Josh Grizzard Details Why Eagles Are Doing More Live Game-Speed Reps In Practice This Year

PHILADELPHIA — With the regular season fast approaching, Eagles pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard again emphasized that head coach Nick Sirianni has leaned on extra “call-it” periods in practice to get first-time play-caller Sean Mannion — and the rest of the offensive staff — more live game-speed reps.

Mannion was hired in January as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator after just two seasons on Green Bay’s staff and will call plays for the first time in the NFL this season.

Grizzard, who interviewed for that same job before joining the staff, said the extra situational work has been one of the most useful parts of the recently concluded training camp.

“It’s been a lot of fun just going back and forth on scheme, and we’ve had so many call-it periods during the practice, just next-up plays and things that we’re seeing out there,” Grizzard said Tuesday. “And then a lot of it is, for the first time, just being able to write down things we wanna adjust later or an idea that somebody else had or an adjustment to something we’ve had.

“So it’s been a lot of fun just because a lot of these things have been like games, being able to get those reps for him as well as the rest of the staff. So it’s been a good spot.”

Previously, Sirianni confirmed the call-it periods were being increased this year from recent experienced coordinators like Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore. Grizzard noted that the approach is familiar to the one from last season in Tampa Bay, where he was a first-time OC under head coach Todd Bowles.

According to Grizzard, Bowles used a similar approach with him, and that it is especially valuable with a new coordinator.

“Yeah, I can’t speak to what they’ve done here in the past in terms of how many call-it periods they’ve had,” Grizzard said. “But, yeah, in general, I know like calling it last year in Tampa, Todd did a lot of those. I think it’s something with a new coordinator, you try to tailor it towards that as much as possible and being able to get those game reps because you’re put into situations where it’s first-and-10, okay, now it’s second-and-long, or you have a big play to the red area, which makes you change your thought process in terms of the next call.

“So being able to treat those like a game, not only for Sean, but the rest of the staff, communication of the defensive personnel or offensive personnels, it has another ability to get more preseason games out of just the three we got.”

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Eagles OC Sean Mannion speaks with reporters on Aug. 24, 2026. | John McMullen/Eagles On SI

The structure Sirianni has employed is designed to force the staff to think one call ahead the way they will on Sundays in the fall.

Grizzard said that process also helps the players, who can start to anticipate the next call once they leave the field.

On game days, Grizzard again said his job will be tightly focused on the passing game and the sequence of calls around it.

“Really assisting Sean with anything that deals with the pass game,” he said. “So the way we look at it is what are the next best calls? What are the next first-down pass you want to get to? What are they doing on third down we want to get to? If it’s something down into the red area, what’s that next play call?

“And then just being able to get that to the staff, because ultimately if you can get that to the players, they have an idea once you go back out there what they can expect for the next one too.“

The first official test is Sept. 13 against Washington and Grizzard sees the sraff interacting positively.

“So we’ve done a great job in terms of a staff of trying to get on the same page with those next plays up, and that’s really what I help them with, looking at coverages and is the defense doing anything different than what we expected coming in,” Grizzard said.

Sirianni has said that he is not concerned about Mannion’s lack of play-calling experience because of the work already being done and the staff around him, including Grizzard.

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