Some of the more intriguing Eagles stories are the ones that won't make the headlines.
What a difference a month or so makes, huh? Not even 30 days ago, Devon Allen was injured and added to the Philadelphia Eagles' Active/Non-Football Injury List. Fast forward to the present, and he has been reactivated to the active 90-man training camp roster, and the Birds are hours away from their first preseason game, one on the road at M&T Bank Stadium. That isn't even half of it.
Jalen Hurts was voted by his peers as the third-best player in the NFL. Dennis Kelly is back in the fold after leaving the nest and 2016. Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham are Eagles now, and undrafted rookies are making some waves.
Josh Sills' legal trouble is over. Davion Taylor is gone. So is Dalton Keene, and it appears that the rookie signal-caller, Tanner McKee, is having a better camp than Ian Book.
As the days and hours pass, every time our cell phones receive notifications, we're looking to make sure the Eagles aren't busy. All of that has been on our minds for about a week. Here are a few other things we have been contemplating. We'll call them our off-the-wall and lesser-mentioned observations.
Kenneth Gainwell takes the lead role as the Eagles RB1?
This coaching staff trusts Kenneth Gainwell. He isn't getting the ball a lot at practice, but seemingly every time the Eagles practice situational football (red zone offense, two-minute drills), we typically see Kenny G in the lineup.
Rashaad Penny is spending a lot of time taking snaps with the third-team offense. We're always told not to read into things, but have you ever seen A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith take snaps with the second or third team? Yep! That's what we thought.
Here's something else to consider. If Penny isn't higher than the third RB on the depth chart, why wouldn't Philly roll with someone like Trey Sermon? He has more tread on the tire, and there isn't any injury history.
Josh Jobe is better than some of the guys that we keep trying to talk onto the Eagles 53-man gameday roster.
There's no way around this. The Eagles have some talented guys playing the cornerback position that are going to be left off of the roster. Simply put, at the time of this story's release, they have 11 on the current 90-man unit, and that number swells to a cool dozen if you include defensive back Tristin McCollum.
Darius Slay, James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, and Kelee Ringo are going to make the team. If the Birds keep six CBs on the 53-man depth chart come the regular season, which figures to be the case, there are obviously a ton of guys competing for two roster spots.
Some of our more trusted Eagles minds like Zech McPhearson as the backup slot guy. Mekhi Garner and Eli Ricks have their fan clubs, but don't forget about Josh Jobe. He has had a fantastic camp and already has a year of experience after making the roster last season. If he excels in the preseason, watch out.
The words of James Bradberry:
James Bradberry believes game has slowed down for second year CB Josh Jobe. He’s always been athletic and physical but mental part of game has really picked up. Think it’s going to be a good year for him pic.twitter.com/ulBdlCKyVO
— Ed Kracz (@kracze) August 10, 2023
From James' mouth to our ears. We'll take the word of an NFL All-Pro.
The Eagles have some monsters who are both put together and athletic. See Johnny King and Joseph Ngata.
As is the case with the cornerback position, we might be approaching gridlock in the wide receiver room. Charleston Rambo is gone, but the Birds added Johnny King, a six-foot-five, 209-pound stud. He also happens to be very fluid.
If you're looking for comps to guys that you already know, look no further than A.J. Brown. King is four inches taller than A.J. but 17 pounds lighter. Fellow rookie Joseph Ngata is six-foot-three and 217 pounds, nine pounds lighter than Brown and two inches taller. Another UDFA, Jadon Haselwood, is six-foot-two and tips the scales at 215 pounds.
The Eagles figure to keep six wideouts, and with A.J., DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, and Olamide Zaccheaus almost assured of roster spots, King, Ngata, and Haselwood won't all make the team, but could you imagine being Jalen Hurts and having all of these monsters at wideout during third-down and red zone attempts? It's enough to make one's mouth water.
What the heck happened to Greedy Williams and Justin Evans?
Yeah... We can't stop talking about that secondary. So again, if four of the six roster spots are spoken for, and if K'Von Wallace is taking first-team reps now and Reed Blankenship never leaves the field when the first team is up at practice, what happens to Justin Evans and Greedy Williams?
Raise your hand if you talk Eagles football with your buddies all of the time, and you never bring up Evans and Williams up at all. Just in case you're curious, we're rising our hands over here.