4 Eagles Storylines Fans Need To Follow At OTAs

Judging how a team looks overall at OTAs can be hard. Even judging individual players is tough. We all remember people saying Jordan Matthews looked like Megatron in his first camp experience. He was decidedly not that good with the Eagles.

That does not mean you can't learn anything from OTAs. Last season we saw a lot of little tidbits that carried into the season. Mekhi Becton getting reps at RG led to him playing there. Jalen Hurts under center became a thing in the regular season on some plays. How players look is not as important as how they are used.

With that said, what are the big storylines worth watching in OTAs this year? We have that covered for you.

As of right now, the Eagles have no clear options at that 3rd corner spot. We know Quinyon Mitchell has one side locked down. Cooper DeJean is at the nickel. But who will replace Darius Slay?

The leader in the clubhouse is 3rd-year player Kelee Ringo. They have not exactly given him ringing endorsements when asked about him though. They also brought in veteran Adoree Jackson. Eli Ricks, who they kept on the roster all last season despite never playing, is a wild card option.

Again, how each of them looks is not as important here. Obviously, if one of them plays great, it gives them a leg up, but that does not translate to Training Camp Success, or more importantly, regular season success. Patrick Robinson had an awful camp, but then was a key figure of their 1st Super Bowl win. What could be important is how they are used. We assume Ringo gets the most time with the 1s, but maybe they try out some other guys there.

That could give us our first strong clue of which way they are leaning. Remember, Becton getting a lot of time at RG in OTAs is what clued people into him eventually winning the job. Even though everyone went into the off-season assuming it would be Tyler Steen.

The Eagles were busy adding young talent along the line in the Summer. They drafted 3, Drew Kendall, Myles Hinton, and Cam Williams. Then they signed the massive man out of Rutgers, Hollin Pierce, as a UDFA.

Kendall, a center in College, is looking to win the job as Cam Jurgens' backup, and does not have much competition. But the 3 tackles are interesting. There is no job as a starting tackle. They could audition for one down the line whenever Lane Johnson retires, but no one is really thinking about that yet in OTAS. But with Fred Johnson gone, there is a job open as this team's swing tackle.

Fred Johnson saw the field for the Eagles a lot last year. Once when Lane Johnson got a concussion, and again for several weeks when Jordan Mailata missed time. He went up against some great pass rushers such as Trey Hendrickson, Brian Burns, Micah Parsons, and Travon Walker. Johnson held up as well as you could hope for a backup against elite edge rushers. Could that be Pierce, Hinton, or Williams this year?

Pierce in particular is interesting. The man is 6ft 8, just shy of 350 lbs, and has one of the longest wingspans ever measured in the NFL for an Offensive Lineman. A lot of people who cover the team have him pegged as the UDFA with the best shot at making the team. They apparently gave him some looks at Guard in mini-camp, which is also interesting. Maybe keep an eye on that to see if that continues.

I doubt he could fight for the job at RG, but if he does have that extra versatility, it makes it even more likely he could win not just a spot on this team, but a role as one of the first guys off the bench.

With the Eagles' 1st overall pick recovering from shoulder surgery, he might never get on the field at OTAs. That does not mean we can't learn anything from him though. We still might get a better idea of exactly how healthy he is. More importantly, we will see which unit they have him work with.

At mini-camp, even though he was sidelined, he worked with the Off-Ball Linebackers. That makes sense given he played off-ball linebacker with Alabama. But the Eagles talked about him as an Edge Rusher too. Does he spend any time with that unit? What unit he goes through workouts with will be a strong indication of where he ends up once healthy enough to truly practice and play.

There is a new man behind the clipboard for the Eagles. With Kellen Moore down in New Orleans, Kevin Patullo is the new OC for the Eagles.

This time last year we saw a vastly different Eagles offense. That tempered down a bit in the regular season. The offense was still different, but not 95% new like Jalen Hurts put it in OTAs. Turns out they focused on learning new things in OTAs, to get the players more up to speed, but did not overhaul the whole offense.

Still, it gave us insight into some new wrinkles into the Eagles offense. Motion, Hurts under center, etc. This year should give us similar insights. Will they run back the same scheme, or switch things up? It is worth following what they do, because it could carry over to the season.