Over the course of 17 training camp practices, four of which were against another team, I charted 967 team drill reps for the Eagles.
Sick? Maybe.
Useful? Definitely.
With the Eagles sitting their starters for essentially all three training camp games, the only really look anyone got of what the team will look like happened during the training camp practices at the NovaCare Complex.
Training camp stats don’t always tell the whole story, but they do give a very good look at which players the team used the most, a sign of who they expect to use in the regular season.
Some context:
*** All of the stats were from 7v7 and 11v11 drills
*** I charted every single Hurts rep, but did miss a small amount of Flacco reps when they ran split-field drills.
*** Drops are obviously a judgement call, but so are touchdowns, as there was no tackling during any of the drills
*** The below stats are from all team reps. So Andre Patton, for example, has 19 targets — but almost all of them came with the 2nd/3rd team. Whereas all of Devonta Smith’s targets came with the first team.
With that being said, here are all of the offensive players stats from the 2021 Eagles training camp:
Quarterbacks:
Jalen Hurts: 215/297, 22 TDs, 6 INTs, 468 reps (all 1st team)
Joe Flacco: 166/241, 17 TD, 3 INTs, 338 reps (all 2nd team)
Nick Mullens: 94/120, 8 TD, 2 INTs, 161 reps (all 3rd team)
Analysis: I took a deep dive into Hurts’ camp in an article earlier in the week, which you can read here. As for Flacco, he had a slow start to camp, but he definitely improved as camp went on. His lack of mobility is a huge issue, but he throws a very nice, accurate ball and doesn’t often put it in harm’s way. If the offensive line is a top-five line, the running game is very good and Sirianni proves to be a great game day coach, the Eagles could win some games with Flacco.
Running Backs:
Miles Sanders: 95 total touches (67 carries, 28 catches)
Boston Scott: 62 total touches (36 carries, 26 catches)
Kenny Gainwell: 57 total touches (25 carries, 32 catches)
Jordan Howard: 55 total touches (40 carries, 15 catches)
Jason Huntley: 25 total touches (13 carries, 12 catches)
Elijah Holyfield: 12 total touches (5 carries, 6 catches)
Analysis: Sanders work increased as camp went on. Early in camp he was basically splitting reps with Scott. As you can see, however, he ended up with almost twice as many carries with the first-team offense and 33 more touches. It is noteworthy how there was a big discrepancy in carries, but not catches, however. Sanders had 28 catches (on 35 targets), while Scott had 26 (29 targets) and Gainwell had 32 (40 targets). Sanders has had issues with drops in camp, so perhaps the team is going to make him the primary option running the ball, but spread it out in the passing game.
Interesting note — of the 40 carries that Howard got, 36 were with the second team. He is likely a lock to make the team, but it seems his work with the first-team offense will be very limited, perhaps only in short-yardage situations.
The rotation at running back seems pretty clear. Sanders will be the No. 1 back, Scott/Gainwell will be involved in the passing game and Howard will be the short-yardage back. Huntley could make the team simply because of his speed, but he wasn’t very involved during camp and seems likely headed for the practice squad.
Wide Receivers:
Jalen Reagor: 22 catches, 40 targets, 2 TD, 2 drops
Greg Ward: 27 catches, 32 targets, 3 TD, 0 drops
Travis Fulgham: 15 catches, 30 targets, 0 TD, 2 drops
Quez Watkins: 23 catches, 28 targets, 5 TD, 2 drops
John Hightower: 17 catches, 22 targets, 0 TD, 2 drops
Andre Patton: 13 catches, 19 targets, 1 TD, 0 drops
J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: 18 catches, 21 targets, 2 TD, 0 drops
DeVonta Smith: 12 catches, 18 targets, 4 TD, 0 drops
Analysis: Smith being at the bottom of this list in targets is obviously surprising, but it because he missed large portion of camp. Before going down Smith was at the top of the list in targets, and it would be surprising if that wasn’t the case during the regular season. The Eagles also targeted Smith often in the red zone, as you can see from his four touchdowns on 12 catches.
Reagor ending camp with the most targets among the receivers is surprising. Reagor was very up-and-down throughout camp, but definitely improved as camp went on. He earned his spot as a starter, and although he didn’t surprise like Watkins did, you can definitely make the argument he was just as good as Watkins overall. The team’s top three receivers are clear — Smith, Reagor, Watkins. Ward will likely be the fourth, and as you can see, he is still catching mostly everything thrown his way.
The only receiver who had a bad camp was Fulgham. He caught just 50% of his targets (lowest on the team), was tied for the most drops among the receivers and was the only receiver fighting for playing time that didn’t catch a touchdown. Fulgham might make the team, but there is no question he was outplayed by Arcega-Whiteside, who had more catches and more touchdowns on fewer targets.
Tight Ends:
Zach Ertz: 32 catches, 43 targets, 2 TD, 1 drop
Dallas Goedert: 43 catches, 50 targets, 8 TD, 0 drops
Richard Rodgers: 22 catches, 24 targets, 2 TD
Jack Stoll: 20 catches, 28 targets, 2 TD, 1 drop
Tyree Jackson: 35 catches, 44 targets, 4 TD, 1 drop
Analysis: There probably wasn’t enough attention paid throughout camp on just how good Goedert was. Goedert ends camp with the most target, most catches and most touchdowns of any player on the roster. He was involved in the short passing game, the intermediate passing game and the deep passing game, as well as in the red zone. He could have a huge season coming, even with Ertz still on the roster.
Ertz being on the team at the start of camp was surprising, but perhaps more surprising was how involved he was. Ertz had the second-most targets on the team and looked to be right back to the elite-tight end he was viewed as before a down 2020 season. The Eagles enter the season with the best tight-end duo in the NFL.
An underrated player from camp? Jack Stoll. The emergence of Tyree Jackson overshadowed what was an outstanding camp from Stoll, who ended it with a great touchdown catch against the Jets. The Eagles, after losing Noah Togiai last season to waivers, could keep Stoll on the initial 53-man roster.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!