Eagles practice observations: Nolan Smith dips and rips; Nakobe Dean blitzes and glitzes; punter competition heats up!

The Eagles held their fourth practice of the 2023 training camp at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday. Here are the links to Days 1, 2, and 3. Here were my observations from Day 4:

The Eagles donned full pads for the first time this camp, and while there were few snap, crackle, pop moments during the 90-minute workout, there was one old-school hit. Undrafted rookie cornerback Mekhi Garner delivered it to receiver Charleston Rambo — there’s a movie reference joke in there somewhere. Poor Rambo. He didn’t even see Garner coming because rookie quarterback Tanner McKee’s pass was late. Garner celebrated as one would expect. I was surprised he didn’t get chewed out by the coaches, but we’re talking about third-unit players. Rambo, to his credit, bounced up.

Full pads also meant the return of defensive and offensive line one-on-ones. It was our first look at the rookies under those circumstances, and Nolan Smith had the highlight move of the bunch. The edge rusher ghosted a dive inside and then dipped under rookie tackle Chim Okorafor. He displayed impressive bend. Of course, when Smith tried a similar move vs. veteran Dennis Kelly later on, the right tackle drove him into the ground.

Here were some other one-on-one moments that stood out:

— Left tackle Jordan Mailata effectively used his left hand to steer defensive end Derek Barnett to the turf. Barnett de-pantsed tackle Roderick Johnson later on with a spin move.

— In a combat of rookies, defensive tackle Jalen Carter and guard Tyler Steen appeared to battle to a draw.

— Milton Williams used a bull rush to drive guard Sua Opeta off his axis. The third-year defensive tackle is slated to see his snap count increase this season.

— Marlon Tuipulotu, last year’s breakout camp star, continued his success in one-on-ones with an easy win over center Cameron Tom. The defensive tackle, to no surprise, struggled to break free in his matchup vs. starting center Jason Kelce, though.

» READ MORE: Eagles rookie Jalen Carter has a lofty goal, but is off to a promising start to training camp

A year ago, Jordan Davis took most of his one-on-one repetitions at nose guard vs. centers. But with the defensive tackle expected to play more three-technique on pass downs, he lined up opposite left guard Landon Dickerson on his first try. Davis was able to drive him back, but Dickerson anchored well against the bull rush. Later, Davis was over center Brett Toth, who had trouble maintaining his balance.

Davis was relatively quiet during team drills, although it’s hard to say how he performed with conviction without knowing assignments and watching the film. What did catch my eye was the 6-foot-6, 336-pounder walking back out onto the field long after players and fans had vanished and running gassers with his two younger brothers, 12-year-old Donovan and 10-year-old Yashi.

Who won?

“Jordan!” they both said.

» READ MORE: How the Eagles’ Jordan Davis got in better shape: ‘Greater power comes great responsibility’

The Eagles were also able to work on blitz pickup drills between running backs and linebackers. While he has yet to make any eye-popping plays in team drills, Nakobe Dean’s blitzing skills stood out here. D’Andre Swift, not necessarily the best of blockers, was easily bounced by Dean on their first run-in. Dean later used a spin move to get around Boston Scott, typically one of the Eagles’ better blocking running backs.

Some other noteworthy moments:

— Running back Rashaad Penny got knocked around by linebacker Davion Taylor in their first turn. He held his ground in their second meeting.

– Linebacker Christian Elliss toasted Kennedy Brooks on successive matchups.

— Running back Kenneth Gainwell had difficulty containing linebacker Nicholas Morrow each time they faced. Later in team drills, Morrow sacked quarterback Ian Book when he raced into the backfield untouched on a delayed blitz.

Deon Cain was the only addition to the injury list. The receiver, who had a strong first few days of camp, was out with an ankle injury. Linebacker Haason Reddick (groin), cornerback Avonte Maddox (toe), and Barnett (knee) were again limited.

» READ MORE: Is Haason Reddick underpaid by the Eagles? The NFL sack leader responds: ‘Y’all know what’s going on’

Some depth chart notes:

– Rookie safety Sydney Brown was elevated from the third- to second-unit defense.

– K’Von Wallace continued to get first team reps at safety in place of Terrell Edmunds.

– Morrow was first up at inside linebacker, but Elliss had more overall snaps with the starters.

– Defensive coordinator Sean Desai showed some big dime coverage looks with three safeties. Edmunds was the quasi-linebacker with Reed Blankenship and Wallace at the safety spots.

We had our first extended punter competition between Arryn Siposs and Ty Zentner. In the first period, which allowed them to boot away, Zentner finished with a slight edge in hang time over four punts, according to PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski’s calculations, with an average of 4.6475 seconds. Siposs, who had a 4.93-second high water mark, but a low of 4 seconds after a shank, was slightly behind at 4.6025 seconds.

In the coffin corner period, Siposs was given six opportunities to Zentner’s four. While the former averaged a worse number in terms of result — the 10-yard line — one of his punts bounced at the 2 and likely wouldn’t have rolled into the end zone for a touchback had Brown not allowed himself to be blocked by Britain Covey. Zentner’s average starting spot — after his kicks were either fair caught or downed — was the 7-yard line.

Cam Jurgens has had his hands full facing off against Fletcher Cox on a regular basis. The veteran defensive tackle may be getting up there in age, but he’s still a force inside and he got the better of the second-year center who is making the transition to right guard. Cox upended Jurgens in one-on-ones, and more devastatingly earlier during team drills, when he used a swim move to dispose of the guard.

Jurgens, to his credit, rebounded on the next play when Smith stunted inside and ran into a wall.

The big offensive play of the day came when A.J. Brown got behind cornerback James Bradberry on a post and Jalen Hurts tear-dropped a deep pass to his receiver for a touchdown. Brown seemingly couldn’t be contained during one extended period when he caught three tosses.

Hurts has been excellent so far. I can’t recall a pass or decision that made me scratch my head. A pop pass to an open Dallas Goedert when there was seemingly a linebacker miscommunication exemplified Hurts making the right reads. Later, the sea parted for Scott on a screen when Kelce took out Edmunds downfield. Williams should have been credited with a sack when he touched quarterback Marcus Mariota on a red zone scramble.

Jurgens is technically the second-team center, but Toth has taken snaps there. It would help if he could snap the ball consistently. Mariota has constantly had to reach for balls, and there was another play blown dead when Toth rolled a snap wide of the quarterback. Rookie receiver Joseph Ngata appeared to not know where to line up on a two-point play and heard it afterward from coach Nick Sirianni.

Mariota air-mailed a pass over tight end Dan Arnold and into the waiting arms of Wallace for an interception. A Book pass to receiver Tyrie Cleveland was broken up by cornerback Greedy Williams, who could have been penalized for pass interference. He kind of was when Hurts grabbed the flag from assistant GM Jon Ferrari and tossed it into the air. Hurts can do everything and anything he wants.

Nevertheless, the defense won the day — by a nebulous score of 29-26 — and the offense had to run a gasser.

Hurts is typically the locked-in kind, but whenever he has heard young kids scream his name during a break in the action he has turned in their direction and waved. ... Kicker Jake Elliott connected on all four of his field-goal attempts for his first real action of camp. … After Wednesday’s off day, the Eagles will reconvene for back-to-back days of practice. How will they manage?