5 Things: Welcome To #EaglesCamp – PhiladelphiaEagles.com

The start of another Training Camp means the beginning of our 5 Things To Know series. The Eagles reported on Saturday, underwent the initial conditioning test and even pulled off a pair of roster moves. We’ll learn more about the state of the Eagles at the onset of Training Camp at 11:20 AM when head coach Chip Kelly hosts his introductory press conference. You can watch the press conference online or on our mobile app.

You’ve waited since the end of the 2014 season on December 28 for Eagles football. We are now just two weeks from the preseason opener – a Sunday, 1 PM affair – against the Indianapolis Colts. But first things first. In the season debut of 5 Things, I’ll preview what to expect from our daily camp coverage and look back at the biggest storylines from a momentous offseason.

1. Get Connected For Daily #EaglesCamp Coverage

If you’re not able to watch Coach Kelly’s press conference live, we will have a recap available on the site and on our app once it is over. During the training session, you will feel right in the middle of the action by experiencing photos and highlights through our social media channels. Following the training session, we’ll post interviews from your favorite players throughout the afternoon and evening. We’ll provide analysis of what transpired on the field in our Practice Recap.

To finish off the afternoon at 5 PM, we’ll have our 30-minute show Inside Training Camp presented by Xfinity summarizing all of the day’s news while showcasing highlights and opinions on what the team accomplished. And before you call it a night, we’ll have everything easily accessible on our Training Camp Recap Page. It’s the one-stop shop to check out everything from #EaglesCamp.

2. Secondary Overhaul Continues With Boykin Trade

On Saturday night, the Eagles announced that they traded cornerback Brandon Boykin to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

Boykin has been an integral part of the Eagles since he was selected in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He was the nickel corner since his rookie season. Two years ago, he finished tied for second in the league with six interceptions, including the one that sealed the win over Dallas in the NFC East title game. He also thrived as a gunner on special teams with a knack for downing punts deep in enemy territory.

The Eagles embarked on a massive overhaul of the secondary this offseason. Counting Boykin’s role, the Eagles will have a new starter at four of the five primary defensive back positions with safety Malcolm Jenkins as the only holdover. Byron Maxwell was signed on the first day of free agency. The Eagles drafted three cornerbacks this year, including second-round pick Eric Rowe.

The short-term question is who will replace Boykin? The Eagles are confident in the depth acquired this offseason to be able to make this move. From a long-term perspective, the Eagles got good value for a player entering the final year of his rookie deal. The Eagles now have eight picks in the 2016 NFL Draft.

3. How Much Will Sam Bradford Be Able To Do?

The regular season opener in Atlanta is 43 days away. The goal is to have quarterback Sam Bradford, who is coming off of back-to-back ACL injuries, ready to play the Falcons. Bradford worked in a limited capacity during the spring training sessions. Bradford said many times that he was on track to be full-go for the start of Training Camp. There have been no reports of any setbacks. Kelly will shed some light on the situation shortly. Bradford impressed in the glimpses that we saw of him in individual and 7-on-7 drills and he’s hungry to show that the “leap of faith” that the Eagles took on him will be worthwhile.

“Being able to do something that you love every day, I think that’s anyone’s dream in life,” Bradford said. “Football has been a part of my life since I can remember. I started playing at probably 7 or 8 and that’s when I fell in love with the game and it’s continued to grow. It sounds like a cliché and you hear it all the time, but I don’t think you realize how much you love something until it’s taken away from you. And I’ve had the game of football taken away from me twice in the past two years.”

4. Chip Kelly’s Vision Comes To Light

In the days following the 2014 season, the Eagles came to a simple conclusion – that despite winning 10 games in each of the past two years this team wasn’t good enough to be a contender. As Kelly put it, the Eagles might as well have been 4-12 instead of 10-6 and out of the playoffs. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Lurie knows what he has in Kelly. He invested a lot of time and resources to land Kelly’s services. He wants to maximize Kelly’s potential. That’s why he gave Kelly full control of personnel operations.

“With any coach you need patience, you need vision and you need them to be able to gamble and fail and gamble and succeed, because the last thing you want to do is make a coach risk-adverse,” Lurie said. “I just don’t believe in that. I think it was always one of the keys to success with Andy (Reid, former head coach) – we never wanted him to be risk-adverse, on the field or off of the field. You want them to be bold. You don’t want to be like every other team. You want to try to separate yourself from the pack, and sometimes it’s not going to work and sometimes it’s going to work great.”

Kelly promoted Ed Marynowitz to be the vice president of player personnel and the roster makeover was underway. The Eagles acquired a former No. 1 overall pick at quarterback in Bradford. They signed two Pro Bowl running backs (see below). They added a cornerback on the rise in Maxwell. They traded for Kiko Alonso, a playmaker in his rookie season of 2013 before missing all of last year due to injury. Thirty-six current players (after the addition of former Villanova running back Kevin Monangai on Saturday) were not on the roster at any point during the 2014 regular season. That’s not vastly different than previous years, but it’s the names that make the moves noteworthy. It’s time to see Kelly’s plan unfold.

5. The New-Look Rushing Attack

Gone is LeSean McCoy, the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. He was traded to Buffalo for Alonso and the Eagles signed DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews in free agency. The Eagles’ reasoning is three-fold. First, McCoy’s salary cap number made it difficult to add more depth to the running back position. Second, the Eagles were fortunate that McCoy held up even with a league-high 626 carries over the past two seasons. Third, Kelly wants to run a power spread offense and covets one-cut, north-south runners. McCoy’s small-area quickness and lateral agility allowed him to thrive as an east-west runner.

Murray is the league’s rushing champion after a season for the ages in Dallas. After touching the ball 497 total times including playoffs, Murray is battling the stigma associated with players who had at least 380 carries the previous season. Over the last 20 years, there have been eight such seasons. Only two gained at least 1,000 yards the following year.

Fortunately for Murray, he is not here to shoulder the entire workload. That’s why the Eagles added Mathews, who has two 1,000-yard campaigns under his belt. A trickledown effect from the moves is that the Eagles can be more creative with Darren Sproles, who is first among running backs in yards receiving since 2007. Murray is the “perfect fit” for the Eagles’ offense, as running backs coach Duce Staley previously said. Will the Eagles be a better red zone offense this year? How about in short-yardage situations? With these moves, the Eagles hope the answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.