Eagles OTA Observations: Christian Elliss, DeVonta Smith Impress; Who's 'MVP of Spring'?
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles' second and last OTA practice of the spring open to reporters had to be moved indoors due to the poor air quality conditions in the Delaware Valley related to the ongoing Canadian wildfires that have blanketed the Northeast.
With no mandatory work scheduled and a long summer vacation ahead, coach Nick Sirianni didn't back off at all and went 55 minutes with individual work followed by 7-on-7 drills.
Here's what we observed:
- A number of key veterans skipped the voluntary session including projected starters receiver A.J. Brown, right tackle Lane Johnson, center Jason Kelce, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, edge rushers Hasson Reddick, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham, cornerbacks Darius Slay and James Bradberry, and linebacker Nicholas Morrow. Backup nickel cornerback Josiah Scott and receiver Devon Allen, who is currently in Europe running hurdles in the Diamond League.
- Players coming back from injury and watching were Avonte Maddox (toe) and Derek Barnett (ACL), while rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo also was watching with an unknown injury. Defensive tackles Marlon Tuipulotu (knee) and Noah Elliss (Achilles) were back for individual work.
- Christian Elliss set the tone on defense, getting first-team reps next to Nakobe Dean thanks to Morrow's absence. The athletic second-year linebacker undercut a Jalen Hurts throw to Jack Stoll and took it back the other way for a pick-six that fired up the defense. Elliss had another pass breakup in the session and also had an interception of Marcus Mariota in the other OTA open to reporters last week. He was easily the MVP of the spring's small sample size.
- Two plays later Hurts was again intercepted when undrafted rookie cornerback Mekhi Garner blanketed receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and then took advantage of a Hurts underthrow.
-Hurts quickly responded with the help of DeVonta Smith, who dusted undrafted rookie Eli Ricks in some Alabama-on-Alabama crime with a double move before catching a deep ball deep down the right sideline in stride for a long touchdown. Reed Blankenship was late to get over with the help.
- Smith was spectacular throughout the practice as well. Working against backup corners, Smith ran an excellent drag route that created room for Quez Watkins, and actually proved Elliss was still a work in progress on the final play of 7-on-7s.
- After Sirianni jumped on his sword for Quez Watkins before practice the fourth-year wideout had a chance to make the coach look good but failed to get his head around and track a well-thrown Hurts ball that would have been a big-gainer on a wheel route.
- With the starting corners unavailable, Josh Jobe and Greedy Williams got the first-team reps on the outside and Zech McPhearson worked exclusively in the slot for the second consecutive open practice, a clear indication that the move will be permanent.
- Terrell Edmunds looked good at safety opposite Blankenship, showing excellent range to breakup a Hurts deep ball to Zaccheaus.
- Kyron Johnson continued the transition from edge rusher to off-ball linebacker, working with the third team along with undrafted rookie Ben VanSumerven. The backups to the Dean-Elliss tandem were Shaun Bradley and Davion Taylor. New linebackers coach D.J. Eliot has a history dating back to college with Johnson at Kansas and Taylor at Colorado.
- With no Kelce, Cam Jurgens was the first-team center and rookie third-round pick Tyler Steen was at right guard. That's something interesting to keep an eye on at training back because at 35, Kelce gets quite a few maintenance days and the Eagles may want to keep Jurgens at right guard to get him as much work as possible. Brett Toth continued to work at center and Cameron Tom also has experience there.
- Boston Scott and Kenny Gainwell split time with the first-team at running back and the Eagles flashed plenty of empty sets and got the football to Gainwell and D'Andre Swift on a couple of occasions.
- After the individual drills and before 7-on-7s began, Sirianni gathered the team together to explain what he wanted over the next five weeks before camp, basically staying in shape and out of trouble.
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
