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When a wide receivers guru takes the reins as head coach, you’re bound to have a lot of smart minds in that room. The Philadelphia Eagles just added another one of those sounding boards.
Head coach Nick Sirianni announced that Eddie Royal was joining the coaching staff as an intern. The former second-round pick (42nd overall in 2008) worked with Sirianni in San Diego following a nine-year NFL career as a productive receiver and return specialist. He retired in 2018 after racking up 4,357 receiving yards and 2,729 return yards. He played for the Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, Chicago Bears.
“It’s great to have Eddie Royal here working with our guys, too” Sirianni told reporters on Tuesday. “Eddie is doing an internship with us. He was a great football player for our Chargers teams and had a lot of success. And I always thought he was real savvy as a football player so I know he’s able to add his knowledge there as well.”
Sirianni and Royal overlapped in San Diego in 2013 and 2014 when the young assistant was working under then-Chargers head coach Mike McCoy. Sirianni credited Royal for helping Jalen Reagor and Quez Watkins with their route running and technique this summer. He thought Reagor had some “special” 1-on-1 reps during Monday’s joint practice with the New England Patriots. Interestingly, McCoy was also a guest instructor at Saturday’s practice.
“It’s great to have him here,” Sirianni said of McCoy. “It’s really great to have him here and see him practice. I always respected how much Mike paid attention to situations.”
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DeVonta Smith Returning to Team Drills
Eagles top rookie DeVonta Smith has been ramping things back up ever since Saturday. Now he’s ready to take the next step in his recovery from a minor knee sprain. Sirianni revealed that the 10th overall pick would be participating in team drills at Tuesday’s joint practice. He wouldn’t reveal how many reps he might see but it sounds like the Eagles want Smith to play in at least one preseason game.
“Yea, I always think it’s necessary for guys to play in the preseason and go through that,” Sirianni said about Smith. “Matter of fact, I’ll let you guys in on this, you’ll see it in a little bit, DeVonta is going to do some team reps today so excited about that.”
Smith’s future usage will depend on how he looks today, per Sirianni. There is a “preliminary plan” for how he wants Thursday night’s preseason game to to go in terms of personnel, but it’s going to be constantly changing based on how practice goes.
Eagles Offensive Coordinator Evaluates Jalen Hurts
The early reviews on new starter Jalen Hurts have all been positive. He looked sharp in the preseason opener last Thursday, then enjoyed arguably his best day of practice on Monday versus New England. Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen added his evaluation to the mix.
“I thought he played really good,” Steichen said. “What I know about him is he’s never satisfied, which is what makes him good. He wants to be great. So we corrected a few things but he’s ascending in the right direction and we’re excited about his progress.”
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