[Elvis]

Eagles Practice Observations: Bradford limps, Tebow struggles, Thurmond to safety

Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
POSTED: THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2015, 5:39 PM

The Eagles have been conducting spring workouts since late April, but Thursday was the first time the media was permitted to attend practice. Here are some observations from the session:

-- Sam Bradford, as reported on Wednesday, has been limited at practice and was again on Thursday. Chip Kelly said his quarterback’s rehabilitation from a torn ACL was on schedule and that Bradford would increase his participation next week by stepping into seven-on-seven drills. He took a step back two weeks ago, however, and didn’t practice the entire week after throwing the week before. He told reporters after practice that it was part of the plan and that doctors wanted to see him push his left knee to see how it responded. Bradford said it responded well. Still, he did very little on Thursday. Wearing a brace on his left knee, Bradford was the only player to not partake in conditioning warm-ups and he sat out all the team drills. He was involved in individual drills and during separate drills in which he tossed to receivers. You could see how the ball glides out of his hand effortlessly. After he met with reporters, Bradford walked into the NovaCare Complex with a pronounced limp. Kelly, predictably, said he couldn’t predict when Bradford would be 100 percent, but it’s fair to say that if he isn’t ready by the start of training camp in August there will be some nervous folks at Eagles headquarters.

-- Mark Sanchez took all the first team snaps on offense with Bradford out. Kelly said the quarterback competition was open, but you can be sure that if Bradford is healthy by the start of the season he will start. You don’t trade your starting quarterback and a second round draft pick, plus pay the quarterback you get in return $13 million to have him watch from the bench. Sanchez still believes that he will be given an equal opportunity. Kelly didn’t go as far as to say that Bradford and Sanchez would split first team reps as Michael Vick and Nick Foles did two years ago.

-- Tim Tebow, in his first public appearance as an Eagles quarterback, helmed the third unit as Matt Barkley ran with the second team. There have been reports that Tebow’s throwing motion and release had improved after his work with Tom House, but there didn’t appear to be much difference than how he looked two years ago. I haven’t watched Tebow up close for his entire career, but it still takes a long time for him to cock, load and throw. There’s an unnatural dip in his windup. Tebow has never been a good practice quarterback and he’s obviously still learning a completely new offense, so there shouldn’t be too much stock taken in how he threw on one non-contact day in May. But the guess here is that it will be difficult for Tebow to beat out Barkley for the third spot, even if you include his intangibles. He struggled to throw the ball downfield. He was working with a bunch of young receivers, but he often held the ball too long or would check down with a short pass. At one point late in practice, he had a throw tipped at the line that fell into the arms of 6-foot-9 rookie defensive end Brian Mihalik. ...


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/spor ... dMrjwQk.99

[Hacksaw]

Our former $50M QB limping around isn't going to go over with Iggle fan. But at least they, "could see how the ball glides out of his hand effortlessly".

[den-the-coach]

IMO this will go down as one of the better trades in Ram history.