PHILADELPHIA − Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown is not afraid to express his thoughts on social media, especially when it comes to defending his best friend, quarterback Jalen Hurts.
In fact, Brown supports Hurts so much that he was photographed arriving at the Eagles’ complex on Tuesday with the words “Hurts SZN” on his hat.
So Brown was quick to shoot down a report earlier this month that Hurts had a terrible sequence of 10 throws in a spring practice held in late May or early June, in which Hurts was intercepted 3 times and “sacked” 3 times.
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On Wednesday, Brown was asked why he felt compelled to defend Hurts about that report by longtime Eagles reporter Derrick Gunn, who had relayed on JAKIB Media what a source told him about Hurts’ performance that day.
“It’s important because it’s the quarterback on my team, No 1, and he’s my friend, No. 2,” Brown said. “And the story wasn’t true, too. False narratives come out about quarterbacks, and this and that. Guys gotta understand that it’s practice. Just like today there was an interception. It was a great play by (safety Marcus Epps).
“You gotta understand these are the times that we try things. I’m not going to win every rep. He’s not going to make every throw. And that’s just a part of it … So you gotta understand that it’s just practice, so I just want to clear up false narratives.”
Hurts certainly won most of his throws Wednesday during the Eagles’ first practice of training camp.
Working mostly in red zone situations, Hurts twice made nice throws to wide receiver Quez Watkins − the first a back-shoulder bullet pass in the end zone, the second a throw zipped across his body to Watkins in the back of the end zone.
Hurts did throw an interception when Epps made a nice play in the corner of the end zone on a ball intended for Dallas Goedert. Hurts almost threw another interception when his arm was hit by an offensive player as he was throwing the ball in the flat. The ball popped straight up into the air, and defensive end Brandon Graham got his arms on it, but couldn’t hold onto it.
Hurts laughed off Brown’s defense, however. He said he called Brown out of the blue one morning and asked what he was up to, not knowing that Brown was on social media defending him.
He said, ‘I’m on Twitter, talking trash, whatever,'” Hurts said. “I said, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘They talking crazy. They talking about you.’ I’m like, ‘OK, what did they say?’ And he’s like, ‘some BS,’ and left it at that.
“I didn’t even know he did it, to be honest. It was casual to me. It must have been a slow day.”
Shorter, harder practices with more days off
The Eagles seemed to double down on their philosophy begun last season under head coach Nick Sirianni of shorter practices. But instead of going 70-90 minutes like they did last year during training camp, the Eagles opened camp with a 58-minute practice Wednesday.
In addition, the Eagles are that up with a walkthrough on Thursday before returning to practice on Friday. There are four walkthroughs and two days off scheduled in the first 16 days of practice, leaving just 10 days of practice before the first preseason game on Aug. 12.
“It’s all about player health,” Sirianni said, citing fewer soft-tissue injuries last season.
But Sirianni also found that soft-tissue injuries “shoot up” on the third day of practice. He said Tuesday, reporting day, was a conditioning day, following by practice Wednesday.
“Is it different? Yes (compared to) what we did last year, but the other thing that you’re getting is you’re getting more high-volume days because of that walkthrough,” Sirianni said. “It’s just a different way of how we get there … That doesn’t mean we’re not going to get soft-tissue injuries, but we’re doing as much as we possibly can to prevent those things.
“My job is to make sure the team is ready to play. So I have to listen to the experts … It isn’t just blind-faith following. It’s educated (guesses) of how we’re doing things. Sometimes I have to make hard decisions of what to do, and what not to do.”
Camp observations
∎ Center Jason Kelce, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and safety Anthony Harris didn’t practice Wednesday because they had just overcome COVID-19 and are working their way back into shape. All three were watching from the sidelines. The NFL no longer tests for COVID-19. The three are expected back soon. Wide receiver Zach Pascal didn’t practice due to an illness.
∎ Rookie Cam Jurgens took Kelce’s place at center with the first unit. K’Von Wallace replaced Harris at safety while Marlon Tuipulotu, not rookie Jordan Davis, took the first-team reps in place of Cox.
∎ In addition to Epps’ interception, cornerback Zech McPhearson had a nice breakup on a pass intended for DeVonta Smith in the back corner of the end zone. Smith was going up in an attempt to catch the ball as McPhearson stayed with him and knocked the ball away.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
