The Eagles head coach talks Jalen Hurts’ development, helping Andrew Mukuba while he’s injured, and more.
The Eagles had their first padded practice of training camp on Monday, and head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters before the team took the field. He talked about Jalen Hurts always striving to improve, his messaging to the team, and a bit about training camp practices — including adding some new drills.
Here’s what the head coach had to say:
On Jalen Hurts’ development
“Jalen [Hurts] is a guy that continues to improve. I think that’s just how he’s built. It’s in his DNA to get better and to use the good things that he does and get better from them and use the bad things, any mistake that he has to get better. That’s what I always admire about him. I think he just improves in every way.”
Sirianni went on to say that those are great qualities to have in a leader, because he sets the tone for the rest of the team. Hurts does a great job, and is doing a good job working through his progressions and getting to his third and fourth reads. Plus, the head coach noted that Hurts doesn’t let the ball hit the ground very often in practice, which is what they want to see.
“It is critical that he takes care of it as a runner with the handoffs and then also as a passer. So, I think he’s doing a great job of getting to the right place with the football and really running the offense. We’re early through it, three days through it, but again, he is just going to continue to get better and better and better because that’s in his DNA.”
On his messaging to the team
“You can look back at your past experiences and learn from them, but this isn’t boxing where it’s like you’re the champ until someone takes your belt away. No, this is football. Everyone starts off 0-0. I think two mistakes that you could make is resting on your laurels or looking too far ahead, right? Thinking too much about the past or looking too far ahead. I mean, that’s been our mindset since day one. [It’s] been to be where your feet are. Be focused on that because nothing that we did is going to influence anything that we want to do in the future.”
Sirianni explained how that’s been his mindset every season, whether finishing 9-8 or 14-3, the message has been consistent.
On rookie Andrew Mukuba
The first-year safety got banged up in practice on Saturday and didn’t participate in Monday’s padded practice as a result. While Sirianni wouldn’t talk about specifics of the injury or a timeline for his return, he did explain how they approach making sure he doesn’t fall behind.
“For us, we have to be very creative. Any player that misses practice reps, we have to be very creative in how we catch them up. When you’re in training camp, there’s a lot of time. Every minute of everyone’s day is accounted for, whether it’s rest and recovery for the players, whether it’s watching tape in that time where they’re resting and recovering and we’re watching tape, so we have to be creative with how we do some different things. We will look at walkthroughs as a big opportunity, extra meetings, extra focus there, extra walkthroughs with whoever we need to do that with.
It’s our job just to make sure that anybody who misses time, they recoup those reps somehow some way. And when they can’t do it physically, it’s got to be mentally in the film room and in walkthrough.”
On training camp practices
Sirianni said that practicing in the heat will help them down the road when they get into those September games. Still, the head coach was adamant that they need to keep players safe in hot conditions and have to make sure they’re hydrated.
“Everything that we want to do as a football team as far as how we play with physical toughness, mental toughness, relentless effort, great detail, together. It all starts with being in great shape. We’ve done some things– every day there’s a conditioning aspect to it. It just turns it up a little bit as the heat goes. And we will monitor as we go, but this is good for us to be able to play in conditions that we will play in early in September and in some hot states as the early season goes. So, we’ll use this as an opportunity.”
The head coach also talked about some of the new drills they’ve incorporated this season, explaining that one they brought in was supposed to help with contested catches. Sirianni and DeVonta Smith were talking about a drill they did at Alabama, and they were able to re-create that. Turns out, the drill was actually a really good competitive drill to make an open field tackle.
“We focus on doing the ordinary better. And so, we were pretty good in our missed tackles last year, but we wanted to take an even bigger step. I think that drill started off as a thought for contested catch, but also now it’s something that we know is going to help us become a better tackling team.”
Sirianni noted that instead of accepting the areas that were successful as good enough, they’re always looking for new ways to keep improving.
“And if I want our team to continuously strive to get better, even when they’re on top like they were last year, then I better be doing the same thing as the coach. Your culture starts with your actions, and they’ve got to see me doing the same things.”
