Six things we've learned from Eagles' OTAs and minicamps

HERE ARE half a dozen things we learned about the Eagles during OTAs and minicamps, with the team breaking up Thursday until rookies, quarterbacks and select vets report for training camp at NovaCare July 25:

1 Sam Bradford is the quarterback. He's back from hiatus, he's taken charge, he's engaged, if you watched minicamp and didn't know who the three QBs were, you'd pick No. 7 as the starter. The biggest potential flash point for 2016 does not look ready to explode. Yet.

2 The rookie many observers thought might have the biggest impact this season (assuming QB Carson Wentz mostly sits) has a lot of catching up to do.

Third-round guard Isaac Seumalo hasn't been here since the rookie minicamp, with Oregon State on the quarter system and Seumalo unable to report until his class graduates. (This also has been the case for two undrafted rookies, Oregon running back Byron Marshall and Stanford defensive tackle Aziz Shittu.)

Seumalo's late start might be why Eagles coach Doug Pederson was so willing to install incumbent Allen Barbre as his starting left guard, though on Thursday, Pederson indicated that isn't set in stone, noting that Barbre "can also play tackle for you, and he can be a swing guy," while confirming that Seumalo will work at left guard when he reports for training camp.

Pederson said Seumalo has been able to Skype with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and watch practice video.

"The biggest thing is just missing the reps, and physically being out there on the field. It's one thing to do it in the classroom, it's another thing to take it to the field and execute the same thing when bodies are flying around," Pederson said. "So that part's valuable, and obviously, he's missed that. But he's a sharp kid. I don't think he's going to have any trouble once he gets into rookie camp to really show us what he can do."

Right guard Brandon Brooks said the work with Stoutland will give Seumalo a decent grounding. What he's missed is "just the chemistry, seeing how you work with different guys, the speed of the game, how practice is run, things of that nature."

3 The Eagles seem deeper at corner than in recent years, but do they have two top-flight starters?

Leodis McKelvin, who played for defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz in Buffalo, has been the best of the group this spring. After him, though, Nolan Carroll (broken fibula) was just getting back to full-team work when minicamp ended, and 2015 rookie Eric Rowe seemed to struggle.

Rowe, with excellent size at 6-1, 205, showed last season he could cover deep, but this spring he has not been crisp in reading more complex stuff. Ron Brooks, mainly a special-teams guy for the Bills when Schwartz was there, has gotten a lot of starter's reps. Seventh-round rookie Jalen Mills (more on him elsewhere) could be this year's Rowe.

"He's playing real tough on deep balls. Right now he's basically just giving up little stop routes, stuff like that," McKelvin said of Rowe. "I say those things are going to come . . . He already takes care of the deep ball, which is the most important thing."

4 Pederson believes installation of the offensive and defensive schemes has gone well.

"It's a very smart football team, meaning they've picked up the schemes extremely well," Pederson said, when asked his takeaways from the spring work. "This is a group that also has some tremendous leaders on the football team, guys that I've seen sort of from afar kind of taking charge at their position groups. Another thing is, they've bought into the things that I've talked to them about, and that's encouraging . . . I can trust them and they can trust me, and that's the bottom line in this deal."

5 The wide receivers didn't alleviate many concerns.

Despite having drafted receivers in the first round in 2015 (Nelson Agholor), the second round in 2014 (Jordan Matthews) and the third round in 2014 (Josh Huff), the Eagles lack star power and explosiveness at the position. Former Giant Rueben Randle had a good spring, as did ex-Ram and Raven Chris Givens, but what fans wanted to see was a breakthrough for Agholor, who managed just 23 catches for 283 yards as a rookie. Agholor still seems to be fighting the ball. Ditto Huff. And though Matthews is hard-working and productive, the coaching staff decided he was still mainly a slot guy before the team even put on pads.

6 Chris Pantale has taken major strides toward filling the fullback role.

It has seemed all along that Pederson wants to use a fullback situationally, but is reluctant to devote a roster spot to it. Ryan Mueller, who would have been a "pure" fullback, was signed and released. Pantale, an angular, unfullbackian 6-5, 254-pound tight end, got some fullback reps during his two years with the Jets and realized, after spending last season on Chip Kelly's practice squad, that this might be a roster ticket.

"Knowing your alignment is obviously the most important thing, alignment and responsibility," said Pantale, who has helped his cause with several acrobatic TE catches this spring. "Blitz pickup. It's an extremely physical position."

Pantale joined the Eagles' practice squad last Sept. 21 after being cut from training camp by the Bears. He has been here longer than 43 of his current teammates, yet Pantale still dresses in a portable stall wheeled into the middle of the NovaCare locker room. Maybe if he's the fullback, he'll get a real locker, but Pantale said he feels things are trending his way, locker room-wise.

"I have a chair now," he said. "Last year I only had a stool."

@LesBowen

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