The Philadelphia Eagles officially wrapped up their spring offseason workout program last week. Now let\u2019s take a look at the winners, losers, and I don\u2019t knows that stood out from three media-attended practices (two days of voluntary OTAs and one mandatory minicamp session).<\/p>\n
Disclaimer: These were non-contact drills (no pads) and three practices is a pretty small sample size. There\u2019s still plenty of time for players to change their outlook \u2014 for better or worse \u2014 over the course of training camp and preseason games. <\/p>\n
WINNERS
\nQB JALEN HURTS<\/p>\n
The reigning Super Bowl MVP turned in a strong spring. Hurts was accurate and decisive; he had very few incompletions and he didn\u2019t take too many \u201csacks.\u201d Getting rid of the ball quickly mostly resulted in shorter completions, though he did have one highlight deep completion for a touchdown. Hurts seems to be getting better in practice settings from where he was earlier in his career. He rarely \u2014 if ever \u2014 puts the ball in harm\u2019s way. <\/p>\n
CB COOPER DEJEAN <\/p>\n
The Eagles clearly want DeJean on the field for 100% of their defensive snaps. This spring, he was the starting outside cornerback opposite from Quinyon Mitchell in Philly\u2019s base defense. Vic Fangio even talked about him potentially playing safety, though he took zero snaps there during media-attendance practices. The expectation here is that DeJean will mostly serve as the Eagles\u2019 nickel cornerback. And when he\u2019s not playing in the slot, he\u2019ll still be on the field in some other capacity. <\/p>\n
CB KELEE RINGO<\/p>\n
Ringo and Adoree\u2019 Jackson rotated starting cornerback reps in the Eagles\u2019 nickel defense. Of the two, Ringo shone more brightly. The third-year defender broke up multiple passes and looked pretty sticky in coverage. Ringo also seems to be emerging as a leader in his position room considering he led the huddle before a DB drill. There\u2019s still going to be a training camp battle but Ringo appears to be the front-runner. <\/p>\n
QB TANNER MCKEE<\/p>\n
As QB3 over the past two years, McKee\u2019s practice reps were pretty limited. And he was often throwing to players who wouldn\u2019t even make the roster. Now elevated to QB2, McKee benefits from more practice time and better targets to work with. McKee took advantage of his upgraded situation this spring by looking pretty good for backup quarterback standards. As was the case with Hurts, McKee rarely threw incompletions or put the ball in harm\u2019s way. <\/p>\n
QB KYLE MCCORD<\/p>\n
At the very least, McCord showed that he\u2019s not flat out unplayable like previous Eagles rookie quarterbacks (see: Clayton Thorson, Carson Strong). Even better, McCord completed some difficult throws into traffic that make one believe he might be able to develop into a backup quarterback. We\u2019ll see how the preseason games go but McCord is currently in good position to beat out Dorian Thompson-Robinson for the QB3 role. <\/p>\n
RB WILL SHIPLEY <\/p>\n
Shipley saw a lot of targets during spring practices and he looked like an effective pass-catcher out of the backfield. He\u2019s obviously not overtaking the Eagles\u2019 top targets in the pecking order but I do think he could be more of a factor in the passing attack than Kenny Gainwell was last year. Of course, that\u2019s a low bar to clear since Gainwell saw just 25 targets in 21 games played. <\/p>\n
WR TERRACE MARSHALL<\/p>\n
The Terrace Marshall signing didn\u2019t exactly generate a lot of excitement at the time of it happening but maybe he has a place on this roster. Marshall had some standout moments during spring practices, including when he took a slant to the house. When specifically asked about developing chemistry with Jahan Dotson, Hurts gave this answer (bold emphasis mine):<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that time has been valuable. It\u2019s been valuable working with Jahan [Dotson], working with Terrace Marshall \u2014 he made a lot of big plays this offseason \u2014, Dallas [Goedert], Grant [Calcaterra], Harrison [Bryant]. Everyone \u2014 Saquon [Barkley] out there. Everyone who was able to go and available, working with them and taking advantage of that, that was big. <\/p>\n
Seems like a good sign for Marshall.<\/p>\n
Is he going to beat Dotson out for WR3? I don\u2019t know about that. And it\u2019s not ideal if he\u2019s a WR4 who doesn\u2019t contribute on special teams, where he\u2019s played 14 career snaps over four years. Dotson also hasn\u2019t been a special teams guy with just six snaps played over three years. <\/p>\n
Perhaps Marshall takes on the role that Parris Campbell had last year as a depth receiver who bounces between the roster and practice squad. Not exactly the most thrilling proposition but Marshall\u2019s stock is higher leaving OTAs than it was entering them. <\/p>\n
WR DANNY GRAY <\/p>\n
Prior to OTAs, I included Gray on my Eagles 53-man roster projection. Here\u2019s what I wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n