Eagles notebook: Will Shipley’s toughness, Axe Man Jr. and more

Will Shipley isn’t the biggest guy.

The Eagles’ fourth-round running back is listed at 5-foot-11, 209 pounds and there were times during training camp where he took some pretty big hits. But the same thing happened after every one of them.

Shipley popped up to his feet at breakneck speed.

“Always. Yeah,” Shipley said. “It’s been fun just being out here and getting slung around by the guys a little bit. It’s the name of the game. It’s football. I don’t expect to come out here and get two-hand touched. I’m a professional football player. It’s just part of the game. Anytime I get knocked down, I like getting up as fast as I can, letting them know that it didn’t hurt. Keep coming at me. I love it. I love the intensity.”

The 21-year-old from Clemson had a nice rookie training camp. He showed some ability as a receiver out of the backfield and as a runner. Shipley also improved in pass protection as the summer went on.

But one of the intangibles that was impressive about Shipley was his toughness. That was clearly on display every time he took a big hit.

“The harder they bring it towards me, the harder I’m going to be able to bring it back towards them,” Shipley said. “And my adrenaline starts going, my competitive nature continues to rise and that’s what I feed off of. I love little instances like that where it can get me pumped up. Whether I’m having a bad practice, a down practice, maybe my energy isn’t where it needs to be, plays like that are able to get me back and keep me true to what I’m supposed to do every day.”

Advice from dad

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is carving out his own career in the NFL, but he’s still happy to take plenty of tips from the original Axe Man.

“I still watch film with my dad after practice,” Trotter Jr. said. “He’ll give me tips, what he sees out there. So just like another coach that I have, another source of intel I can have as far as that. But just checking in as a dad, see how the day went, things like that. At the end of the day, he’s still my dad. He tries to make sure I’m good mentally as well.”

Trotter Jr. had a strong first training camp. The thing that stands out most about his game are his instincts. He looks like a kid who grew up around the game.

Although both Trotters are linebackers, the game has obviously changed a lot since the early 2000s. Trotter Sr. played the position at 260 pounds while Trotter Jr. is 225 and needs to play in space in the modern NFL.

“Even though he’s retired now, he always loves watching football,” Trotter Jr. said. “He likes watching today’s game, seeing how they play. He knows that the game has evolved and play a lot more in space. He always talks about how they didn’t really have to defend the RPO back in his day. But now we gotta defend the RPO, defend the run and pass. He’s really changed his mind to try to coach around that as well.”

Devin White vs. Saquon Barkley

One of the most fun things to watch at training camp practices are 1-on-1 battles. While everyone seems to gravitate toward the WR-DB and OL-DL matchups, the pass protection drills between linebackers and running backs are a blast too.

And one of the best matchups all summer was White vs. Saquon — a linebacker known for his blitzing ability vs. a running back with folk hero quads.

“He aight,” White said about Barkley. “I think I’m up on him. But we really do compete in those drills. But I think I’m up on him for sure. If he come up, ask him. I done got the film. It don’t lie.”

A few days later, Barkley had his press conference.

So … I asked him.

“He started off hot in the beginning,” Barkley admitted about White. “My hands, I was shooting my hands awful. I think I’m caught up a bit. It’s about even. Because he started off pretty hot, I struggled in the beginning, but there was a day where I beat everybody. I beat everybody. 

“It’s good work, though. That’s what you want. We talk crap against each other, we go at it. He’s a great player in this league, has done great things in this league. Not only him, the whole linebacking corps. I think they all represent different challenges when it comes to the blitz. You’re going to get something different with Dev, you’re going to get something different with Zack (Baun), you’re going to get something different with Kobe (Dean), all of them. It’s fun. It’s been really fun.”

A big Kenny G fan

On the final day of training camp, Kenny Gainwell was the Eagles’ top running back as Barkley got a load management day.

Gainwell made the most of it.

“It’s funny because we had that drive,” Jalen Hurts said, “I think that was a 2-minute drive, where he literally caught every ball and then he made the unbelievable catch in the corner.”

That unbelievable catch was a touchdown to cap that drive.

Gainwell, 25, is entering his fourth NFL season and even with the addition of Barkley this offseason still figures to be an important piece of the offense. He certainly has the trust of Hurts, who appears to be a big Gainwell fan.

“He’s been growing,” Hurts said. “It’s been kind of surreal just thinking back and saying, ‘Man, Kenny’s on his fourth year.’ He came in and you kind of get to see someone grow to where they are. He’s a hell of a player. He’s really the epitome of a team-first guy, embracing his role and attacking that with all of his might. I’m excited to see what kind of year he has.”

From teammate to coach

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is a new face for a lot of the Eagles’ locker room but not for Darius Slay.

Slay and Moore were actually teammates back in Detroit in 2013-14.

“He understands,” Slay said this week. “Of course, he played the position at quarterback so he knows how tough it can be. He used to give me a lot of pointers, man, because he was our scout team quarterback a lot because we had [Matt Stafford]. He used to chew our defense apart. Just because he’s so accurate and he makes smart decisions. He used to always give me little details, little nuggets on why to do this, why to do that. You could see that he transferred it to the field. 

“That’s why I kinda got the upper [hand] on him because I kinda know what he already thinking out here. That’s why I had great games against Dallas too, because I know him a little bit.”

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