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Doug Pederson's second training camp with Eagles to include live tackling, morning sessions, split-squad practices

The team will open training camp Monday with quarterbacks, rookies, and select veterans.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson has tweaked some things for his second training camp.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson has tweaked some things for his second training camp.Read moreCAMERON B. POLLACK / Staff Photographer

Doug Pederson's second training camp with the Eagles will begin Monday, and the physical camp will include three days of live tackling periods.

There are no significant changes in the structure from Pederson's first year, when he followed a schedule similar to that of Andy Reid. The Eagles will practice in the mornings – 8:50 a.m. during the first three days with quarterbacks, rookies, and select veterans, and then 8:15 a.m. during most of the first full week after the veterans arrive Thursday.

Those full-team sessions will last 2-3 hours. Once the preseason opener nears, practice will begin one hour later. Also mixed in will be 10/10/10 practices, Reid-era sessions that cycle through 10 scripted plays on offense, defense, and special teams.

Pederson likes early-morning practices because players can work when the weather is cooler. (Then again, there's sometimes no way to avoid the August heat.) Rain is problematic because it forces the Eagles indoors, where they don't have a full-size field to accommodate 90 players. There are three outdoor fields to use at the NovaCare Complex. They will practice on one 100-yard field twice at Lincoln Financial Field — for the open sessions on July 29 and Aug. 6.

The noticeable change will be how the bottom-of-the-depth-chart players are deployed during practices. The second- and third-stringers will work on a different field during team drills so every player gets snaps. That promotes more competition and less observing.

"It helps develop our younger guys, and it helps develop our younger coaches," Pederson said. "The coaching staffs are split, too. I think it's all beneficial in the development."

Also, the quarterback snaps won't be distributed as equally as last season. Look for Carson Wentz and the first-team offense to get more work this summer.

Pederson scaled back the contact last season after receiver Jordan Matthews suffered a knee injury. He still thinks it's important to have tackling periods even though it's becoming less common in the NFL.

"Injuries are a part of the game, and it's unfortunate," Pederson said. "But I feel like it's important, too, that the guys hit. It's a physical game, and it's hard sometimes just to show up on game day and just put the pads on and go hit if you haven't at least prepped them for it. Obviously, you've got to be smarter in the regular season, which obviously nothing is live in the regular season. But three live days, I think, is plenty."

Two of the days with live tackling will take place before the preseason opener against Green Bay. One comes in the week between the Green Bay and Buffalo games.

"It gets them into that physical mentality that you want, especially early in training camp," Pederson said.

The Eagles will have joint practice sessions with the Miami Dolphins leading into their third preseason game. Former coach Chip Kelly held practice sessions with another team in each of his three seasons, but Pederson kept camp only to the Eagles last season while he was introducing a new scheme. The practices are technically after training camp breaks – teams usually return to a regular-season-type schedule after the second preseason game – so the Eagles won't get into their normal routine until they head into the preseason finale.

"I think it's good at that time of year, in training camp, specifically," Pederson said. "[Your team has] been beating on each other for a few weeks, and then you get a chance to practice against somebody else in a controlled environment. It's good. Then you have an opportunity to play a game a couple days later."