Noteworthy takeaways from the first Eagles training camp practice

You have no idea how happy we are right now. Christmas Eve has truly come in July, and guess what. The first practice of Philadelphia Eagles training camp fell on the 24th of the month... Poetic, right?

We expect tomorrow will deliver more gifts to place underneath our tree. The first session was sandwiched between a 25-minute Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman presser and another chat with several Eagles starters including Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts.

As you might expect, Nick and Jalen were asked about their dynamic. Credit both for finally ending the rumors about a frayed relationship with well-thought-out responses. Deservingly, Jalen got the last word in that discussion. Good for him. Now, we can officially place that behind us and move on to talking football.

Here are some interesting takeaways from the Eagles' first training camp practice.

It wasn't a long session. They never are. Practice lasted for about 70 minutes. Things began with a bang... a Jalen Hurts to Saquon Barkley handoff officially began the festivities.

It's often common to hear Jalen is 'struggling' during these offseason workout sessions. Not the case at the first practice. He looked sharp, placing nice touch in one instance, on a 35-yard TD toss to Dallas Goedert.

It's often difficult to determine what we're to gain from practices that are free from both padding and contact. Conversations about the depth chart are always interesting. The Eagles haven't officially announced theirs, so we study reps to come up with ideas.

Landon Dickerson sat out. He's dealing with a toe laceration, so Mekhi Becton ran with the first team as the starting left guard. Tyler Steen took reps on the right side. Brett Toth is also injured.

Toth is nursing a hamstring injury. Like Dickerson, he's listed as 'day to day'. Parris Campbell took snaps as the WR3 with the first-team offense. We'll see what happens moving forward, but after a good start, if he shows consistency, there won't be much of a battle between him and anyone else.

He and Jalen are showing some chemistry already.

Cooper DeJean will miss three weeks (or more) with a hamstring injury. He was named in a roster announcement issued before practice. He'll join offensive tackle Gottlieb Ayedze and wide receiver Shaq Davis on the Active/Non-Football Injury List. Second-year safety Sydney Brown has been added to the Active/Physically Unable to Perform List. He's still rehabbing from the torn ACL he sustained in the regular-season finale last season.

Here are a few other things worth noting, many relate to Vic Fangio's defense: Isaiah Rodgers started at CB opposite Darius Slay for the first rep. Avonte Maddox started in the slot. Zack Baun and Devin White were the first-team linebackers. Oren Burks was on the field but didn't participate in anything, so he might be nursing something.

We eventually saw juggling of the reserves. Nakobe Dean and Ben VanSumeren lined up with the second unit at linebacker.

Quinyon Mitchell stepped in at CB with Kelee Ringo and took reps at all three cornerback positions, James Bradberry lined up at safety with the second-team defense across from Tristin McCollum. After beginning his day opposite Josh Jobe as a third-team CB, Eli Ricks moved up to play outside with the second team across from Kelee Ringo.

Britain Covey, John Ross, Ainias Smith, and Isaiah Rodgers took turns returning punts during special teams drills. There's much to talk about. There's more to come. In the meantime, enjoy a few highlights.

We like what we're seeing. Football is back! The first preseason game falls on August 9th at 7:30 pm EST versus the Baltimore Ravens.

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