Philadelphia Eagles: 5 lessons from first week of training camp

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Depth at outside linebacker, cornerback is a concern

One of the biggest developments has been the concerning depth at the outside linebacker and corner positions. The Philadelphia Eagles were already thin at both positions before training camp, but recent injuries have depleted the little depth the team had. OLB Travis long tore his ACL in practice a couple days ago and will miss the rest of the season.

Long has torn his ACL twice now as an Eagle in back to back seasons and once in college. Long was a lock to make the team and compete for the third OLB spot. Now this forces the team to rely on Marcus Smith, the teams 2014 first round pick. Hopefully Smith can step up and take over that third edge rusher spot.

Along with Long tearing his ACL, the teams sixth round pick corner JaCorey Shepherd has also tore his ACL. Shepherd was expected to take over the teams slot nickel duties after the Eagles decided to trade Brandon Boykin to the Steelers for a conditional draft pick. The team was very high on Shepherd and his injury forces the team to either use Jaylen Watkins as the nickel corner, or do some reshuffling to their starting lineup. The outside linebacker and corner positions depth will be tested this coming preseason and regular season.

The Philadelphia Eagles do have options to maybe replace these losses, but it obviously sucks to lose two players that were going to make the final 53 man roster in the same week of practice. Both of these players will be missed but they weren’t vital starters. Lets hope that the football gods bring better luck to the Eagles and their players.

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