Adrian Fedkiw
A lot of Eagles content gets published each day, so here’s a recap of your Eagles news from this past week.
Another wave of Philadelphia Eagles practices begin next week with the start of mandatory mini camp on Tuesday.
That means more overreactions from Eagles fans about everything they hear and read. It’s still only June people!
It also means that time’s up for Fletcher Cox and Darren Sproles. It’s time to get back to work! Head coach Doug Pederson stated during Friday’s press conference that he expects both to be at camp. If neither shows, they can be fined up to $76,580 for not participating.
Would I be overly concerned about Cox missing camp if he decides to continue his holdout? Not really. Cox was drafted into a 4-3 in 2012 when Andy Reid was the head coach and I think he can pick up on defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s scheme fairly quickly.
And if he did continue his holdout, it won’t be forever. NFL players usually give in eventually in these sort of situations. Cox will eat this season, get his huge contract next offseason and all will be well again in Philadelphia.
On to the links:
Here’s the post from this week about Pederson expecting Cox and Sproles to be back for mini camp. It was also during this press conference that Pederson proclaimed that Sam Bradford has been “unbelievable” this offseason and is ahead in the quarterback competition. Carson Wentz and Bradford also spoke to the press this week and Wentz said that “we’re not out here to get each other” when asked about the quarterback competition.
Wentz is reportedly learning the Eagles’ offense faster than Bradford, which really doesn’t mean anything this early in the proceedings. We’ve yet to see how Wentz will grasp reading an NFL defense, especially a complex scheme with a plethora of tricky blitz packages.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie believes that Pederson is handling the “emotional intelligence” aspect of coaching very well so far, but how is he going to fare if Bradford starts struggling, is tossing interception after interception and the Eagles aren’t winning? Is he going to derive from the plan as more and more boos reverberate inside Lincoln Financial Field? That’s where the emotional intelligence is really going to come into play.
In some ex-Eagles news, safety Walter Thurmond is retiring and cornerback Brandon Boykin apparently has a “degenerative hip condition”, which would explain why he struggled so much with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season after the Eagles traded him.
Pro Football Rumors wrote a post this week about eight possible destinations for free agent edge rusher Greg Hardy. The Eagles were named one of those eight teams, but in my opinion, this scumbag doesn’t deserve to play another down in the NFL.
The Eagles held their second annual batting practice at Citizens Bank Park Thursday and Zach Ertz beat defending-champion Jon Dorenbos.