Eagles practice: Injuries affect Jalen Hurts; rookies Britain Covey and Reed Blankenship make hay

The Eagles held their sixth practice of training camp at the NovaCare Complex on Thursday. Here were my observations from Days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Let’s get to the action from Day 6:

Injury update. The Eagles are starting to get dinged up after a week of camp. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith joined the injured list and didn’t practice because of a groin strain. The team labeled his timetable for return as day to day. Nick Sirianni said that Smith routinely logs the largest load at camp, so he doesn’t feel the need to rush him back. Left tackles Jordan Mailata and Andre Dillard, in a bizarre coincidence, suffered concussions on Tuesday. Sirianni didn’t have any particulars on how the head injuries occurred, and whether the guardian helmet protections some players are now mandated to wear in camp prevented further damage.

Tight end Grant Calcaterra (hamstring), receiver Greg Ward (toe), and cornerback Mac McCain (knee) remained sidelined. Receiver Zach Pascal (illness) was a limited participant. Receiver Quez Watkins was back in action after leaving Tuesday’s workout early with an illness.

The Eagles have been light at tight end with Tyree Jackson (knee) and Richard Rodgers (back spasms) on the physically unable to perform list and Calcaterra injured. Rodgers came off PUP on Wednesday, but JJ Arcega-Whiteside left practice early and the recently acquired Jaeden Graham was favoring his right side as he walked off the field with a trainer.

The heat is on. The Eagles moved practice up an hour for a 9 a.m. start to account for the high temperatures. They were scheduled to go for an hour and 50 minutes — the longest session so far — but ended four minutes early. Sirianni confirmed that quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Gardner Minshew hit incentives he gave them for finishing practice ahead of schedule. He has yet to reveal what that carrot looks like, but said it isn’t extravagant.

In days of old, the hotter and longer the practice, the more likely fights break out. But tempers have been kept mostly in check in Sirianni’s first two camps and the same could have been said for Thursday. There was some chippiness, though. Safety Marcus Epps delivered an unnecessary blow that upended running back Boston Scott short of the goal line. Epps’ obvious concern suggested he wasn’t trying to be cheap, but Scott was down for a period before getting up.

A.J. Brown didn’t appear to appreciate a helmet blow from safety K’Von Wallace as he blocked a screen. The two exchanged pleasantries afterward. The receiver also seemed a little miffed when he got clipped by cornerback James Bradberry in friendly fire.

Smith and lesson. The second-year receiver had an impressive rookie season despite the Eagles’ passing woes. Smith has the ability to “break out” in his sophomore year, even with Brown likely to cut into his targets. But he had a relatively quiet first week of camp. He was shelved early last summer with a minor injury because the Eagles knew they didn’t have much else on the outside. He doesn’t have much to prove a year later. But Bradberry, who kept Smith in check last season vs. the New York Giants, has been a tough matchup. His length and physicality have seemingly given him problems, which should be beneficial to Smith in the long run.

Jalen Reagor had the same struggles against Bradberry two years ago. He did virtually little in Smith’s place on Thursday. The first unit offense failed to get much going for most of team drills, for various reasons, but Reagor didn’t seem to capitalize on Tuesday’s solid outing. Watkins didn’t record a single reception, either. Hurts’ last pass was to his slot receiver over the middle, but Watkins either failed to come back to the ball or Hurts was late and linebacker T.J. Edwards nearly snared another interception.

Aside from Brown, undrafted rookie Britain Covey might have had the best day among the receivers. He’s still working mostly with the third unit in the slot and has a long climb to the 53-man roster. But he caught a touchdown in the red zone on a slant route, and later pulled in a Minshew pass on a quick hook.

Le’Raven nevermore. With Mailata and Dillard in the protocol, Le’Raven Clark was bumped up to first-team left tackle. It wasn’t pretty. He allowed pressure to Hurts’ blindside on several plays. He got beaten inside by defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and surrendered a “sack” to outside linebacker Patrick Johnson on back-to-back plays. In one-on-one drills, defensive end Josh Sweat turned the corner on Clark and Matt Leo, maybe the low man on the defensive end totem pole, dusted him.

Clark’s backup, Kayode Awosika didn’t fare much better. Defensive end Derek Barnett applied pressure to Minshew that resulted in a short-armed incompletion to Scott. Earlier in individual drills, Barnett toasted him with an outside speed rush and Johnson spun by him.

D-line standouts. Haason Reddick has been kept mostly in check by right tackle Lane Johnson in camp, but he did read a pitchout to running back Miles Sanders for a stop in the red zone. Defensive tackle Marvin Wilson was credited with a sack of Minshew and three plays later met Scott at the line on a rush. Defensive end Brandon Graham slashed in and got to tight end Jack Stoll on a red zone screen. Stoll had a drop late in practice.

In one-on-ones, Hargrave beat guard Landon Dickerson and Graham steamrolled right tackle Jack Driscoll.

QB1 update. As stated, Hurts was playing without a full deck. But aside from a few short completions to Brown and tight end Dallas Goedert, the Eagles’ passing offense was stifled by Jonathan Gannon’s defense. Hurts’ first two passes of team drills were essentially throwaways. He hit Goedert for a couple shorties until he bounced back in red-zone drills and found Brown for a touchdown on a slant route.

Hurts did well to check down to his running backs. Scott and Gainwell came close to touchdowns in the red zone. But Gainwell dropped a pass on a Texas route in the last period, and the first unit’s last four plays went: short scramble, sack, throwaway, and incompletion.

Linebacker U. The Eagles’ upgraded linebacking crew played a role in Hurts’ and the offense’s struggles. Shaun Bradley may be the fifth guy on the depth chart — he’s a virtual lock to make the 53 because of his special-teams abilities — but the guy makes plays on defense, too. At least in practice. He earned consecutive stops on Scott and Gainwell rushes.

Davion Taylor announced his arrival by beating Scott to the edge on an option pitch. Edwards wrapped up tight end Noah Togiai on a short grab. Togiai, it should be mentioned, caught a touchdown on a corner route and scored again on a shovel pass.

Big boys in the middle. Jordan Davis and Cam Jurgens have yet to look overwhelmed. In one-on-ones, Davis had what could be labeled his first win vs. Jason Kelce. The veteran center used his technique to initially hold the nose tackle up, but Davis was able to disengage and move the much smaller Kelce to the side before rushing forward. Jurgens made easy work of defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu, but when the center had a repetition at guard, he allowed defensive tackle Renell Wren to get his hands inside and rock him off his axis.

QB3 competition. The Eagles may keep only two quarterbacks on the roster, but if they were to keep three, Reid Sinnett appears to have the upper hand at this stage. He had probably his best day. He did well on a scramble to elude pressure, while maintaining his vision downfield, and hit receiver Keric Wheatfall. And the touchdown pass to Covey was on time.

Carson Strong’s two passes with the third-unit offense were errant. He threw to Wheatfall before the receiver was out of his release, and unnecessarily heaved one off his back foot on an up-for-grabs deep ball that floated in the air and should have been picked off.

The period was “live,” and rookie safety Reed Blankenship popped running back Kennedy Brooks on a later carry. Blankenship isn’t afraid to stick his nose into traffic. He also didn’t fall for a play fake and denied Graham entry into a corner route that forced Sinnett off his first read in red zone.

And a few leftovers … The Eagles have a contraption, like many teams, that ballcarriers must run through that simulates defenders trying to strip the ball. I would probably drop the ball upon first contact and get stuck in the dang thing. Brown and Watkins were hunched over in apparent pain after running through the gizmo. … The Eagles have a scheduled day off on Friday, resume camp on Saturday at NovaCare, and will be at Lincoln Financial Field for an open workout on Sunday at 7 p.m.