Here are the news and notes from the Friday morning practice session that featured the participation of the veteran free agents for the first time of training camp.
Howard Mudd continues to work in players throughout the first-team offensive line. We've already seen sixth-round pick Jason Kelce rotated in at center throughout camp thus far. Before Danny Watkins arrived to take the right guard reps with the "ones," Mike McGlynn, A.Q. Shipley and fifth-round rookie Julian Vandervelde all got looks. And then there's right tackle, where King Dunlap and Austin Howard have both worked. With Ryan Harris able to practice Friday, it was assumed that another new face might take his spot at right tackle.
That turned out to be true, but the new face wasn't Harris, it was Fenuki Tupou, the 2009 fifth-round pick who spent his rookie season on injured reserve and 2010 on the practice squad.
"I didn't find out until this morning when we were out there," Tupou said. "They asked if I'd talked to Mudd yet. I said no. When Mudd saw me, he said, 'You're going to the be right tackle with the ones.'"
Tupou had been working primarily at left tackle during training camp, so he had to reverse the role he'd been learning throughout the morning. He added that he's taken well to Mudd's blocking scheme, and to the coach as well.
"Coach Mudd, he's a different guy," Tupou said. "He's very old school obviously. He's on us tough, day in and day out. I like that. I'm used to that as a player because that's what I had at Oregon, and having it here, I respond well to that kind of coaching."
Harris, meanwhile, worked at right tackle with the second-team offense. Like Tupou, Harris was working alongside Watkins, who was getting double reps at right guard as a way to speed up his learning curve. The rest of the second-team offensive line featured Austin Howard at left tackle, Evan Mathis at left guard and Mike McGlynn at center.
On the defensive line, where the tackle ranks have been weaned a bit in the past few days, Anthony Hargrove was thrown into the mix as a first-teamer in the base defense alongside another free agent, Cullen Jenkins.
"It was great to get back out here and compete with these guys. It's a blessing," said Hargrove. "I think I fit well here. Coach Washburn trusted me enough to get off the ball, strike the guards and play hard. So that's what I'm going to do out here this next month and hopefully make this club."
The Jenkins and Hargrove tandem stood out during the nine-on-seven drills when they collapsed the interior, stuffing several running plays, earning an "Atta boy Tony!" from Jim Washburn. The defensive tackle who was signed almost in tandem with Hargrove, Derek Landri, subbed in during the first-team nickel defense.
As for Jenkins, he put on quite a performance. During one-on-one drills, he was able to get past Todd Herremans several times, which is really the first time Herremans has been beaten during the one-on-one drills through camp thus far.
Also impressive during the one-on-one drills between the offensive and defensive lines was Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, last year's third-round pick. Te'o-Nesheim has been working at defensive end with the second-team nickel defense, and has earned plaudits from Washburn. It appears that he's now adjusting well to the new scheme.
Earlier, we took a look at the dime defense the Eagles featured during the morning practice. That package featured Asante Samuel on the left side, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the right side and Nnamdi Asomugha and Joselio Hanson on the inside, with Asomugha occasionally man-marking the tight end. In the nickel defense, Hanson remained covering the slot while Asomugha and Samuel took care of the outside.
Finally, there is a triangle of jersey number changes to report. Darryl Tapp has switched from No. 91 to No. 55, the number he played with both in Seattle and at Virginia Tech. Jason Babin slid from No. 94 to No. 93, while it appears Trevor Laws will go from No. 93 to Tapp's former No. 91.
