Eagles OTA Stock Market Report

Quinyon Mitchell and Devin White were a couple of players who stood out at Wednesday's OTA practice.

John McMullen/SI Eagles

PHILADELPHIA - One day in May isn’t going to decide anything when it comes to the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles. Still, you can only discuss what you’ve seen and the mindset of any NFL player is the cliche of getting one percent better every day.

Several did that on Wednesday at the NovaCare Complex and some others probably aren’t going to want to see the practice tape.

Here’s our stock market report from Day 1 of the on-field spring work open to reporters.

THE BULLS:

Rookie CB Quinyon Mitchell - Predictably the No. 22 pick didn’t get the first-team reps opposite Darius Slay even with James Bradberry and Kelee Ringo missing the session, and Eli Ricks, leaving early before team work started.

Mitchell lined up with the second team, running with Josh Jobe on the outside, and immediately flashed. The book on the Toledo product is that he’s excellent in off-man coverage and that proved true when he peeled off his own man to knock down a Kenny Pickett throw to fellow rookie Johnny Wilson.

That’s a savvy Slay-like move that the Eagles’ six-time Pro bowl cornerback is famous for. Mitchell has already said that Slay is a player he has modeled his game after.

“Quick dude that has a quick twitch,” Slay said when discussing Mitchell. “I love his off-man. I’m real good at off-man. I watched his tape from college for a good minute. There’s some things I can help him with for sure that he asked me to do, and that’s my duty to do and I look forward to helping him because I see great talent in him. 

“I look forward to him making a lot of great plays for this organization.  

QB2 Kenny Pickett - It’s one day but Pickett, a 2022 first-round pick by Pittsburgh acquired via trade by the Eagles to backup Jalen Hurts, was particularly sharp throwing the football.

Pickett’s most impressive pass came on the final play of the 70-minute practice, a dime of a back-shoulder throw to Kenny Gainwell in the front of the end zone. The defense argued that Gainwell lost his way and stepped out of bounds before coming back into the field of play. Right or wrong that didn’t take away from what was a special throw.

You never want the backup QB to play but Philadelphia is better equipped to win a game or two with Pickett than 2023 backup Marcus Mariota.

Mike LB Devin White - With Nakobe Dean getting closer but not quite ready to return from foot surgery, White got an opportunity to play Mike linebacker and be the green dot of Vic Fangio’s defense. He also showed off his athleticism that once made him the No. 5 overall pick by locking down Saquon Barkley on a wheel route.

Zack Baun was the Will LB next to Dean in 7-on-7s and has also caught the eye of Fangio so Dean may no longer be the presumptive starter whenever he can return to practice.

THE BEARS:

TE Albert Okwuegbunam - The athleticism has always been there with Albert O., who can run a 4.49 at 260 pounds. Getting open wasn’t a problem either but a bad drop had head coach Nick Sirianni giving Okwuegbunam an in-practice pep talk to focus on the next play.

With Dallas Goedert’s projected backup, veteran C.J. Uzomah, missing the session, Okwuegbunam had a chance to issue a statement and could not do so.

Rookie RB Will Shipley - Shipley was really fighting the football as a pass catcher with a drop and another bobble that he ultimately hauled in. It’s not time to panic but Shipley dropped too many opportunities in college at Clemson as well.

At this point, Shipley’s perceived upside as a pass-catching back is all projection.

WR Joseph Ngata - DeVonta Smith wasn’t practicing and DeVante Parker was officially placed on the reserve/retired list. That meant someone had to join A.J. Brown and Parris Campbell in Kellen Moore’s default 11 personnel and Ngata, an undrafted rookie out of Clemson in 2023, was the next man up.

An early drop seemed to affect Nagata a little too much and Jacob Harris was the young, unproven receiver who stood out the most.

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