An insight of what the Philadelphia Eagles' training camp is like for the media and players, and how this team is gearing up to repeat as champs, by James Simpson.
I've been following the NFL for close to 20 years. Like many of our readers, I've been the 'British NFL guy' within social circles since as long as I can remember. But it's still hard to get involved with the sport as an American football fan in the UK.
The International Series is growing, as is the general popularity of the sport over here, yet there are few opportunities to see players in action, meet them, or simply stay close to the action.
This year, I have one of those opportunities. My first NFL training camp experience is with the Super Bowl champions, and one of the teams heading to London this season - the Philadelphia Eagles.
The diary will offer a look behind the scenes of the sights and sounds of an NFL training camp. Follow along all week...
Day One (Thursday) - Training camp begins
The Eagles train at the Novacare Complex - a beautiful facility in South Philly. I arrived approximately an hour before the first practice session of the week to set up in the 'media house', located on the complex grounds.
Unsurprisingly, knowing the Philadelphia media, all workstations were taken. Some reporters were open to an introduction and friendly, while some were locked into their laptops. It didn't take long for a local beat writer to say "I don't remember anyone from Sky coming over to see the Eagles before they won the Super Bowl". (It was tongue in cheek, I think).
Not long after, we hit the field...
Practice notes
11.45-12.00: The players started filtering out onto the fresh green grass. Some were out early jogging and getting warm, while some waited until the last minute to stroll out. The media frenzy begins. There were notebooks galore, camera phones out, and a whole lot of manoeuvring about to find the best spot. Nearly 100 members of the media were at practice to see the team perform in helmets and 'shells' (not full pads yet).
12.00-12.20: During this 20 minutes, it is our chance to see who is out there, who is limited, and who is absent. All eyes were on the quarterbacks as the Eagles confirmed Carson Wentz was not going on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Instead, he joined in with full participation.
The players laugh, joke, dance a little, and get in their stretches. Positional groups do a small amount of light drills before they all get together as a team for the final stretches and huddle.
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NFL's training camp storylines
12.20-13.40: Today's practice was a 10/10/10 practice. What does that mean? Quite simply, it means 10 plays for the offense, 10 for the defense, and then 10 minutes of special teams work. The reporters gather along the sidelines, and each group rotates onto the main part of the field while those not playing do drills at the side.
Everything moves fast. Horns go off, whistles blow, and you could hear the coaches shouting from the parking lot. A local reporter, Sheil Kapadia of the Athletic, described it as "organised chaos".
It's fast and it's furious, but for now it's fairly fun compared with what is to come. There is no hitting, and the aim is for each unit to work on the finer details - without too much competition.
Time flies, and with the first day of practice in the books, it was time for press conferences and player availability.
13.50-14.20: Head coach Doug Pederson and quarterbacks Nick Foles and Wentz spoke to the media and all three expressed the same thing: there's no time to be complacent or allow distractions to get in the way. This team will focus every day on what it takes to become champions again.
Wentz's progress was the key talking point - even with Foles at the podium - and it appears he's on track for a week one start despite wearing a knee brace and rumours that he won't play in the preseason.
"My goal is September 6. We'll see how it goes with all of that but when I'm ready, I'll be ready," he said.
Pederson was happy with his progress, saying: "I'm not going to push him or get him out there sooner than he has to. I want to make sure that he's 100 per cent. He looked good today and we're just going to continue to progress."
After the press conferences, the locker room was opened, and I had the chance to talk to a few players one on one...
What do the players think of training camp?
As I'm only here for the week, I want to get an idea of what training camp means to NFL players. Do they like it? What is it good for? Today, I had four respondents…
Guard Chance Warmack said: "I'm just tired. And hungry," when asked how he's feeling after the first session. But the challenge is one of the things he loves about it.
"It's just a grind," he said. "You have to challenge your mind. Every year you go into it, you learn something different. I know I do. Your experiences carry over to the season. It's important.
"It's a time for each player to develop themselves, and get their minds right for the regular season.
"It gives you time to focus on your craft. Any concerns or questions, or situations you might have questions on, this is the time to go over those things."
Another lineman, and one of the more outspoken members of the Eagles is tackle Lane Johnson. He provided a blunt answer on the importance of training camp.
"It's basically trying to get everybody prepared for the first game so it's not pretty much a s*** show," he said.
"It's why you have all these preseason games. You want to see who's able to play and who's not so you can have the best possible team ready by week one. That's really what it is."
Rugby League star turned offensive tackle Jordan Mailata said the transition has been hard for him.
"[Training camp] is definitely what I expected," he said. "Everything and more. Everyone talks up training camp as being the hardest thing that every team goes through and for a day one, it was pretty hard.
"But they say it's only going to get harder! It's going to be a challenge tomorrow and I've just got to keep focusing on the next day rather than what happened today."
Finally, I spoke with Corey Clement, who knows how to make an impression at camp. The running back, who caught Foles' second touchdown pass in the Super Bowl, made the team as an undrafted free agent last year.
"Camp is definitely one of those months where it's a grind. From sunup to sundown, it's hard work," he said. "There are a lot of sacrifices. You have to isolate yourself from your family, your friends.
"Leading into the season, this is the toughest part because it's a long, gruelling process and everybody is trying to make the roster and you have to know what you're looking for at the end of this road is to make the 53-man roster and be able to play on Sundays."
What time does Clement arrive to the building? "Around 7.15am, and I don't leave till 8.30pm. It's pretty much all day."
And that is earlier than the time I'm finishing writing this up tonight. Training camp is a grind for reporters, too! I'll be back with more tomorrow as camp continues with a little more intensity.