Eagles practice observations: A.J. Brown vs. Josh Jobe, Marcus Mariota runs, Moro Ojomo hurt, and more

The Eagles held their seventh practice of the 2023 training camp at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday with roughly 50,000 fans in attendance. Here are the links to Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Here were my observations on Day 7:

Sometimes you just feel bad for Josh Jobe.

The second-year cornerback out of Alabama is filling in for James Bradberry in the starting secondary as the veteran corner recovers from a groin injury. Jobe has had a handful of high-level reps in his spot duty, but eventually, A.J. Brown is just going to get his.

Brown got the best of Jobe a handful of times, including on a slant route against Jobe’s press coverage early in practice. Pressing against Brown is no small task even for the league’s top cornerbacks, and Brown created major separation by feigning outside before violently changing direction for an easy completion.

The biggest cause for sympathy came at the end of practice, though, when Jalen Hurts tossed a perfect pass to Brown in the corner of the end zone during a situational period. It was first-and-10 with limited time remaining and the Eagles’ offense trailing by eight points. Jobe was in good position when Hurts keyed on Brown, but the hulking wideout’s vertical leap, combined with his talent for keeping his hands in tight until the last second, was too much for Jobe. Brown hauled in the touchdown, eliciting the loudest roar from the fans in attendance.

With Nakobe Dean sidelined with an ankle injury, Christian Elliss took over play-calling duties in the huddle for the starting defense Sunday.

The imminent arrival of veteran linebacker signees Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham, both of whom inked one-year deals with the team Sunday and watched practice from the sideline, could shake things up for the first team, but Elliss’ added responsibility is somewhat telling about his position on the depth chart before their integration.

Elliss worked alongside Nicholas Morrow most of the time on Sunday, with Shaun Bradley getting a handful of snaps as well. Elliss, the former undrafted rookie, made a handful of nice plays, including tackles for losses, one against the first-team offense and another against the twos. Undrafted rookie Ben VanSumeren even got a few reps with the ones, something that will probably cease once Jack and Cunningham are fully in the fold.

Holding off the two newcomers, each of them far more experienced than Elliss, will be a difficult task. That said, Elliss has shown enough instinctive plays and earned enough trust with the coaching staff during the summer months to give him a chance to be in the mix barring a more significant move at linebacker before Week 1.

» READ MORE: Eagles agree to terms with veteran linebackers Zach Cunningham, Myles Jack, make other roster moves

Speaking of depth-chart shake-ups, K’Von Wallace’s candidacy for a starting safety spot is getting more real with each practice.

The former fourth-round pick got the majority of first-team snaps opposite Reed Blankenship on Sunday with Terrell Edmunds spending half his time as a pseudo linebacker and half his time working with the starters in Wallace’s place.

The Eagles’ two-high shell keeps safeties out of the action for the most part, so Wallace hasn’t managed many highlight plays, but he hasn’t been out of position very much during his starting reps, either. Perhaps the incoming linebackers cut into Edmunds’ snaps in the box and lead to a more even distribution at safety, but for now, Wallace seems to have a slight edge over the rest of the group.

Third-round rookie Sydney Brown got reps with the second team a good amount of the time but also played some with the threes. He and Jalen Carter were both on the third team for a period with live tackling midway through practice, which likely speaks to the team’s desire to get each rookie live reps even with the risk of injury increasing with tackling to the ground.

As has been the case for most of training camp, the Eagles’ starting offense had a decided advantage over a group of defensive starters dealing with injuries and learning a new scheme.

The first three plays of the opening team session — consecutive completions to Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert — set the tone for a strong performance from the starters.

There was some creativity as well. Smith got the ball on a jet sweep, although it was swallowed up for a modest gain. There was a handful of plays with the running back split out wide to identify coverages and the group did a nice job taking advantage of the defensive tells.

On one in particular, the Eagles identified man coverage and dialed up a shallow crosser for Smith, who was matched up with Elliss in the slot and broke free for a sizable gain.

Goedert has continued being something of a security blanket for Hurts as well. He hasn’t had many splash plays, but the tight end had a handful of catches for solid gains, especially when Hurts was on the run.

» READ MORE: ‘It’s a chess game’: Eagles veterans Brandon Graham and Lane Johnson benefit from training camp duels

The first-team offense’s success hasn’t quite translated to the second team. The learning curve of another new offense has led to inconsistency from backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, who struggled mightily when throwing the ball Sunday.

At one point, Mariota reeled off three straight errant throws during team sessions. The first was to Olamide Zaccheaus on a fade route; the ball skied over the slot receiver’s head and out of bounds. The next play, Mariota overthrew tight end Jack Stoll by an even wider margin and then blew another one over wide receiver Joseph Ngata’s head. Mariota bobbled a snap early in practice and the entire second team botched a two-point conversion with blown protection during the situational period at the end of practice.

As much as Mariota struggled throwing, he did find some success using his legs on Sunday. The 29-year-old scrambled for three huge gains, including one during the aforementioned situational period late in practice. He hit Ngata for a 3-yard touchdown two plays later. Ngata has put together a nice camp so far and could challenge for one of the final receiver spots depending on how many the Eagles keep.

Mariota also had a touchdown throw to Zaccheaus early in practice with a nice throw on the run. He also had a decently placed ball to Ngata during a team session, but it fell just out of reach for the young receiver.

It feels as if Nolan Smith has a few plays each practice when he flashes enough to suggest he’ll be able to make an impact as a rookie.

His first time at the Linc was no different. The rookie edge rusher had back-to-back splash plays running with the second-team defense, getting a tackle for loss against Rashaad Penny and then “sacking” Mariota with an outside rush. Both reps came against Tyler Steen, who got plenty of work at left tackle with the second team as well as a few plays at right guard when Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson took plays off and required Cam Jurgens to bump down to center.

To be fair, Steen had his share of quality reps against Smith, especially early in practice. The third-round rookie also held up well against Janarius Robinson during one-on-one pass-rushing drills.

Moro Ojomo left practice early after finishing a rep of one-on-ones, apparently shaken up. The rookie defensive tackle took his helmet off and trainers seemed to be looking at his face — particularly his eye — but it’s unclear exactly what the injury was.

Ojomo went inside and I didn’t see him return to the sideline. The seventh-round pick out of Texas had put together a couple of nice days of practice, especially during the one-on-one drills. Ojomo also had a pressure early in practice against the second-team offense, flushing Mariota out of the pocket.

Penny’s after-contact running style suggested he’d be more impressive in actual games rather than practices, so it’s not a coincidence he had one of his best runs of practice Sunday with the pads on. Penny reeled off an inside run for a big gain early in practice working with the starters; Jurgens got to the second level and made a nice block to spring the former Seahawks running back. ... Haason Reddick and Avonte Maddox each got some team reps, suggesting progress from their respective groin and toe injuries. ... Greedy Williams and Kelee Ringo got the majority of second-team snaps at cornerback, although Eli Ricks and Mekhi Garner had a few snaps as well. Ricks gave up separation to DeVonta Smith on one play, but Hurts overshot his receiver ... Carter had a mostly quiet night, although he knifed into the backfield against Sua Opeta on one play during team sessions. During one-on-ones, Opeta had Carter’s number on a stymied bull rush, though. ... Marlon Tuipulotu had a really nice bull rush against Julian Good-Jones during one-on-ones. Tuipulotu has rushed pretty well so far during camp.

I will not advertise myself to be a punting expert, nor will I claim to have timed hang times like PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski. That said, I have some charting and general feelings about the punter competition coming off Sunday.

During the inaugural punt-off of practice, Arryn Siposs had the advantage over Ty Zentner in hang time and placement when working on coffin-corner punts. I charted four punts apiece for the competing specialists, and the results were as follows: Siposs punt at midfield lands at 3, Zentner punt caught at 7, Zentner touchback (Sydney Brown couldn’t down it in time), Siposs fair-caught at 9, Siposs punt lands around 3 (nobody gunning), Zentner fair-caught around 6, Zenter fair-caught around the 8, Siposs punt downed at the 1.

During a later punt session from the offense’s own 25, Siposs definitely had the upper hand both in hang time and distances. That isn’t saying too much, though, because Zentner had a handful of low-hanging punts that seemed ... suboptimal.