Observations from Practice as Eagles Prepare for Washington

It was encouraging to see Lane Johnson, Miles Sanders, and Jalen Reagor wearing pads, though they were listed as limited on the team injury report

PHILADELPHIA – The days of watching entire Eagles practices ended on Aug. 30 when training camp came to a close.

No longer can the “team” portion of practice be witnessed by media.

Still, there is some value in watching what is allowed, and that is usually 10 to 20 minutes – all warmups and individual drills - depending on the day of the week then waiting for the injury report to come out.

For instance, did anyone know tight end Zach Ertz looks like he will be the backup holder should something happen to Cameron Johnston?

This is just head coach Doug Pederson’s way of planning in case an outbreak of COVID-19 strikes at any point over the next 17 weeks, if, in fact, the next 17 weeks plus playoffs can run without the virus interrupting.

So, there was Ertz fielding snaps from Rick Lovato and teeing them up for Jake Elliott during Wednesday afternoon’s session. Already we know that Nate Gerry is the backup long snapper.

Still to be determined: who kicks should something happen to Elliott?

There were other reveals on Wednesday, too, based on who was in pads and who wasn’t.

Start with who wasn’t:

Receiver Alshon Jeffery and defensive end Derek Barnett were in sweatpants. Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave was nowhere to be seen.

Jeffery (foot) and Hargrave (pectoral/hamstring) were listed in the team’s injury report for the day as not participating.

Barnett (hamstring) was listed as a limited participant.

Also listed as limited on the injury report were right tackle Lane Johnson (ankle), rookie receiver Jalen Reagor (shoulder), and running back Miles Sanders (hamstring).

It may be encouraging, however, that Johnson, Reagor, and Sanders were all in full pads and going through individual drills.

There are still a few days to go before the opening kickoff, and a lot of what those three can do going forward will depend on how they felt coming out of their first practice, but there’s a chance all three can play in Landover.

Reagor may be the longest shot of the three of them, though he was fielding punts as the backup to Greg Ward during the special team portion of practice and also went through individual drills, reaching to catch passes.

The rookie certainly had a terrific camp but waiting one more week may be prudent for a team counting on him for the long haul.

“I think he has all the right tools,” said veteran receiver DeSean Jackson after practice. “It’s good to get him back out there, hopefully, this week if his shoulder holds up to it because obviously having more weapons out there is better for Carson (Wentz) and better for our team. So, the more weapons the more the defense is going to have to worry about it.”

As for Johnson, he has played through pain before and the offensive line could really use him since it has already been shuffled and reshuffled due to injury. So, the guess is, he plays against Washington.

Same with Sanders, though he could do so in a limited role as the Eagles bring him slowly along for the betterment of his health.

Asked about Sanders’ possible workload should he play, head coach Doug Pederson said prior to practice that, “I think it goes back to even last year when he missed some time and we managed him to get him ready to play. I do think that is a possibility. We'll get him through this week, see how he does and see where he's at on Sunday.”

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