Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich met with the media following a short practice in helmets and shells on Saturday. During the press conference, Reich shed some light on how coaches evaluate talent at the sport's highest level.
"Trey [Burton]’s made so many big plays out here," Reich said. "We have so many talented guys in the NFL, so you’re going to see flashes of great plays, but what you’re really looking for as a coach is the consistency of it. What separates these guys out here, what we’re looking for is guys who can makes those kinds of plays routinely. That’s what great players do, they make the hard things look easy. That’s what we as an offense need to do."
Eagle tight ends have made the strenuous look simple quite often during camp, which is part of the reason the Eagles have shown a three tight end package featuring Zach Ertz, Brent Celek and Burton on the field simultaneously.
"Zach has a great feel in route running," Reich said. "He just knows how to create leverage, and he has a big catch radius. Trey is like a wide receiver out there, he’s got the speed and he’s got natural instinctive moves for a tight end. One of the surprises to me has been Brent. I came in here thinking Brent is our blocking tight end, but the guy knows how to run routes, he’s a really smart route runner. I have a lot of confidence in him, and I know the quarterbacks do as well."
Ryan Mathews returned to practice for the first time since the start of camp on Friday. Today, Reich detailed some of the attributes their featured runner brings to the team.
"He just looks explosive out there," Reich said. "He’s an explosive and physical runner. We’ve got a good array of backs. Ryan is certainly going to be prominent in that mix. You want to get a guy like that with the track record he has and the way he’s run the ball over the last few years, we wanna get him as many touches as we can."
One of the most notable surprises at training camp has been the play of wide receiver Paul Turner. The offensive coordinator kept with the theme of consistency when describing the undrafted rookie.
"He has been as consistent as you can be at that position," Reich said. "You can just tell he’s a mentally and physically tough guy. He competes very hard, he’s an instinctive route runner, he’s got really good feet. As we coaches say, he can put his foot in the ground and stop on a dime, so he’s done a nice job."
In his two seasons at Louisiana Tech after transferring from LSU, Turner recorded 87 catches for 1,171 yards and seven touchdowns.
You can see the full press conference from Reich below.
Patrick Del Gaone is a staff writer for Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Del_Gaone.
