OTA Stuff

[time2rock]

OTA Stuff

Posted: June 1st, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor

Eagles OTAs are underway and there are already some major concerns and controversies. Jalen Hurts got on the Levon Kirkland diet and ballooned up to 300 pounds. Britain Covey has demanded to split reps with AJ Brown and says they’re basically the same player. Nakobe Dean is refusing to start, saying he prefers spending fall afternoons watching from the sidelines and enjoying the sights and sounds of pro football.

Why did I make up that web of lies? Because the real OTA notes just aren’t very compelling.

Nakobe getting the green dot was expected. Still good to know it for a fact.

It is interesting that Kyron Johnson got some reps at LB. He was brought in as a SAM/Edge. He’s only 6-0, 235 and the team now has good depth at Edge. Johnson’s best bet for making the team is moving to LB and seeing if he can carve out a role there and on STs. He did more than just rush the QB in college.

The starting safeties were Reed Blankenship and Terrell Edmunds. Sydney Brown was on the second team. That makes sense for a rookie. You don’t force him into the lineup. Make him earn the role.

Cam Jurgens was the RG running with the 1’s. He’s hoping to be about 310 pounds heading into the season. He’s in the 305 range right now.

*****

Brandon Lee Gowton posted notes at BGN.

INJURY UPDATES: Avonte Maddox, Marlon Tuipulotu, and Tyrie Cleveland attended practice but weren’t practicing. Maddox, who had foot surgery after the season ended, was seen watching practice from the sideline. Tuipulotu was doing rehab work on a side field.

The Maddox injury explains why McPhearson was in the slot. The Eagles also have improved depth on the outside with Josh Jobe, Greedy Williams and Eli Ricks. McPhearson can slide inside and there are still plenty of good backup CBs. I’m sure the coaches would love McPhearson to beat out Josiah Scott.

• Multiple media members remarked that Nolan Smith is bigger than they expected him to be. Smith’s activity in team drills was limited because he wasn’t going up against offensive linemen and obviously wasn’t allowed to truly rush the quarterback. But it seemed like he was out there for almost every defensive snap and he brought energy to the table. On one rep, he ran down the field to be one of the players stripping at the ball that Goedert had caught. The two had some words after that. Nothing that seemed heated, to be clear. But it’s not every rookie who goes up to an established player like that. Kinda speaks to Smith being that ‘bring it on every single rep’ player who might be best described as a dog.

I think Smith is a player everyone will fall in love with. He’s incredibly talented and incredibly driven. That can make for a hellacious combination in a football player. I’m really excited to see him this summer.

• The other memorable Mariota moment was when he threw a pass over the middle that didn’t get high enough to not be intercepted nicely by Christian Elliss. Nice play. I’ve mentioned on a couple BGN Radio podcasts that I believe Elliss might have the largest delta on the roster. He could conceivably not even make the roster … or he could potentially steal a starting off-ball linebacker spot. The most likely outcome, of course, is that he falls between those two options. But I feel like Elliss has more of a chance to play meaningful snaps than most would think. He showed some juice in an incredibly small sample size last year. At the very least, he should be a good special teams contributor. Interesting under-the-radar candidate to monitor.

I agree that Elliss is overlooked by some. He impressed last year on STs, but also when he played LB in some games. I was shocked because Elliss really struggled in the 2022 preseason. I definitely think he’s a player to watch. Maybe he’ll be the LB version of Marcus Epps…the player the team liked more than fans/the media and who turned out to be good. We’ll see how things go.

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LB Nick Morrow had a good interview. He’s the first up in this collection of player interviews.

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1YqGoAQYzOBxv?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1664330601359622144|twgr^e24977252a979092fd9dce8000dfd1e50f30a180|twcon^s1_&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Figglesblitz.com%2F2023%2F06%2Fota-stuff%2F

Seems like a smart guy and he seems impressed with the Eagles so far.

http://igglesblitz.com/2023/06/ota-stuff/

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I know it is only OTAs and I know there’s a long long way to go… But Siposs beating Zentner is not good. Siposs sucks.