Eagles OTAs observations: Our first glimpse of the 2024 squad

Organized Team Activities are underway at the NovaCare Complex in South Philadelphia.

Which means we got to watch some football on Wednesday!

While the Eagles actually began their OTAs on Monday, Wednesday was their second practice of the spring but the first open to reporters. It lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes. They still have four more OTA practices scheduled this spring: May 23, May 28, May 30-31 and will have a mandatory minicamp from June 4-6. One of those days next week will be open to reporters as well.

But for now, here are 10 observations from Wednesday’s practice:

1. As a reminder, OTAs are voluntary. The Eagles had good attendance on Wednesday but a few notable players were not on the field: James Bradberry, Josh Sweat, Lane Johnson, DeVonta Smith, Kelee Ringo, C.J. Uzomah and Jake Elliott.

2. The Eagles have a few guys coming back from injuries who were either not participating or not full participants:

• Safety Sydney Brown, who tore his ACL late in his rookie season, was not practicing. He began the session on a side field with trainers and looked good running. During practice, he was going through mental reps about 40 yards deep with a safety view of the defense. He was really into it.

• Linebacker Nakobe Dean was in uniform but not participating in 7-on-7 drills. He is coming back from a 2023 season that included a season-ending foot injury.

• Rookie receiver Ainias Smith was in uniform but not participating fully. He didn’t do 7-on-7s and was watching with the group of punt returners. He has a stress fracture that was discovered at the Combine.

• Eli Ricks seemed to suffer or aggravate an injury early in practice and his day was done early. Also, Zech McPhearson did not participate in 7-on-7s as he comes back from an Achilles injury from last summer.

3. While we should really take everything we see at OTAs with a grain of salt, it doesn’t give us a starting point for the depth chart, even though some players are missing.

But here are some offensive depth chart notes:

• Without Johnson, Mekhi Becton was the top right tackle. The first OL was (from left to right): Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Becton.

• Second OL: Fred Johnson, Darian Kinnard, Brett Toth, Matt Hennessy, Anim Dankwah

• Third OL: Laekin Vakalahi, Trevor Keegan, Dylan McMahon, Jason Poe, Gottlieb Ayedze

• Without DeVonta Smith, the Eagles’ top receivers were A.J. Brown, Parris Campbell and Joseph Ngata.

4. Here are some defensive depth chart notes:

• Without Dean in team drills, the Eagles top linebackers were Devin White and Zack Baun. It’s worth noting that Baun getting off-ball reps. He was with that group in position drills too.

• The second pairing of LBs was Oren Burks and Ben VanSumeren. The third pairing was Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Brandon Smith.

• Without Bradberry, Ringo and Ricks, the Eagles had Isaiah Rodgers working as the top RCB across the field from Darius Slay. Rodgers missed all of last season because of a suspension from the NFL. The top safeties were C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship. The top nickel was Avonte Maddox, who also filled in as a third-team safety.

• Cooper DeJean got some reps as a nickel with the second-team defense and outside cornerback with the third team. Quinyon Mitchell and Josh Jobe were the second-team boundary cornerbacks.

• DeJean also got reps as a punt returner. He and Britain Covey handled those duties with Smith and Brown watching with the group.

5. We got our first glimpse of Saquon Barkley in an Eagles uniform and he looked pretty good taking handoffs from Jalen Hurts. It’s fun to watch a guy that big move that well up close.