Eagles vs. Patriots preseason game: 10 players especially worth watching

The Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the New England Patriots in joint training camp practices this week. Now the two sides will play each other in a preseason game.

The outcome doesn’t matter, though, as much as how certain players perform. There are jobs and position battles to be won/lost leading up to roster cuts.

With that in mind, here are the most especially interesting Eagles players to watch during Thursday night’s matchup against the Pats. Keep in mind the starters might only play for a series or two (at most). For your convenience, I’ve listed jersey numbers next to the names.

1 – Jalen Hurts – #1

Hurts has been at his best recently after an uneven start to camp. Can the second-year quarterback keep the positive momentum going? It’d be nice to see more of what we saw last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers in terms of Hurts looking calm and in command of the offense. Wouldn’t mind a touchdown drive or two before calling it a night.

2 – DeVonta Smith – #6

It’s unclear if Smith is actually going to play against the Pats. The Eagles’ 2021 first-round pick returned to team drills on Tuesday but he did not see a target. He also didn’t get any reps in 1-on-1, which makes me believe the Eagles were comfortable with him practicing route-running and releases and such but not actually seeing targets. Perhaps that’ll be the same case for tonight’s game. Or maybe Smith won’t play at all. It’d sure be great to see him have a big catch or two but we might have to wait until next week to really see him in action.

3 – Jalen Reagor – #18

Unlike last week, I’m not putting Quez Watkins on this week’s list. Watkins has already shown enough this summer that even if he does nothing against the Pats, that’s not a big deal. The same can’t be said for Reagor. The Eagles’ 2020 first-round pick deservedly generated a lot of buzz for his amazing one-handed catch against a Pats defender in 1-on-1s. But he was basically invisible in team drills. Can we see Reagor make a big impact in 11-on-11? And can he finally turn in a “clean” performance? Maybe make a couple good plays without any obviously bad ones to accompany them? Doing so would go a long way towards making people believe he’s truly turned the corner. Otherwise, he might just be a player who’s consistently inconsistently.

4 – Travis Fulgham – #13

As we recently wrote about, Fulgham isn’t quite having the summer that the Eagles probably would’ve liked to see out of him. There have been too many drops and tough catches not made. Fulgham didn’t even see a target in last week’s affair. He can boost his stock with a big showing tonight. Otherwise, he’s falling behind in the wide receiver picture. He’s currently looking like WR4 at best.

5 – Kenny Gainwell – #14

To begin with a tangent: I think it’s interesting how most have begun to call Steven Nelson “Steve” because he said he prefers that name but many still seem to refer to Kenneth Gainwell by his full first name instead of his stated preference of “Kenny.” Regardless of what you call him, tonight’s a big game for the Eagles’ 2021 fifth-round pick. One would guess the…