Day 8 of Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books, and it was a short, but very fun practice with a lot of action after the boys had the day off on Saturday. Let’s just get right to the notes.

•  First, injuries 🦅🩼

Didn’t practice:

LB Zack Baun – backWR A.J. Brown – hamstringS Lewis Cine – hamstringRB Montrell Johnson – hamstringWR Terrace Marshall – kneeCB Mac McWilliams – quadFB Ben VanSumeren – ankle

Limited:

LB Jihaad Campbell – shoulderLS Charley Hughlett – neckTE E.J. Jenkins – hamstringS Andrew Mukuba – shoulderWR DeVonta Smith – backEDGE Nolan Smith – concussion

Brown was out at practice, actively engaged, and rooting for his offensive teammates. He’s fine.

This is the fourth practice that Baun has missed. It’s the fifth-straight practice in which Mukuba didn’t participate in team reps.

 • Moro Ojomo continues to impress. He had two standout reps today.

The first was pretty straightforward. He beat Landon Dickerson cleanly with an inside move. I thought he showed impressive quickness on that rep.

The other rep was on a run play directly at Ojomo behind Kendall Lamm. Ojomo got his hands into Lamm’s chest, and locked out his arms. At that point the rep was already won, with Lamm having no grip at all on Ojomo because he couldn’t reach him. Ojomo then two-gapped him waiting for the back to choose to run inside or outside, and it was clear that Ojomo was going to easily be able to shed the block and make the play. The back chose to run outside, and Ojomo would’ve had him on his own, but Smael Mondon came over and gave Ojomo an assist by shoving Lamm into the running back, causing something of a car crash. It was just a great defensive run stop on multiple levels.

I recalled Ojomo having long arms, but seeing him lock out Lamm with his arms in that way got me curious about how long they actually are. And, well, for an interior lineman who is only 6’2 1/2, he has very long arms.

In recent notes posts, I’ve referred to Ojomo as a bull in a China shop. I like the way Dickerson described him better. 

“He’s a guy that I would describe as awkward, in a good way,” Dickerson said. “Just the way he moves, his size, his arm length, he’s one of those guys that we kind of quote-unquote say is awkward to block, and I think that kind of gives him a huge advantage in this game. He’s not your stereotypical defensive tackle size, like a Jordan Davis or a Jalen Carter. He’s a very strong guy, he’s twitchy, he knows football.”

That’s perfect. “Awkward, in a good way.” Reminds me a little of Anchorman where Ron Burgundy says of Brian Fantana’s “Sex Panther” cologne, “Stings the nostrils, in a good way.”

• As noted above, DeVonta Smith was back at practice today as a limited participant. He got a small amount of work in 11-on-11’s. He caught a ball on a crosser that wasn’t anything special, but just looked so smooth and effortless, serving as a reminder that he and A.J. Brown are on one level, and all the other receivers on the roster are on other levels. 

• We haven’t really mentioned Dallas Goedert much, because we already know he’s a good player, but he has had a good camp so far as well. He caught a back shoulder throw from Jalen Hurts over Smael Mondon. 

• Hurts’ back shoulder throws this summer have been money, by the way. He has found a nice blend of timing, anticipation, and ball placement on those throws, and they’ve had some heat on them. Hurts has always thrown a nice back shoulder ball, but he seems to be mastering them now.

• The throw of the day today — and maybe even of camp so far — was made by Tanner McKee. Backup TE Kylen Granson was running a 20-yard out from the slot behind a go route from the receiver on the outside. McKee let it rip before Granson came out of his break, and put it in a perfect spot out in front of Granson near the sideline where only Granson would have a shot at it. Granson made the catch and kept both feet in bounds.

McKee also delivered a deep ball on the money to Darius Cooper, who was well covered by Eli Ricks, but the ball placement beat Ricks.

• Ricks gave up that deep ball completion, but he also had some impressive reps to balance it out. He made a great play on a fade to Elijah Cooks in the back of the end zone. He got his head around and was able to get a fingertip on a well-thrown ball by McKee. And then later he forced Cooks out of bounds on a red zone route, and then made a PBU on the play anyway when the ball came Cooks’ way on what looked like a comeback route.

• We mentioned Kendall Lamm above getting bullied by a combo of Ojomo and Mondon. That was hardly his worst rep of the day. He stumbled a bit on one of his pass sets, got a little off balance, and Josh Uche took advantage by absolutely running him over.  Really tough look for Lamm, who has otherwise not looked bad so far to start camp. Uche later undid some of that good rep when he jumped offsides on a red zone rep around the 5 yard line. Can’t have that in real games.

• The other really bad offensive lineman rep was by rookie Cameron Williams, whose feet were in quicksand while trying to block Ogbo Okoronkwo, who simply ran right around him with a speed rush. Okoronkwo has a chance to make this team as a situational pass rusher. He has shown more so far than Azeez Ojulari, in my opinion.

• The best rookie offensive lineman so far has been Myles Hinton, in my opinion. He drove a lineman (I think it was Byron Young?) five yards down the field on a run block today, and just generally speaking looks the part of an athletic, moldable player. 

• Tyler Steen had some up and down moments, but I thought there was more up than down. He was trying to block Jeremiah Trotter on the second level on a run play, but Trotter sidestepped him, and made the “tackle.”

On a rep shortly thereafter, Steen got a hold of Mondon on the second level and drove him down the field, through the whistle.

The Eagles also love pulling guard across the formation in the play action game and then having them set up in pass protection, kind of like offensive tackles. They can do that with Dickerson, who had college experience playing tackle, and they could do that with Mekhi Becton last year, who was formerly a tackle. For example, they pulled Becton across the formation on had him set up as a blocker in pass pro on the DeVonta Dagger: 

Because Steen played almost exclusively at tackle in college, he is comfortable doing that as well, and they are using him on those types of plays in practice.

• The tight ends not named Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra have been quiet for most of camp, but they made some plays today. Granson made the toe-tap catch down the field, as noted previously. But also, Harrison Bryant had a TD catch over the middle, and E.J. Jenkins, back from injury, made a few catches.

• We saw a lot of Dorian Thompson-Robinson today, and almost no Kyle McCord. I’m not sure what to make of that. Maybe there’s a concerted effort to get DTR ready for the preseason games, and showcase him as a trade chip? (And by “trade chip,” I mean for something very minor.)

But I think there were some who wondered if McCord could push McKee for the QB2 job. The answer: Nope. McKee is the QB2, period.

• In case you missed it, there was a rule change this offseason in which touchbacks come out to the 35 yard line. It used to be the 20, then the 25, then the 30 last year. Teams mostly opted to still try to kick touchbacks and concede the 30 yard line. I’m doubtful they’ll concede the 35-yard line in 2025. What you’re going to see is kickers trying to hit pop-ups that land at around the 5 yard line, or line drives that drop in the landing zone, attempting to turn kick returners into shortstops. 

Jake Elliott worked on kickoffs today. He was pretty routinely landing his pop-ups at around the 5 yard line. His line drives still need a little more practice.