Eagles Training Camp Thoughts: Day 12: Left Tackles Struggle
PHILADELPHIA - The biggest news Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field was the likely multi-week shoulder injury suffered by Eagles first-round pick Jalen Reagor.
Underneath that headline was Carson Wentz sitting out for precautionary measures due to a minor soft-tissue injury.
The macro-view there, however, is Wentz back for Week 1 and Reagor returning early in the season.
So maybe the biggest takeaway from the final open practice of the summer was the struggles at left tackle in the wake of Andre Dillard’s season-ending biceps injury and Jason Peters’ reported unwillingness to move back over to LT without being compensated monetarily for that move.
For the second consecutive day, Matt Pryor was the first-team left tackle after spending the first 10 practices over on the right side at both guard and tackle.
Jordan Mailata remained the right tackle for the injured Lane Johnson but had a few reps at LT and rookie Prince Tega Wanogho got the majority of the backup snaps.
All were dominated and remember the Eagles top two right defensive ends - Derek Barnett and Vinny Curry - weren’t even practicing. Both Josh Sweat and rookie Casey Toohill looked like worldbeaters at times as they chased backup quarterbacks Nate Sudfeld and Jalen Hurts.
Sweat has at least three sacks and Toohill had two of his own plus the Stanford product forced an ugly holding call on Wanogho.
The compromise with Peters should be guaranteeing the entire $6 million on his 2020 deal and flip-flopping him with Pryor.
SUDFELD SHINES
The assumption was that it was just a matter of time before Jalen Hurts would lap Nate Sudfeld as Carson Wentz’s backup but the veteran put an emphatic stamp on the No. 2 job Sunday.
Sudfeld has his issues, most notably holding onto the football too long, but the 6-foot-6 signal-caller can see the field from the pocket and has a brilliant touch when throwing to the sidelines.
Sudfeld was really cooking with the top tool in his arsenal at the Linc. Early in the session, the Eagles offense put DeSean Jackson in the slot and got a matchup it liked against Will Parks. The shifty Jackson easily beat Parks on a corner route and Sudfeld threw a strike for the touchdown.
Other highlights included an 18-yard back-shoulder fade to the lengthy Travis Fulgham over Craig James and the play of the day, a 72-yard bomb to John Hightower on a 3rd-and-14 situation. The rookie speedster ran by Avonte Maddox and Jalen Mills and Sudfeld hit him in stride.
Hurts, meanwhile, had an uneven practice.
The rookie was intercepted by Parks after trying to force the ball to Jalen Reagor on the play in which the latter was injured. Hurts was also picked off by Craig James on an underthrown ball to Deontay Burnett and James put together a long return that had the defense in the end zone celebrating.
Doug Pederson called pass interference to somewhat save Hurts but it was a bad call by the head coach and a very clean pick.
As an aside, Pederson is great as a referee. Has every mannerism down pat.
The good with Hurts remains the zone-read game and he can obviously extend plays. The passing from the pocket just needs to get more consistent.
Hurts’ highlight throw was a bomb while backed up to undrafted rookie Manasseh Bailey.
NOISE POLLUTION
This was presumably a test for the early-season games at Lincoln Financial Field with no fans and the Eagles cranked up the noise to a deafening degree when they put their offense in backup-up situations against its goal line.
Pederson was seen imploring them to pipe in louder and louder noise and it was actually uncomfortable for those of us in attendance.
Closed-circuit to the NFL, stop teams from doing that type of thing in the regular season.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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