Sirianni, Smith make solid first impressions

PHILADELPHIA » While Eagles rookies stretched and warmed up Friday, head coach Nick Sirianni headed toward the media on the sideline.

“Good to finally meet you guys,” he said. “How is everybody doing?”

Sirianni purposely walked the gauntlet, fistbumping reporters here, elbow-bumping there. Nothing phony about it or his first official practice as the head coach.

At the end of the line Sirianni paused to speak with Merrill Reese, the Voice of the Eagles. Reese is approaching his 45th year in the radio booth, an incredible streak that began in 1977.

“He told me it was nice to finally meet me in person,” Reese said. “It was great to meet him. He’s so affable. It’s going to be fun covering him.”

Perspective is everything, especially at a camp where barely a handful of the rookies are going to make the team, the list topped by wide receiver DeVonta Smith and center Landon Dickerson. Dickerson was limited to walkthroughs as he rehabs from a torn ACL.

First impressions are lasting impressions, though, and Smith passed the eyeball test. The 6-0, 170-pounder doesn’t look nearly as thin in his football gear than he did in a suit on draft day. Except for an early drop, he made the assistant coach throwing the ball look legit. Smith led the receivers through every drill while practice was open to the media.

“As advertised, he catches everything,” Sirianni said. “That ball touches his hands, he catches it. He’s really long. I think you guys saw that. He’s got long arms, and he’s got a big catch radius. You’ve got a really good idea of what you have, and then when you get him on the field, you’re like, man, we can do this and we could do that, maybe he can do this that maybe we didn’t think he could do.”

Other than the sheer size with some players, or the lack thereof with others there wasn’t much concrete to glean from the limited availability Friday.

Zech McPhearson, the fourth-round pick out of Texas Tech, looks larger than 5-11, 199, his list specs on the roster sheet.

Trevon Grimes (64, 233), one of seven undrafted rookies signed for the camp, runs like a wide receiver but is cut like tight end Kyle Pitts, the fourth overall pick in the draft.

No way running back Kenneth Gainwell (5-9, 200), the fifth-round pick out of Memphis, is 200 pounds.

It’s only a three-day camp but the Eagles could use another arm to pair with Jamie Newman (6-3, 234), the undrafted rookie out of Georgia.

Sirianni’s first practice basically was more of an introduction than anything. Fundamentals are important, and the players were engaged in that much of the time open to the media. The mandatory minicamp with veterans in June should be interesting.

For Sirianni, the camp was also a chance to say hello. He made that clear following his post-practice Zoom availability.

“Thanks everybody,” Sirianni said. “Good finally seeing you.”

• • • One thing Sirianni absolutely refuses to do is address who his starting quarterback might be.

Sirianni beat down repeated questions about Jalen Hurts. The coach stomped on speculation the Eagles were interested in adding a veteran quarterback (i.e. Deshaun Watson).

“You know what, we don’t comment on anybody on other rosters, so you know, there hasn’t been any talk about that,” Sirianni said. “Really no reason to go there with anything.”

• • • The Eagles signed undrafted rookies Jhamon Ausbon (receiver), Jack Stoll (tight end), Harry Crider (center), Kayode Awosika (guard) and JaQuan Bailey (defensive end).

The Eagles also inked defensive back Nate Meadors (5-11, 195), the UCLA guy who spent last season largely on the Jaguars’ practice squad.