Eagles OTA practice notes: Interceptions galore
The Philadelphia Eagles had a full-team practice on Thursday, the final one of OTAs, and it was open to the media. As always, we have practices notes.
• As a reminder, OTAs are voluntary. Players not in attendance:
Bradberry, Johnson, Smith, and Sweat skipped the media-attended OTA practice last week, too.
Jake Elliott, Kelee Ringo, and C.J. Uzomah did not attend the media-attended practice last week, but were there on Thursday.
• Zack Baun, Devin White, and Nakobe Dean all got reps with the 1’s, but Baun and White were up first. Dean did not participate in 7-on-7’s last week, so the team could just be easing him in.
• With Sydney Brown still recovering from a torn ACL suffered Week 18 against the Giants and C.J. Gardner-Johnson not in attendance, Avonte Maddox got first-team reps at safety. He played some there last week as well. There are a slew of recognizable names available on the open market, but maybe the team views Maddox as the fourth safety? That would make sense, given the team’s depth at cornerback.
• Mekhi Becton got the first shot to “start” at RT with Lane Johnson not in attendance.
• Matt Hennessy was the second-team RG. His primary position is probably center, but he has also started at guard in the NFL. It’s noteworthy — but not surprising — that the team has him as the second-team RG, which indicates that he is Tyler Steen’s primary competition for the starting RG job.
• The team tried to give Brett Toth the opportunity to expand his versatility by playing him at center last year in training camp, but they had to move him because he couldn’t execute shotgun snaps and was messing up reps for the other players on offense. It looks like he’s getting another chance at center this year.
• Versatile rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean was at cornerback again. Before the start of OTAs I had noted that although DeJean has the ability to play safety and could move there if necessary, the team drafted him because they like what he is as a cornerback. I got some oddly strong blowback on that on Twitter for some reason. Anyway, I’m sure I’d have heard from y’all if he were playing safety, but, you know, crickets.
