Eagles move practice to indoor facility due to poor air quality

The Eagles practiced in their indoor facility Thursday because of the poor air quality in the area.

The team’s final organized team activity of the offseason was scheduled for the early afternoon, but the staff decided to move indoors to avoid subjecting players to the smoke enveloping the area as a result of Canadian wildfires. The decision came one day after the Phillies postponed their home game against the Detroit Tigers because of the “code red” air quality alert advising Philadelphia residents to stay indoors.

The air quality index surpassed 300 Thursday morning, pushing it into the ”hazardous” range. It’s the worst air quality recorded in the area since 2008, according to Environmental Protection Agency data, which dates back to 1999.

The Yankees and Nationals also postponed games Wednesday because of the conditions.

» READ MORE: Phillies game starts on schedule after MLB postponed Nationals game due to air quality issues

The Eagles have six weeks off before the start of training camp late next month. Coming off a Super Bowl LVII loss that extended their season into February, the Birds had one of the lightest workloads of the offseason. They had just six out of 10 possible offseason workouts and were the only team in the league not to hold a mandatory minicamp.

Before practice, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said the session wouldn’t be much different inside the practice bubble instead of on the outdoor field even though the size of the indoor facility is considerably smaller than outdoors.

“We’re always going to put their health first and the people of our building,” Sirianni said. “... We’re always thinking about them first. With the baseball games getting canceled and everything, again, we have the number of when we can be outside, when we can’t be outside. ... It’s business as usual. This is not new to us.”