Eagles OTAs scouting: Our first glimpse of the 2024 team

Eagles OTAs scouting: Our first glimpse of the 2024 team originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia

Organized team activities are underway at the NovaCare Complex in South Philadelphia.

Which means we’ll have to watch football on Wednesday!

Although the Eagles began their OTAs on Monday, Wednesday was their second practice of the spring but the first open to reporters. It lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes. They still have four more OTA practices scheduled for this spring: May 23, May 28, May 30-31 and will have a mandatory minicamp June 4-6. One of those days, next week, will also be open to reporters.

But for now, here are 10 observations from Wednesday’s practice:

1. Remember that OTAs are voluntary. The Eagles had a good attendance on Wednesday, but some notable players were not on the field: James Bradberry, Josh Sweat, Lane Johnson, DeVonta Smith, Kelee Ringo, CJ Uzomah and Jake Elliott.

two. The Eagles have a few guys coming back from injuries who weren’t participating or weren’t full participants:

• Safety Sydney Brown, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament late in his rookie season, was not practicing. He started the session on a side field with coaches and looked good running. During training, he did mental repetitions about 40 meters deep with an eye on the safety of the defense. He was really interested in it.

• Linebacker Nakobe Dean was in uniform but did not participate in 7-on-7 practices. He is returning from a 2023 season that included a season-ending foot injury.

• Rookie receiver Ainias Smith was in uniform but did not fully participate. He didn’t do 7-on-7 and was watching with the group of punt returners. He has a stress fracture that was discovered at the Combine.

• Eli Ricks appeared to suffer or aggravate an injury early in practice and his day ended early. Additionally, Zech McPhearson did not participate in 7-on-7 as he returned from an Achilles injury last summer.

3. While we should take everything we see from OTAs with a grain of salt, this gives us a starting point for the depth chart, even if some players are missing.

But here are some offensive notes from the depth chart:

• Without Johnson, Mekhi Becton was the right tackle. The first OL was (from left to right): Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Becton.

• Second OL: Fred Johnson, Darian Kinnard, Brett Toth, Matt Hennessy, Anim Dankwah

• Third OL: Laekin Vakalahi, Trevor Keegan, Dylan McMahon, Jason Poe, Gottlieb Ayedze

• Without DeVonta Smith, the Eagles’ leading receivers were AJ Brown, Parris Campbell and Joseph Ngata.

4. Here are some notes from the defensive depth chart:

• Without Dean in team practice, the Eagles’ main linebackers were Devin White and Zack Baun. It’s important to note that Baun is getting reps off the ball. He was with that group in position training too.

• The second pair of LBs was Oren Burks and Ben VanSumeren. The third pair was Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Brandon Smith.

• Without Bradberry, Ringo and Ricks, the Eagles had Isaiah Rodgers working as the best RCB on the field behind Darius Slay. Rodgers missed all of last season because of an NFL suspension. The top safeties were CJ Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship. The best player was Avonte Maddox, who also played safety for the third team.

• Cooper DeJean got some reps as a nickel defensive end on the second team and outside cornerback on the third team. Quinyon Mitchell and Josh Jobe were second-team cornerbacks.

• DeJean also got reps as a punt returner. He and Britain Covey handled these tasks, with Smith and Brown watching with the group.

5. We got our first glimpse of Saquon Barkley in an Eagles uniform and he looked great taking handoffs from Jalen Hurts. It’s fun to see such a big guy moving so close up.

In addition to his work in the backfield, we also saw Barkley line up at the position on a replay with Kenny Gainwell in the backfield. Barkley caught 288 passes in his NFL career and had at least 40 receptions in five of his six NFL seasons.

6. There were already some signs that the Eagles’ offense will be a little different with Kellen Moore on board as offensive coordinator. The Eagles offense looked much less static on Wednesday.

They used some travel and group formations instead of just going with the standard 2×2. And there was some movement too. There was a play where Brown was placed out of the slot and the pass quickly went to Gainwell in the other flat. Sometimes movement can be used to gather information, but sometimes it can also overwhelm the defense. Brown will draw a lot of looks and the Eagles can certainly use that to their advantage.

7. I saw some good early signs in the first round pick. Quinyon Mitchell had a beautiful pass in the penultimate repetition of training with a ball to fellow rookie Johnny Wilson. As you would expect from his college experience, Mitchell appears comfortable outside of coverage.

There was another play where wide receiver Jacob Harris took a step on Mitchell but dropped the deep ball. On this play, Mitchell got his feet tangled up, but it was still an encouraging replay because he was able to find the ball with ease and was about to turn his hips and recover before tripping.

8. Offensive game of the day: Third-string QB Tanner McKee tied a nice seam ball to a TE EJ Jenkins, who caught it with long strides over Trotter in the middle of the field.

Defensive Play of the Day: Devin White made a nice play to break up a pass to Barkley on the left sideline on a wheel route. Seeing a bigger (modern day) linebacker with that kind of straight-line speed is impressive. Of course, White’s raw athleticism was never really questioned. It was the other parts of his game that made him available to the Eagles as a free agent.

9. Without Smith (and after DeVante Parker’s retirement), Campbell ran with the starting lineup. And since Brown got some snaps inside, we got to see Campbell play outside receiver as well. He had some fun battles with Rodgers on the outside.

Campbell saw a lot of targets in his second OTA practice with the Eagles. It was also built differently than I expected. Because of his speed, I almost expected a slender build, like Quez Watkins. But Campbell looks thicker than that, especially in the lower body.

10. The last play of practice was a back shoulder laser from Kenny Pickett to Gainwell in the front left corner of the end zone. The defense said there was no way Gainwell, who could have left, could have recovered before the capture. But with no referees on the field, both sides may feel like they won that replay.

Stupid observation of the day: Mekhi Becton is huge. You already knew that, but seeing him alongside Jordan Mailata really made an impression. It must be weird for the two of them to be next to guys who are almost the same size. Becton is listed at 6-7,363 pounds; Mailata is listed at 6-8, 365.

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