Inside Training Camp: Episode 1

as the man in charge. We welcome you to Eagles Training Camp to seventeen at the Novacare Complex on Eagles Insider David Spadaro along with the head coach, Doug Peterson. Welcome to training camp. Thank you day, Thank you, Thank you. Take us behind the scenes. What what is it like from the minute you get up at what time to get here and what time do you leave? Yeah, you know it's it's early mornings and uh right now it's early evenings until until we get really the vets in here.

But you know I rolled in here around us, you know, five forty five and and just try to get my day started, and then the players start coming in. You know, practice is a little bit later in the day. It's at eight fifty in the morning as opposed to eight oh five when the vets coming here in a couple of days, and and then we just get going. You know, there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that a lot of the prep work has been done. Uh, and now it's just uh, you know, it's it's it's full

steam ahead. Doug, did being a player in the NFL prepare you for being a coach? And in what ways did it? I think so? And playing the quarterback position, um, from a mental standpoint and kind of appreciating the process, appreciating appreciating the grind and the study. And of course as a coach you spend a lot more time in that process and a lot more that grind is preparation and um, you know, if you want to be successful as a player, uh, you prepare yourself for a game day.

You want to be successful as a coach, the same thing, you got to prepare yourself. And then of course, in my case now as head coach, you got to prepare the team and and um, you know they've got to buy into what I'm selling and and um, you know, they got to believe in that, do they? And how do you know if they do well? I you know, you see it when they practice. Um I saw it last year all the way through the season, how well

they played. And they played extremely hard. You know, obviously we came up short in a few games, but they they continued to play hard and play played to the last game. Even when we were out of it, they kept playing. And that that's when you know your team has really bought into what you're selling. So now it's year two and the players know Doug Peterson. So what's

different about you this year than last year? Well, I think I think I'm a little bit more relaxed, Uh, just knowing knowing that we've got everything in place, and and uh, you know, I rely on my co my coordinators a lot, Frank and Jim and Dave and and rely on their preparation as well. And and uh, you know that's a big big part of I think for me feeling I don't want to say comfortable, because and you're never really comfortable. You're always you're always striving to

be better and do things better. And and um, you know, for me now I can focus really on the guys and focus on the team, and and uh have a chance to interact with him, probably a little bit more than I did last year. And uh, it just it just feels good to kind of go into that camp having that that added pressure off your off your shoulders. Doug, do you think you know what you have with this football team? I want to say yes, I think I

do know. Um. Obviously, it's gonna take some hard work in preparation, and once we get into camp and begin to practice, then things begin to unfold a little bit more for you. But I really feel in my heart, I think I know the type of football team that we can be. Um and uh you know, um, the type of coaching staff that I have, and and and getting our guys ready. So I'm excited for camp and obviously, uh,

you know, the regular season. I would imagine for Carson year two, and now that he is the guy, you see a big difference. Do you see the way he carries himself, the way he approaches the meetings, what he does out here on the field, A big jump. Yeah, you know. And the thing is for both of us, really having gone through sixteen games last year, it's huge going into year two, I see more of that confidence in him. I see more of the leadership in him. You know, he's the guy. He knows he's the guy.

He's out in front, he's leading. He's leading in the off season, he's leading now even in rookie camps. As we get through these next couple of days. And those are things you want to you want out of your starting quarterback. And uh, the guys really you know, gravitate to him on offense, and uh, it's it's for him, it's exciting for me. It's exciting because this is what

you want out of your starting quarterback. If you put up a split screen of Carson dropping back twelve months ago and him today, would you notice a big difference From a technical standpoint, you would? You would one. You're gonna see confidence in the drop And that's that's the big part of just understanding our offense. That's the first thing.

And then all the hard work he's put in with with our coaching staff, coach d Filippo and Frank and and what he's done in the off season to prepare himself. You'll see a noticeable we see the noticeable difference. Um, And those are things that uh, he continues to work work in camp with with John and and UH and Frank and UM. Really excited now to get him around the guys when the kind of the bullets are beginning to fly for real, when the pads come on, and

see if those mechanics translate over to his game. A couple of topics of conversation to clarify here. First, wide receiver Jordan Matthews missing a lot of the OTAs with the knee tendonitis. What is his status? How is he physically? Yeah, he you know, he's been he's been working all off season and we just kept him out of drills and OTAs just because we weren't playing games. And you know, he's another one that win all sixteen games, or you know,

relatively all sixteen games. He was in all the meetings, he didn't play in all of them. But at the same time, he he knows what he's doing and he's got a really good comfort level with Carson. Carson knows exactly where he's going to be, and so you know, I decided to keep him out of the os let that knee heal and uh, you know, we'll continue to monitor that. You know, each and every day, and you know, we'll see where he's at tomorrow when he reports and

then and then we'll go from there. So by no means am I gonna am I gonna pushh you know him to to get out there in practice. I just want to make sure that his body is one hundred percent before he steps on the field. And then Jordan Hicks had a procedure on his hand, broken bone in

the hand. Status moving forward, same thing. You know, he's gonna be able to go through individual work, he's gonna go through group install We'll hold him out of some of the team stuff EARLYI again, he's another one that's that played all sixteen games last year. He's a veteran player. He knows what he's doing. He's a leader of the team. And so I don't need him out there this early in training camp. And and uh, he knows what it

takes to get himself ready. So you know, we'll get him out there and some of the drill work, but at the same time, we'll monitor him and keep him again, make sure he's one hundred percent before we put him back out there. And Doug at cornerback, what is the big picture here? How active are the Eagles as far

as quote keeping their eyes open looking to add players there? Well, I think I think, you know, uh, you have to keep your eyes open obviously to add talent to your football team and add that competition, and um, you know, cornerback is just one of the spots that I think this year that that becomes the focal point has been kind of in the in the news lately, and so you know, you continue to whether it's O line, D line, corner line by you're constantly trying to find guys that

you can bring in that are gonna fit fit your mold. So we're going to continue to work with our guys. We feel like we got a lot of talented young players at corner. Uh. The addition of Patrick Robinson, uh, and then picking up Razul Douglas in the draft, um really have really kind of helped and get these young guys a lot of reps in camp. The theme when you address the players veterans win a report, the biggest theme is just ownership. We got to own it. We

gotta own our jobs. We got to own our responsibilities, good and bad, and uh, you know, you gotta have a passion for this game and going into year two. Uh, we can't. We can't take our foot off the gas and uh uh my messages can We got to continue to work and work hard, carry over what we did in the offseason, the way we finished strong at the end of last season, Live on those moments and keep pressing forward. Do you have a depth chart up in your office? I keep a depth chart. Yeah, and it

changes a lot, I imagine at this time of the year. Yeah, it's it shuffles, you know, and uh, you know, I don't want the guys to sit there and count numbers either. You know, everybody's gonna get fair opportunity. Everybody's gonna get, you know, a chance to compete and play and play in these preseason games, especially a couple couple early ones, Uh,

get a chance to get themselves on film. And and that that thing is a it's a it's a living, breathing organism, and it continues to extinues to expand, and and uh, you know, we got to find the best fifty three. At the end of camp. Iron sharpens. Iron looks like you got a lot of iron out here, a lot of ideas. That's the idea, get as much iron out here as we can create the competition at every position. Um and uh you know again, find the best fifty three at the end of camp. Jug thanks

so much, Thanks Dave, have a great training. Thank you. Before Free and See officially kicked off. On March night, the Eagles agreed to terms with wide receiver Torrey Smith on a three year contract. A four were second round draft pick in twenty eleven, Smith has averaged seventeen yards per catch in his career, the second best mark over the last six seasons. The Eagles struggled to generate big plays in twenty sixteen, and Smith was brought in to

help that. He is a subject of our first in Focus. I had to figure out what was best for me at the time, and that was here. You know this organization. I feel, like I said, in the right direction as a great young quarterback, great leadership and coach Peterson. I want to be a part of that. Torey Smith, wide receiver. The driving force to me to sign in Philadelphia was

simply I wanted to win. I wanted to be in a good situation with a good quarterback and a team that was trending up with and I felt like that was here. I'm looking forward to just continue to grind, you know, trying to be as consistent as possible. Because of your consistent and practice, he will be consistent on Sundays,

and you know, that's what suspected of us. I want to do my part to make sure that, you know, we're the best unit that we can be, you know, and that what my numbers called that I go out there and I make the play there. That's good. Good there, it's good. We're getting better. After being around Carson four, you know, I guess a month or so now, I've been able to see how talent to the years. You know, I see that the hype is real and he has

a very high ceiling and its potential. And I've been around, you know, some good quarterbacks in my time in the league. I've seen a lot of comparisons to Joe Flacco, and I can see why in terms of the both big guys, very physical, very talented. You can see it. It's on us to go out there and make plays and help bring it out so he can continue to shine and his team can grow. You can face the building, flip

out of it. Good cash Tory. Some of the knowledge that I hope to pass on under the guys are simply through my experience, I've been at the top, I've been at the bottom. To share the highs and lows that comes with this game as well as try to set the example, you know, both on and off the field. And I'm understand what's wanted here and i know what's expected of me, and I'm hoping that, you know, I bring all that in more on the field. I'd like

to bring to the offense. This big plays. You know, we have a very balanced offense, a lot of talent to guys, so not just a deep three. I can do a little bit of everything. So I'm looking forward to just making plays and you know, being reliable. Wednesday marked the end of the rookie and selective veteran practices. Who shine, We'll let you know right after the break.

He's found the end zone over seventeen times today. He is a professional football watcher because he has NFL Red Zone from NFL Network on expunity to come up for fan on week with excunity, don't wait click today. Welcome back everyone now. The first three days of training camp served as a refresher course for the thirty four players in attendance before the veterans take over. Let's take a look at the best highlights from the early part of

the week. The first full team practice takes place on Thursday, and we'll have live coverage of Doug Pearson's press conference at two forty five pm here on Philadelphia Eagles dot com and the Eagles Mobile app. Don't forget that Saturday is the first open practice at Lincoln Financial Field. It's also the first time the players will put on pads during training camp. The action starts at ten am. Parking and admission are free, so you will not want to

miss out on that. Our next show comes on Friday, so we'll hope you join us. I'm Chris McPherson and thank you for being here for the debut of Inside Training Camp, presented by Expanding. Have a great day, everyone,