Eagles training camp: Best stories from Philadelphia’s third practice

Three training camp practices are in the books for the Philadelphia Eagles. Seven remain. The Birds will take Sunday off before returning to work on Monday.

July’s final Saturday brought with it sunshine and members of our great nation’s military as Philly honored the armed forces. As far as what’s transpired on the field, as always we have much to talk about.

Here are the best stories from the Eagles’ third day of training camp practice.

Expectations are high, even with the knowledge that the offense has struggled on consecutive days. Here are some of the storylines that stand out as Philadelphia wraps another day of workouts.

Practices are getting longer.

Those of you who were troubled by the Eagles’ 58-minute session to begin training camp practices will be pleased to hear their third lasted for an hour and a half. This follows a 1:15 session on Friday.

The pads haven’t come on yet. That will happen next week. It’s a different NFL than some of us who are older remember. Still, we expect this team to be ready when the lights come on.

The defense is ahead of the offense after three practices.

The offense has struggled in each of the last two practice sessions. You can expect that there will be a ton of discussion about where Jalen Hurts is over the weekend, but in fairness, none of the Eagles’ quarterbacks look great.

Here are Hurts’ numbers from the first three practices.

• Day 1: 12/15, Four touchdowns, 1 interception
• Day 2: 8/15, No touchdowns, 1 interception
• Day 3: 16/21, No touchdowns, 1 interception

The defense is ahead of the offense right now, and that’s okay. Offense is about precision. Defense is about reading and reacting.

Undrafted rookie Grant Calcaterra leaves the field with an injury.

After snagging a reception from Gardner Minshew, Grant Calcaterra hobbled from the field to the medical tent and, eventually, from the tent to inside the NovaCare Complex. Let’s hope he’s okay. He could contribute heavily from the tight end position in year one if he’s healthy.

For now, Tyree Jackson and Richard Rodgers remain on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list. Jackson has been working on a side field and is wearing a knee brace.

Milton Williams sat out of Saturday’s practice with an elbow injury.

There haven’t been any updates on the severity of this one. Let’s hope he’s back on the field soon. Wide receiver John Hightower got banged up during seven-on-seven drills. It took him a while to get up, but he returned to practice relatively quickly.

Zach Pascal has yet to practice after suffering food poisoning.

Zach Pascal continues to recover from food poisoning and sat out of another practice session at training camp. Keep your fingers crossed that he can get on the field sooner rather than later.

It’s becoming more and more obvious why he’s here though. He’s provided the veteran leadership at the position that we’ve been clamoring for. More often than not during OTAs, he was first in line to run every drill.

Andre Chachere has been impressive.

The Eagles have seven safeties at camp. While Andre Chachere is known for being a great special teams player/gunner, he’s made big plays on both Friday and Saturday, picking off both Gardner Minshew and Jalen Hurts.

Dennard Wilson is destined to be the Eagles’ next defensive coordinator.

It’s hard not to be impressed with Dennard Wilson. He’s always in command when he speaks. His players love him, both veterans and rookies.

Recently, the Eagles’ defensive backs coach had the title of Defensive Passing Game Coordinator added to his resume, and it stands to reason that, if Jonathan Gannon gets a shot at being a head coach after this season, it will be Wilson that transitions into the seat that he vacates.