went through him like he wasn’t even there.
• Jordan Mailata really gets to show off his strength in these 1-on-1s. He’s so strong and has such a good anchor that the power moves just don’t work on him.
• Keep an eye on UDFA Kayode Awosika from Buffalo. The rookie guard has been pretty impressive. He shut down Milton Williams on an inside rush and later dumped Marlon Tuipulotu in a team rep.
• Williams had a much better rep rushing from the outside than his reps inside. On his one shot as an end, he quickly went around Brett Toth.
7. Jake Elliott went 6-for-6 on his field goals. He hit from 32, 40, 44, 28, 46 and 53. Shoutout to @Talkin215 on Twitter for the assist. PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski asked for some help from a fan with us reporters stuck up in the press box. Good work out of him.
8. Jalen Reagor had an impressive catch leaping backward in the middle of the field for what would have been a 30-yard gain. Of course, the play was already whistled dead so it didn’t count. But still a nice grab from the second-year wideout and the fans made some noise.
9. Tyree Jackson caught a slant for a touchdown pass from Nick Mullens during 11-on-11s. After the touchdown catch, the 6-foot-7 tight end dunked the football cleanly over the crossbar of the goal post. The whole thing shook for a few minutes.
Later in practice, Jackson caught a ball across the middle and took a big hit from Elijah Riley. But Jackson held on to the ball, popped up and signaled first down.
10. A day after Harold Carmichael went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Eagles honored him. All coaches and staffers wore shirts to honor the franchise’s all-time receptions leader. A few players even wore the shirts under their jerseys.
Stupid Observation of the Day: During a second-team rep, Flacco didn’t like the play or what he was seeing from the defense … so he called a timeout. A timeout in a practice is weird.
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