Getty Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is sticking with injured starter Jalen Hurts after the bye week.
Health and safety have been the calling cards of the Nick Sirianni administration. The second-year head coach believes less practices – and virtually zero contact during drills – is the key to keeping the Philadelphia Eagles both physically and mentally ready for the 17-game grind.
Sirianni used joint practices last year with the New York Jets and New England Patriots to get extended looks at players while sitting his starters in preseason games. He’ll adhere to the same plan this summer as the team reported for their first taste of organized team activities (OTAs) on May 31. The Eagles have six OTA dates – May 31, June 2-3, June 6-8 – and will endure only six “light” practices during that two-week span.
“Everything that we do is going to be thought out with the players’ health and safety in mind first,” Sirianni said on April 20. “That was one thing we felt like we did a good job last year of staying healthy for different reasons and different thoughts and everybody’s voices going into it. I have to make the final decision, but we really felt like we benefited from some of those things that we did last year of the time length, of the things that we did.”
Eagles started OTAs this week
Good to see Brandon Graham there coming back from Achilles surgery. He said a few weeks ago he has no restrictions
Jalen Hurts rockin the shades. Jason Kelce has been there throughout the offseason
📸 @Eagles
NFL rules allow teams to hold up to 13 practices over four weeks during the OTA period. Sirianni doesn’t need that many snaps. In fact, the Eagles plan to ditch 11-on-11 drills this year in favor of individual work.
“We are transitioning away a little bit more from 11-on-11s this year,” Sirianni said on May 6. “We are not going to see those this year. I think you guys know we have two weeks of OTAs and look forward to getting a lot of good work done with our individual, get a lot of induvial where we can work on our fundamentals. Then we’ll be doing 7-on-7 because it helps our skill guys and quarterback in making the read and different looks he’s going to get.”
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Eagles Players React to Abbreviated OTA Schedule
Players prefer to limit the wear and tear on their bodies, especially if they can avoid being outside in the 100-degree heat. (The temperature hit 97 on May 31, the first scheduled day for Eagles OTAs). Why risk getting hurt in May or June? Football is football, according to Landon Dickerson.
“The NFL season is longer than the college season obviously,” Dickerson said. “As guys get older, especially some of the veterans we have on the team, I think it’s beneficial for everybody to kind of transition to those more mental reps more than anything. A lot of these older guys, they’ve been playing a long time and they know what it takes to block guys, play in games.”
We can sit here and knock the #Eagles for not practicing hard enough, but the stats don’t lie: @fboutsiders had them at No. 12 in adjusted games lost due to injury in 2021.
Philly ranked 32 (last) in 2018; 21 in 2019; and 31 in 2020. That’s serious improvement. #FlyEaglesFly
The mental aspect is what people tend to forget when debating rest versus rust. Sirianni doubled down on his philosophy last season by trading real practices for walk-throughs late in the regular season as a way to keep everyone’s minds sharp. The whole thing is a delicate balance, one that is one freak ankle pivot or knee twist from going south.
“Pros and cons with both. Work is work but I think it’s also important at this level to maintain the body,” Boston Scott said. “It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have your guys going into the first game of the season. So I think it’s just league-wide finding that balance of grinding but at the same time taking care of the players and making sure the roster is fresh going into the first game.”
Eagles Slated for Joint Practices with Browns, Dolphins
True to his word, Sirianni has scheduled joint practices with two different franchises this summer. The Eagles will travel to Cleveland ahead of their preseason matchup against the Browns on August 21, then head down to Miami prior to their exhibition game versus the Dolphins on August 27. Training camp is expected to begin in late July.
Last year, Eagles had 37 contributing players miss 225 games due to injury, of which 27 were on IR at some point during the season
They have the most adjusted games lost to injury since 2018
But god forbid some teams have trouble using their entire roster for one week
#Eagles
Sirianni had to run his offseason conditioning plan by Howie Roseman before finalizing it. That turned out to be a formality. Everyone in the organization is on the same wavelength when it comes to health and safety.
“Coach talked to me about it,” Roseman said, “and I think what he’s saying makes a ton of sense.”
“We’re comfortable with that’s where we are,” Sirianni said, “with the amount of time that we’re spending in this offseason.”
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Eagles Reveal Major Change to OTA Schedule: ‘We Are Transitioning Away’