Eagles Training Camp Notebook: The Two Jalens (Hurts and Reagor) Heat up
PHILADELPHIA - The first day in pads, soaring temperatures, and the longest practice of training camp to date greeted the Eagles players on Tuesday and the offense delivered with its best performance of the summer, highlighted by a Jalen Hurts to Jalen Reagor deep ball that finally popped the top off what had been a stingy defense.
Hurts, who had struggled when pushing the football down the field, lofted a beautiful deep ball down the left sideline to a streaking Reagor, who had a step on second-year cornerback Zech McPherson.
The embattled Reagor, who made the most of added first-team reps when Quez Watkins tapped out of the session with an illness, hauled in the deftly thrown pass before help from safety Andre Chachere arrived.
"I think he’s growing," Hurts said of Reagor. "I think he’s working. He’s put his head down and he’s going to work. You see him making plays out there. So just a constant effort, a constant, conscious effort to listen, lock in and do what he needs to do. I think he’s doing it."
Watkins did return to watch the final minutes of practice but backup left tackle Andre Dillard did not finish the session with an undisclosed injury.
Hurts easily had his best practice session of the summer and was feeling it early in one-on-one drills, starting with a beautiful deep ball to DeVonta Smith with James Bradberry in excellent coverage.
Next came a dart to Watkins, who had shaken Avonte Maddox in coverage, and finally a drop in the bucket to A.J. Brown to get the best of Darius Slay.
In team drills, Hurts threw exceptional intermediate balls to Brown and Reagor as well.
The defense didn't have a bad day, though.
Bradberry absolutely stoned Smith in press coverage at the line of scrimmage on one rep, not even allowing the talented second-year receiver to get into his route.
The second- and third-team defenses also stoned the offense, halting Kenny Gainwell on a couple of runs, and finishing things with a Tarron Jackson sack.
BIRD DROPPINGS:
-TE Grant Calcaterra (hamstring), WR Zach Pascal (illness), Greg Ward (toe), and Mac McCain (knee) did not practice. Ward and McCain were new additions to the injury report. Ward and Pascal were able to watch practice, however.
-With the pads on, the OL and DL again had some one-on-work with the main event being veteran Jason Kelce using technique and savvy to shut down star rookie Jordan Davis. RG Isaac Seumalo is also having an exceptional camp while returning from a Lisfranc injury.
-McPhearson bounced back with a near interception of a deep ball to John Hightower but was ruled out of bounds. Tay Gowan has the lone interception of the day but was also called for DPI on two occasions.
-Nakobe Dean got a few first-team reps late in practice.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
