The Georgia Boys Are Impressing Early in Eagles Training Camp
The Eagles made quite a splash on night one of the NFL Draft this year. Not only did they snag who many are calling the steal of the draft in Jalen Carter, but at the end of the round they took his teammate Nolan Smith. It was a continuation of their plan in the last two drafts. Which is basically just to take every single player from Georgia. They join Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and also Kelee Ringo. All 5 have played a part in helping Georgia win back-to-back National Championships.
But this weekend, we have got to see them in action with the Eagles for the first time. Both Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith are the talk of Eagles Training Camp. And Tim McManus joined The Best Show Ever on Friday to praise what he has seen from the Eagles’ two rookies so far. Starting with Nolan Smith.
“Nolan Smith is the one for me who really stood out today. He was working with the first team… 3 snaps in a row. First one he attacked the QB, generates pressure off the edge, and came close to a sack. The next one his assignment was to drop in coverage and cover Dallas Goedert in the flat. Which he did successfully. And then the 3rd one he had to drop again. Boston Scott came out deeper into the field, and he was stride for stride and bottled him up.
He was able to not only rip around the edge as a pass rusher, but also drop in coverage successfully on a couple of plays. So I thought that really showed the versatility of Nolan Smith”
This after he also caught many people’s eyes on day 1 of practice. On the first day, he reportedly beat Jack Driscoll on 2 straight plays. We knew he was fast, but he has a chance to turn that speed into real production with the Eagles.
Not to be outdone, Jalen Carter is also getting a lot of chatter at camp. Tim McManus told us he showed off both his power and speed at camp this week, earning some praise from the guys on the other side of the line.
“The speed and the power of Carter is obvious. Jordan Mailata said today Jalen Carter is very fast. But he showed off his power as well. He was double-teamed on one sequence and was able to bowl both of those guys over and disrupt the run play.He said his goal is to be the defensive rookie of the year. That is a long way away. But I would say a good start for Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter.”
Tim McManus did also make sure to note that it is just training camp, and these guys are still in shorts. So everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. But you can already see the traits these guys have, and their potential if they can live up to them.
You can listen to the full conversation with Tim McManus below:
You may also enjoy:
Where Every Eagles Player Falls On the NFL Top 100 Players List
Every year the NFL releases its own list of the Top 100 players in the league, as voted on by the players themselves. And it is that time of the year again. On Monday, 7/25, they released the first 10. And now they will release another 10 names every weekday. The top 10 will be revealed on Monday, August 7th.
And every year the NFL Top 100 list contributes to a lot of conversation. Did they get the rankings right? Why is this player so high? How did they leave this guy off the list? Just because they are players, does not mean they are without bias. Sometimes the rankings make absolutely no sense. Like how last year 7 players were ranked over Patrick Mahomes, including Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and somehow Jonathan Taylor. Then Patrick Mahomes went on to win another MVP, and another Super Bowl, and will likely be back at 1 again. Players can be as fickle and unreasonable as we are.
…
And Eagles fans are sure to have strong opinions on where our players fall on the list. Last season, just two Eagles made the Top 100, Darius Slay (77), and Jason Kelce (71). Then they went on to have one of the best rosters in the league and came just short of winning the Super Bowl. No Lane Johnson, James Bradberry, or AJ Brown, who all went on to be All-Pros. Clearly, the players had it wrong.
But will they right that wrong this year? How many Eagles will make the list, and where will they be ranked? As the list is revealed, we will track where every Eagles player falls, as well as who was left off altogether. And while we go we can try to figure out just how outraged we should be about where they fell on the list.
Here is where Each Eagles Player fell in the NFL’s Top 100: