Eagles Training Camp Practice Notes: Elijah Cooks Is Here To Stay
The Philadelphia Eagles took the field at the NovaCare Complex for their final practice before Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. After practicing in full pads several times throughout the start of training camp, the Eagles enjoyed a bit of a lighter practice on Tuesday.
Injury Report
Zack Baun (back), A.J. Brown (hamstring), Montrell Johnson (hamstring) and Byron Young (groin) were the four players that did not participate during Tuesday’s practice.
Lewis Cine (hamstring), Charley Hughlett (neck), Trevor Keegan (back), Terrace Marshall (knee), Mac McWilliams (quad), Drew Mukuba (shoulder) and Matt Pryor (shoulder) were all limited.
Practice Notes
The Eagles got things started with offensive and defensive walkthroughs, in what might have offered a glimpse at the potential starters that we’ll see in the preseason opener. While I was unable to see the defense at the start of practice, here’s the line-up that was on the field for the offense:
QB: Tanner McKee
RB: Will Shipley
WR: Jahan Dotson, Johnny Wilson, Ainias Smith
TE: Grant Calcaterra
LT: Kendall Lamm
LG: Brett Toth
C: Drew Kendall
RG: Tyler Steen
RT: Matt Pryor
It was interesting to see both Jahan Dotson and Tyler Steen working with this group. Yet it’s entirely possible that they’ll both sit out during the preseason as well, given Philadelphia’s reserved strategy with the offensive starters since Nick Sirianni’s arrival.
Once the Eagles offense ran a few plays at half-speed against air, the entire team gathered on the middle practice field to stretch. Then the team split-up once again as the offense worked on the field closest to where I was standing.
While A.J. Brown didn’t officially practice, he remained involved during positional drills. Brown served as the team’s “QB” while lofting (sometimes poor) passes to Philadelphia’s other WRs.
Jalen Hurts and Tanner McKee were then simultaneously passing to a select group of WRs and TEs. It’s worth noting that this was the group of players working with QB1 and QB2:
WR: DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson, Ainias Smith, Johnny Wilson, Terrace Marshall, Elijah Cooks
TE: Dallas Goedert, Grant Calcaterra, Harrison Bryant, Kylen Granson
After working for several minutes during the passing drill, the team gathered for 7-on-7 drills on the field closest to me. Here’s what I saw:
7-on-7
Adoree’ Jackson was first up at CB2 opposite of Quinyon Mitchell with the Eagles in nickel defense. Sydney Brown and Reed Blankenship started at safety with Cooper DeJean in the slot.
Jihaad Campbell and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. were the first-team LB duo with Zack Baun out.
Jalen Hurts got things started with a completion to Johnny Wilson across the middle.
A.J. Dillon caught a swing pass from Hurts towards the left sideline for a decent gain with Wilson leading the way as a blocker.
Hurts missed Grant Calcaterra on an out-breaking route towards the left sideline.
Hurts fired a pass to DeVonta Smith on a slant that he initially bobbled but eventually hauled in for a TD.
Hurts was forced to roll out under pressure and couldn’t get a pass through to Saquon Barkley, who was smothered in coverage by Smael Mondon Jr. It’s worth noting that Darius Cooper and Elijah Cooks were both in with the first-team offense on this play as well.
Dallas Goedert skied over Drew Mukuba to haul in a beautiful touch pass from Hurts for a TD. Mukuba appeared to re-aggravate his shoulder injury on the play but returned to the field shortly after.
Tanner McKee entered with the second-team offense and lofted a pass to Darius Cooper on a fade route for a TD in the right corner of the end zone.
Following the 7-on-7 session, the team split-up once again for positional drills. After working with positional coaches for several minutes, the team gathered for 11-on-11s, here’s what I saw:
11-on-11
Eagles seemed to focus on red zone situations during Tuesday’s practice, which offered another glimpse at Philadelphia’s base defense.
Cooper DeJean played a ton of safety, as the Eagles brought in an extra player along the defensive front, including reps for Azeez Ojulari, Joshua Uche and Ogbo Okoronkwo.
Nolan Smith got matched up with Saquon Barkley on a wheel route down the right sideline and shutdown the star RB.
Kelee Ringo nearly brought in a pick six on a Hurts’ pass intended for Jahan Dotson. Ringo couldn’t bring the pass in and eventually knocked over the sideline referee, who remained down on the ground for a few seconds.
Moro Ojomo did his best impersonation of Jalen Carter on Tuesday. Ojomo blew up several plays, including quick wins from both the interior and on the edge.
Hurts connected with Barkley for a TD across the middle of the field in the red zone.
Eagles ran back-to-back play action rollout passes from under center with McKee, where he connected with Will Shipley in the flat both times. Shipley walked in for a TD following the second reception.
Hurts threw a dart to Jahan Dotson for a TD as he was streaking across the back of the end zone. The connection between Hurts and Dotson is clearly growing and was on full display on Tuesday.
While Ojulari has reportedly had a quiet start to training camp, he made several plays with the first-team defense on Tuesday. Ojulari beat Jordan Mailata off the edge and forced Hurts to throw an incompletion to DeVonta Smith.
Joshua Uche matched up with Smith in coverage down the right sideline on one play and Hurts hit Smith in stride for a big gain.
Hurts was immediately pressured by several players, including Jeremiah Trotter Jr. on a blitz, and was forced to loft a pass up to Dallas Goedert near the end zone. Goedert slipped and Cooper DeJean came away with an interception at safety.
Dotson got the better of DeJean on an out-breaking route and Hurts connected with him on the left sideline.
Elijah Cooks made several plays throughout practice, yet he put an exclamation point on his performance with back-to-back catches towards the end of 11-on-11s. Cooks made Eli Ricks look silly after the catch and ran in for a TD. Then he beat Mac McWilliams on an in-breaking route for the two-point conversion from McKee on the following play.
That was all for Tuesday’s practice, as players scattered around the field for extra work after the session ended. One notable observation that I made after practice was Eagles WR coach Aaron Moorehead getting extra one-on-one work with Terrace Marshall.
Moorehead appeared to be working with Marshall on his releases. The duo chatted for a few minutes before Dorian Thompson-Robinson began throwing Marshall a few deep passes.
While Marshall appeared to be gaining momentum early in training camp, he missed several practices due to a knee injury. Now Marshall is playing catch up with other WRs like Elijah Cooks and Darius Cooper.
It’s clear that both Cooper and Cooks are working their way up Philadelphia’s depth chart. If someone was watching the Eagles for the first time on Tuesday, they likely would have thought that Cooks and Cooper were the third and fourth-best WRs behind DeVonta Smith and Jahan Dotson.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is going to have several difficult decisions to make later this month. While preseason games and the joint practices with the Cleveland Browns will be huge, it’s hard to dismiss what I saw from both Cooks and Cooper on Tuesday.