Doug Pederson spoke to the media today at the NFL’s annual meeting. He spoke for something like 59 minutes, which is typical for this annual sitdown, and he also happens to be wearing a boot since he had recent surgery to remove a bone piece that was affecting his Achilles. 

Doug talked about a wide variety of topics while revealing that the Eagles will have joint practices with the Baltimore Ravens in Philadelphia during the third week of training camp.

Some notes and quotes from Doug’s availability, which went on FOREVER:

  • On Carson Wentz, Doug says he’s still rehabbing and the team will be patient and let him get “strong.” They are not putting a timetable on his return, though he does not think the back injury will cause him to miss as much time as he did last year with the knee injury.
  • Adding DeSean Jackson: “We’re always looking to add value and talent, receiver is one, we do our due diligence…. DeSean is a very explosive receiver.”
  • They were interested in doing joint practices last year but the scheduling just didn’t work out. This year the Ravens were available and they’re located not far away.

More after the jump:

  • RE: running backs, Pederson echoed what Howie Roseman said Monday, which is that the Eagles won the Super Bowl by adding running backs after the draft.
  • He’d “like to have” Darren Sproles back. He seemed to leave the ball in Sproles’ court as far as a return (though he’s obviously not telling the media what discussions between both sides have been like). He says he hasn’t spoken to Darren since the end of the year.
  • He says they got away from the RPO game a bit last year because teams were taking it away, which is one reason for the less-effective running game.
  • Alabama running back Josh Jacobs is an “exciting guy, a big back, can give you first down, second down productivity.”
  • Not going to rush back Fletcher Cox, who played a lot of snaps last year and is coming back from offseason foot surgery.
  • Andrew Sendejo adds depth and value, Doug is “excited” to have him on the roster.
  • Jalen Mills is still working through his injury and rehabbing but is “doing well.”
  • RE: proposed rule changes, he says it’s a tough game to officiate right now, he wants to come up with ways to help officials get calls right, maybe give coaches another level of replay. Wants to look at the AAF and the college game to find more ways to help make sure calls are correct. He mentioned the pass interference play in the Saints/Rams game and mentioned how that missed call dominated NFL talk for multiple weeks.
  • He sounded open to reviewing penalty calls that are harder to judge in real time but can be seen by everybody in replay.
  • He didn’t look at a lot of the available player tracking data last year, left that more to the Eagles’ sports science and analytics people.
  • When asked about receivers outside the top three, Braxton Miller was the first name mentioned.
  • He felt like some 4th down and two-point conversion situations in 2018 where he could have made better decisions.
  • This has been a more normal offseason in terms of being in a routine. There’s no post-Super Bowl victory tour or anything like that.
  • He wants to dive more into “situational” things during OTA workouts this summer.
  • Doug didn’t have too much to say about the idea that Wentz is under pressure to perform this year.
  • On Bryce Harper choosing the Phillies: “I made a video and sent it to him that you need to be in Philly and that’s why he’s there.” He says Harper is his father-in-law’s favorite player.
  • He didn’t feel the need to talk to Wentz after the Philly Voice story came out.
  • Doug is excited for Michael Bennett because he can be a starter in New England. Describes him as a good teammate and a great person, someone with gas in the tank.

The entire thing was looooooong, but it was interesting. There’s some good stuff in here, so take a listen if you can: