Eagles training camp diary: DeVonta Smith up for the battle vs. Quinyon Mitchell, stingy secondary
The Eagles‘ second practice featured a cameo from Brian Dawkins, an illuminating news conference from Vic Fangio, and my realization that Makai Lemon is partial to blue raspberry water ice from Rita’s.
For a comprehensive breakdown of everything that happened at practice, be sure to watch or listen to our Thursday show, which detailed essentially every play from practice and much more, but here are a few big-picture takeaways I left the Jefferson Health Complex with:
Mano a mano
After an opening practice mostly defined by the new-look Eagles offense showing some encouraging signs, things were much more even between the offense and defense on Thursday. I usually attribute “muddy” practices where you don’t have as many notes to a strong defensive line causing more broken-down plays, but the Eagles’ secondary also deserves plenty of credit for the number of passing plays that wound up with scrambles or check downs to the flat.
What did stand out amidst the stalemate were two of the players central to it: DeVonta Smith and Quinyon Mitchell. Smith got the better of Mitchell on consecutive plays early in practice, the first coming on a slant route where he beat Mitchell to the inside for Hurts to find him in rhythm. The next play, Smith broke toward the sideline and made a nice, leaping catch over Mitchell and seemed to get his feet in bounds along the sideline, although his defensive teammates in close proximity protested the catch.
Seeing these flashes from Smith when matched up against Mitchell isn’t an entirely new phenomenon, but Mitchell’s most competitive moments in each of his first two training camps came against A.J. Brown, not Smith. And, as we’re evaluating whether Smith is truly ready to step into a No. 1 receiver role for the Eagles this season, being able to create separation against an All-Pro cornerback who so seldom allows it on Sundays is an important box to check.
“Just his speed, his quickness, his acceleration,” Mitchell said when asked what he’s taken from his frequent matchups against Smith. “Just the way he makes catches — he makes good 50/50 catches.”
Motion sickness
Day 2 of the Sean Mannion experience featured motion on the overwhelming majority of plays. I actually started noting when they didn’t have some sort of pre-snap motion by the end of the day.
We saw Makai Lemon moving around the formation on orbits, jets, and returns, something that will be important for the rookie receiver who is adept at finding the soft spot against zone coverage but not ideally equipped to handle press-man coverage.
Fittingly, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio explained before practice why motion either before or at the snap has become so en vogue around the NFL as — my editorialization here — offenses try to figure out how to level the playing field against the very defensive philosophy Fangio has made so popular.
“It’s kind of been a few year evolution,” Fangio said. “The motion, all the various motions, is kind of the new fad. I wouldn’t say new, it’s been a few years, and it’s kind of expanding itself. That to me is part of the new. That’s the newness. Back in the 90s, late 90s, it was empty formations. Those are still here. All the various motions. … It’s twofold. One, they’re trying to get a tell on the defense potentially. Two, they’re trying to get you out of position a little bit hopefully. They’re trying to disguise their final formation and their intentions.”
“There’s certain calls that we’re in, or any defense is in, they could do cheetah flips with their motion. It isn’t going to matter,” Fangio added. “There’s other calls where it does cause a little problem.”
Colercoaster
Cole Payton had a rough second practice.
For as comfortable as the fifth-round rookie looked on Wednesday, he tossed three interceptions and looked much more like a young signal caller running a disorganized third-team offense.
In his defense, the first pick ricocheted off wide receiver Danny Gray’s hands and fluttered into A.J. Epenesa’s grasp as a result. The second came on the very next play, when Payton targeted undrafted rookie tight end Dae’Quan Wright on an underneath route that linebacker Chance Campbell jumped as Wright drifted away from the ball.
The third came toward the end of practice, when rookie edge rusher Keyshawn James-Newby lurked underneath and picked Payton off on a short attempt over the middle of the field.
There’s no need to sound the alarm on Payton, who just has to affirm that the Eagles’ belief in him as a developmental player is well founded to stick around on the 53-man roster. It is a good reminder, though, that there’s a lot of training camp left to play out.
