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Monday was the first day of practice in pads for the Eagles this summer, as COVID-19 restrictions resulted in limited contact at the start of camp.
Now, the Eagles can finally begin more intense workouts.
Head coach Doug Pederson says he has to be a bit cautious as the players ramp up the contact in training camp.
"These guys haven't been in pads since our playoff game back in January," said Pederson. "We want to do our due diligence and I want to do my due diligence to the players to make sure that we are ramping up correctly, and yet still put the pads on and get used to them here in the next couple days."
Pederson and his players are fighting the clock.
The kickoff to the regular season is less than a month away, and Pederson must have both his starters and backups ready with the right amount of practice reps before the Eagles take on Washington on Sept. 13.
"There's a fine line with the amount of reps that our starters take and get compared to some of these guys that are backup guys or situational role players for us that we need to get evaluations on," Pederson said. "We don't have a whole lot of time obviously, so we have to make the most of these opportunities, especially these padded sessions that we have in the next couple weeks."
The Eagles and the rest of the NFL are all playing catch up this month.
Not only did players have to wait for padded practices, but there are no preseason games to help them prepare for live competition.
The Eagles are just getting back into pads in a week where they would have been preparing for their second preseason game if not for the pandemic.
"The first game is a real game," said Pederson. "It's a game that matters, a game that counts. One of the things we have to do as a staff, and not only just a coaching staff but personnel staff, is make sure we have the right guys going down to Washington for week one. Without having games to really evaluate and critique, mistakes get magnified in regular-season games."
There are still restrictions the Eagles must deal with every day: Multiple tests and social distancing off the field continues to be the rule and not the exception. Meanwhile, Pederson and his staff still have a job to do as his team moves closer to the start of the 2020 campaign.
"I've been extremely pleased and excited with where we are as a team in relation to the COVID virus and players being able to protect themselves," Pederson said. "Now that we are in this sort of protected bubble here, we can really prepare our starters in these next couple weeks and get them ready to go.