Getty Nick Sirianni is entering his third season as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Philadelphia Eagles listed only one player out on the first injury report of training camp. Devon Allen — the Olympic hurdler turned wide receiver — was placed on the non-football injury list with a calf injury suffered during track season. There was no immediate timetable given for Allen’s return.
The Eagles were also missing Haason Reddick on July 26 as he recovers from a groin injury. The ailment isn’t expected to keep the Pro Bowl pass rusher sidelined long, with the team saying Reddick should be ready to go for the third practice on July 30. Cornerback Avonte Maddox (toe) and defensive end Derek Barnett (knee) were listed as limited participants. Yes, the defending NFC champions are healthy to start the year.
#Eagles Practice Report:
WILL NOT PRACTICE
Reddick – groin soreness (expected back after the weekend)
LIMITED
Barnett – knee
Maddox – toe
“Health is a huge part of what we do,” Eagles GM Howie Roseman told reporters. “Obviously, we had tremendous success with that last year, but that doesn’t guarantee any success this year. For us when we’re looking at guys and we’re looking at the injury history, we know the best indicator of future success is the past. So we’re trying to balance that and make sure that we have great people in place on the performance staff, in the training room, with our doctors, by also giving them a chance to be successful in bringing in the right people here.”
Derek Barnett: The Comeback Season
Derek Barnett suffered a season-ending ACL tear last season against Detroit in Week 1. He has been rehabbing hard to get back and seeing the 27-year-old running around on his surgically-repaired left knee was a good sign. The Eagles have been encouraged by Barnett’s progress as evidenced by their decision to keep him in uniform instead of placing him on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list.
Brandon Graham to Derek Barnett: Smile more. End of day you’re still here and you can put all the other stuff behind you with a good year.
Pro Bowl defensive end Brandon Graham has been in Barnett’s ear all summer and keeping his spirits up.
“He’s upbeat,” Graham said. “Like I told him out there, hey man, just put that smile on, smile more, because at the end of the day you still here after so much you done been through. You could make it all go away by just what you do this year.”
It’s been a roller-coaster ride for Barnett through six NFL seasons — 21.5 sacks in 65 games — as he looks to shed the dreaded first-round bust label. There was a time when people were starting to write off Graham, then he turned his rags into riches by making the most of every rep.
“We gotta make sure we block the noise just as much as y’all gotta keep the noise up,” Graham said, referring to the assembled media. “So I think helping him with that, knowing that he’s still got a chance, what he can do out there, what he put out there [on film] … I didn’t know I was going to be here this long, sometimes I thought I was going to be gone. But what they can’t take away from me is when I got an opportunity and my attitude and what I put out there on that film.”
Derek Barnett with the strip-sack!
And oh by the way, he was the first-round pick the Eagles got in the Sam Bradford trade … with the Vikings. #MINvsPHI
Eagles Practice Again on Friday
The Eagles went through a walkthrough on Thursday (July 27), with no scheduled media availability. The team will return to practice on Friday (July 28) and new defensive coordinator Sean Desai will address reporters to start the day.
It’s hard to say how much Desai’s defense will differ from the scheme employed last year by Jonathan Gannon, but Desai has promised to honor famed Eagles coach Jim Johnson with his unit’s aggressiveness. The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane made the following observations in his practice notebook:
Desai will utilize multiple fronts — most often 3-4 on obvious run downs and 4-2 on pass downs — and lean on split-safety zone coverages. But he will have an assortment of looks and do his best to disguise pre-snap. I did notice defensive end Brandon Graham, who was filling in for Reddick, dropping into coverage on a pass play. Some didn’t like seeing Reddick drop last season. But he only did it 7 percent of the time and it helped disguise some of Gannon’s pressures.
Brandon Graham joins us now to talk about Sean Desai and the upcoming season