👋 Good morning! If A.J. Brown needs someone to toss him the pigskin, my summer schedule is pretty flexible.

Then again, I can likely only supply A.J. with (very) poorly-thrown slants. The type of wobblers that will remind him of his Titans days. If A.J. would be willing to catch TDY footballs or possibly even a Vortex, then my passing tree really opens up.

Even if I was a decent college quarterback (which I most certainly was not), I am not sure I could work out with A.J. Brown. The man is pretty much a flawless football player. Even if you are pretty good, he is on a different level. The man even judges Jalen Hurts when he is messing up! — Rich Hofmann

The Eagles had their one mini-camp practice yesterday, bunch of slackers. Back in my day, there were three of those things!

And now the Eagles have six weeks off before the pads start popping (note: the pads rarely pop anymore) in the South Philly heat. Since this practice did seem to have a “last day of school” vibe, I will give you three quick on-field observations, three off-field observations and get you out of here. The recap pod with Bo and Zach is here.

Three On-Field Observations

(1) Linebacker depth: Zack Baun pulled a Jimmy Butler and missed the mandatory practice with General Soreness. So, the Eagles defense was down its three top linebackers (Baun, Nakobe Dean, Jihaad Campbell).

That left Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Smael Mondon Jr. to take the reps. The Juniors are two different types of players, Mondon is rangier and Axe Man is a more traditional MIKE linebacker. The good news is that Baun is versatile enough to play with both. Last year, Dean and Oren Burks were different types of players.

With Dean and Campbell’s injuries (as well as Campbell’s versatility), you could convince me that either Trotter Jr. or Mondon Jr. is a starter for points of the season or they do not see many defensive snaps at all. Definitely some volatility when it comes to their potential playing time.

(2) Kyle McCord, QB3? You know it is mini-camp when we have some third-string QB talk. But Bo and Zach think McCord has looked better than Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Yeah, Prep! Since he was recently drafted, you would think that McCord had a leg up in that competition even before they stepped on the practice field.

I am sure that McCord will get to play a whole bunch in the preseason. Would be cool to see him light it up.

(3) DeVonta Smith, still good: In case you were wondering.

Smith made the play of the day on a sideline route against poor Mondon. Note: I do not think Mondon should be covering Smitty in a game. And it was also nice to hear that Jalyx Hunt made a few plays. Sneaky important player for this team, they need him to at least be a decent rotational edge-rusher.

Three Off-Field Observations

(1) Saquon is taking it easy: Coming off receiving ALL of the touches, Mr. Barkley is not going all-out this offseason.

A direct quote: “Everyone that I trust told me basically sit my [butt] down for a little bit. In past years when I was younger, you would think, ‘Oh, someone’s getting better than me.’ I’m relaxing and I see Derrick Henry running hills or Christian McCaffrey post something, the old me would be like, ‘Oh, I gotta go, I gotta go.’ I still have my competitive nature, but it’s two completely different seasons.”

I completely feel that. When I read a good newsletter on vacation, it is hard take it easy. But that is what everyone who I trust tells me.

(2) Lane Johnson, rejuvenated: The last standing member of “The Core Four” still thinks he has plenty of good football ahead.

(3) “This is our house!” I buried the lede, but Bo told an amazing story about Howie Roseman rightfully yelling at a couple of Delaware State football staffers… who were there with Head Coach DeSean Jackson (still feels weird to type) as guests of the Eagles. We need to get, “This is our house!” on shirts.

Again, Howie was right to yell at them. You are walking across the Eagles’ end zone while there is an NFL practice going on? What happened to common courtesy?

$50 million: We have talked about Jeffrey Lurie’s money a bunch over the past few years, when it came to cash spend on the roster and the minority stake Lurie sold last year. Now Lurie is spending a lot of his money on a cause that he is clearly very passionate about, autism research.

And I have nothing else to say except that is very commendable.

Cubs 8, Phillies 4: Who knows, maybe they figure something out in the next few weeks. But I am pretty down on these guys right now. This is probably the lowest I have been on the Phillies as a regular-season team since Joe Girardi was in the dugout.

I love to overreact to regular-season baseball like any self-respecting Phillies sicko, but I was not doing any of that last night. It just felt like they were outmanned by the Cubs. They can beat them on any given night, sure, but the margin for error is pretty thin right now. Not a great place to be.

Seriously, last night the Phillies were relying on…

Two things they did yesterday that symbolize the relative hopelessness of their current state…

Anyway, I see moves like this and think the following about the Phillies.

Who knows, maybe they get hot? Kyle Schwarber going ice cold at the worst time (as you may have heard, Schwarber is usually pretty good at this time of year) is not helping. But I was not really frustrated last night. The Phillies are relying on a lot of below-average players right now. Kinda hard to win that way.

Aaron’s absence: The long and short of it is that Aaron Nola might not pitch again until after the All-Star break. And this IL stint has certainly taken some twists and turns…

This thing started as an ankle injury that made you wonder if it was a phantom IL stint! I know the hip bone is connected to the back bone, etc. but this is a pretty strange month for a guy who has been incredibly durable throughout his career. From David Dunn to Mr. Glass just like that. Anyway, let’s hope Nola can get this stuff behind him, sounds like a rough go for him.

Painter Watch: If all of that was not enough, the Phils’ top prospect is struggling a bit in Triple-A.

John Kruk is a local treasure, Part 3,189: I get it, this was mostly a negative Phillies section. I will leave you with something good.

Phils-Cubs in a Buisnessperson’s Special (1:05 p.m., NBC Sports Philly, NBC10). Let’s see if Jesús Luzardo can keep ‘em in single digits.

Your tentative Wednesday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann

Daily Newsletter Editor

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