Eagles Minicamp Practice Notes: Defense ahead of offense thus far

It seems to me that Hurts is targeting Saquon Barkley more often than he has in the past. This isn’t the first offseason in recent years where some have wondered if passing to the running back could be a bigger part of the offense, so, you have to take these observations with a grain of salt. But maybe it’s truly different this time?! Barkley doesn’t have the best hands but he is very effective with the ball in them in terms of yards after catch potential. Should be a bigger part of the offense than not at all.

BACKUP QUARTERBACK BATTLE (?): The Eagles have held three media-attended spring practices and Andy Dalton has been QB2 for all of them. It sure seems like Tanner McKee has been demoted to QB3. If Dalton goes up directly after Hurts again tomorrow, we’ll have even more confirmation. I don’t really get it, to be honest. Dalton obviously has more starting experience in the NFL but McKee has shown legitimate promise and I think it’s worth fostering that potential, not pushing him down the depth chart as he enters a contract year. On that note, I thought McKee looked like the better quarterback on Tuesday. McKee ripped a ball over the middle to Elijah Moore in stride for a first down and more. He found Hollywood Brown (twice, including a real tight window throw) and Samori Toure for touchdown connections. Dalton, meanwhile, got picked off by Jalyx Hunt and some more defenders got hands on his passes. In fairness to Dalton, he did have some good completions to E.J. Jenkins (threaded a pass in tight coverage with Chance Campbell draped over the tight end), Moore for a touchdown (seemed like a coverage bust by Mac McWilliams?), and Johnny Wilson (in stride over the middle). But Dalton put the ball in harm’s way too often (Chance Campbell nearly picked him in the end zone) and also had a pass deflected at the line of scrimmage. I could understand a legitimate battle for QB2 where the team is actually splitting the backup reps but I don’t get stacking the deck in Dalton’s favor.

Not a good day for rookie quarterback Cole Payton. He threw at least three near-interceptions. He did respond well from his last throw in harm’s way by delivering a strike over the middle to Brandon Hayes.

The Eagles’ offensive line lineup

With Lane Johnson returning to practice, interesting to see that Bell shifted to second-team left tackle after previously repping at first-team right tackle. Whereas Jeff Stoutland preferred young players to master one position first, new offensive line coach Chris Kuper clearly isn’t afraid to emphasize position versatility from the jump. Bell’s enormity stood out to me today when I saw him dwarfing Jordan Mailata, who is by no means small: