Eagles Wrap Up OTAs, Head into Summer Break
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Eagles held their final OTA of spring on Thursday afternoon.
Next stop: Training camp, with the players’ report day tentatively set for July 25.
First, they had to deal with an Aaron Nola-style curveball, and that was the poor air quality that forced the Phillies to postpone Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers and is listed as hazardous with wildfires from Canada spreading deep into the United States.
Rather than cancel their last OTA, the Eagles moved inside their practice bubble, which isn’t exactly ideal since it’s not even a regulation 100 yards long with ceilings that make punting and kicking a challenge.
There isn't much room for 90 players let alone about two dozen media members wedged into a small area of the building to see who’s doing what.
“This is the life of the NFL,” coach Nick Sirianni said prior to practice. “You handle adjustments, and this is what it is. You can’t go outside, so we’ll be inside, and that’s just the way it is.
“First and foremost, it’s always, always, always, always about our players’ health. We’re always going to put their health first and the people in our building. You guys (media), we don’t want you guys out there breathing it, either. I’m not quite as concerned about you guys as I am about the players. We’re always thinking about them first.”
Sirianni gathered the players together about halfway through the 60 minutes or so the media was allowed to watch and probably delivered the message he told reporters prior to practice.
That message: “Come back in the best shape of your life and make sure you’re doing the right things to stay out of the news.”
The coach said he was impressed with the team’s work on the fundamentals during the relatively brief OTA periods the last two weeks, which totaled six altogether.
“I just think you see the fundamentals continuing to grow,” he said. “That’s from the guys that just got here, the fundamentals of what we’re trying to look like, and just how much better too the guys who are back are with their fundamentals.
“They keep getting better and that’s what we strive to do is just keep getting better. One of the reasons is that they’re really working hard at it and two we’re devoting a lot of time to it in our individual phases of OTAs.”
Asked for any individual or individual who impressed the most, he singled out one of the offseason’s most maligned players – receiver Quez Watkins.
“We have a ton of confidence in Quez Watkins, but I kind of sense from him - he's never said this, but ‘Oh, some people think I stink? Wait. Wait,’” said Sirianni. “That's how he's attacked every day. That's how he's attacked practices, and I think that he looks really good.”
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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