Nick Foles Shines In First Philadelphia Eagles Full Squad Training Camp Practice

Michael Vick‘s first practice rep with the full squad at the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Training Camp didn’t exactly go according to plan.

Vick dropped back during seven-on-seven drills and fired a pass over the middle right into the bread basket of middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans.

It’s no secret that it’s an open competition for the starting quarterback job in head coach Chip Kelly‘s rookie season. Vick improved as practice went along on Friday, but his combatants Nick Foles and Matt Barkley showed no signs of backing down.

“We’re not going to make any decisions that are going to be based on practice at the NovaCare,” Kelly made clear on Friday. “We need to get them into the Linc and have people tee off on them and try to come after them. There are a lot of quarterbacks that can stand back there and look pretty when they’re wearing the red jersey, but when you take that jersey off and it’s live and full-go they become different guys. We’re going to have to see those guys in the heat of battles. ”

Vick and Foles appeared to split the practice reps with the first team nearly evenly on Friday, as they had throughout most of the spring. Barkley also got a handful of reps with the first teamers, but mostly he guided the second and third string units.

Foles did not throw an interception during practice and appeared to focus on check downs throughout his reps. He was the only quarterback not to throw a pick.

While short and intermediate routes will be crucial in Kelly’s offense, Foles made a habit of dumping off to tight ends Zach Ertz and Brent Celek, while Vick routinely relied on his instinct to quickly tuck the ball and run.

“We have a simple mantra for our quarterbacks,” Kelly explained afterwards. “Touchdown, first down, get down. In that order.”

While it’s only one practice, Foles looked sharpest but there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight to the Eagles quarterback competition.