Eagles Practice observations: Maxwell talks up Huff; How are the young linemen doing?; Parkey shaky

The Eagles held their ninth practice of training camp on Wednesday. Here are some highlights and observations:

1. Josh Huff, by all practice appearances, continues to make steady progress. He had arguably his best workout of camp. Huff didn't practice much on Tuesday and Nelson Agholor had a solid day in his place. But he was back in action a day later and seemed to pull in every catchable pass thrown in his direction. Huff has impressed with his body control on throws that haven't been precise. Sam Bradford was a shade off on a pass in the back of the end zone during early 7 on 7 drills, but Huff made the reception look rather easy. His most impressive catch may have come when he beat CB Byron Maxwell inside on a go route out of the slot. Bradford hit him in stride and the athletic Huff was off to the races. Huff and Maxwell have squared off through most of camp. The veteran corner said that he's tried to assure the second-year Huff that he has what it takes: "Just go and do it. Be who they think you are. Be who you think you are," Maxwell said he told Huff. "That's really what I'm trying to get to him because he's got all the tools. He can do it." I asked Maxwell if the short and stout Huff (5-11, 206) reminded him of any receivers he's faced. He said that Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin had similar tendencies like being quick off the line and deceivingly strong. He also mentioned Steve Smith, who recently announced that he would retire at the end of this season. "They're little," Maxwell said. "They got a great mentality about them. They're strong. They're dogs."

2. I focused a lot of my attention on 1-on-1 drills between the two lines. Earlier this week, I asked defensive coordinator Bill Davis about the drills and what the coaches wanted to see out of the players. "It's really about the first couple steps, angles, their sets, our angles, our hands, their hands, those type of things are what you are looking at," Davis said, also referring to the o-line. Matt Tobin has been one of four linemen that have rotated into right guard with the first team, but he's also played a lot of tackle with the second team. He did better at guard during 1 on 1s and battled to a stalemate when pitted against DT Bennie Logan. Tobin was fooled by a Conor Barwin spin move at tackle, but blocked Marcus Smith to the ground during a later edge rush. Smith had a highlight rush on Tuesday, but bounced back to earth a day later. Dennis Kelly was the victim of Smith's stutter-step, bull rush. He looked more confident on Wednesday and stood up a DE B.J. McBryde attempt. Julian Vadervelde has been a surprise contender in the competition at RG. But watching the 1 on 1s, you can see why offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland has him in the mix. Vandervelde looks steady. He also told me earlier this week that he feels as healthy as ever. He was like a wall when undrafted rookie Travis Raciti tried to maneuver past him.

3. So what about some of the lesser-known linemen? Center David Molk isn't exactly an unknown after filling in for Jason Kelce last year, but he's done his work under the radar this summer. The knock against Molk is that it's a struggle for him to swing to guard. He's a capable enough backup center, but Vandervelde, for instance, is more versatile. Still, Molk knows the center position. He's very adept at snapping the ball and holding his ground despite the limited space in the middle. He gives up more than 40 pounds to DT Beau Allen, but used his quickness and hand placement as leverage during one drill and didn't forfeit his footing.

4. As for the undrafted rookie offensive linemen, Malcolm Bunche (6-6, 320) has impressed the most so far. He got DE Vinny Curry off his feet during one rush and seemed to handle a DE Fletcher Cox bull rush. Nice. It should be interesting to watch Bunche on Sunday against the Colts. OL Brett Boyko struggled. DE Brandon Bair drove him to the ground, rookie DE Brian Mihalik turned the corner on him, and Raciti beat him with a spin move. DE Taylor Hart took reps with the first team defense during team drills on Wednesday. He looked a little sluggish against OL Andrew Gardner during 1 on 1s, though.

5. There was still no sign of LB Kiko Alonso (concussion) at practice. It's probably a long shot that he'll play Sunday. LB DeMeco Ryans was at practice, but wasn't in pads. All signs pointed to Ryans, who hasn't missed a session yet, taking a maintenance day. LB Mychal Kendricks was in pads but spent most of the day working with the training staff or watching. He wouldn't divulge his injury after practice, but seemed to be walking with a slight hitch. TE Zach Ertz got banged up again. He left practice a smidge early, but didn't seem overly worried as he walked off the field. TE Brent Celek left about halfway through. The Eagles didn't provide injury updates.

6. Gardner took the first team snaps at right guard. It was his third practice there, and one more than Tobin, Vandervelde and John Moffitt. With Alonso, Kendricks and Ryans out, Brad Jones and Emmanuel Acho seemed to take the majority of first team reps at inside linebacker. Davis keeps giving Jaylen Watkins the first team snaps at slot CB. He hasn't looked bad, I must say. During one Murray stretch run, Watkins filled his gap and gave Murray a nice, little thud.

7. I know everyone loves reading about the quarterbacks, so here's your daily update: Bradford was up and down, but when he's up it's clearly where the rest of the quarterbacks can't reach. He's cleared practice hurdles, now it's time to see how that body holds up under game conditions. I expect Bradford to start Sunday, but the best guess here is that he'll play one or two drives and the pass plays will have first reads where he has to get the ball out quick. Bradford hit WR Jordan Matthews downfield during an early 7-on-7 drill. His had his mojo working with Huff. There were some shaky moments, though. Bradford threw an errant pass that S Walter Thurmond almost picked off. Cox batted one of his passes down. And Bradford threw behind an open Matthews.

8. Sanchez had a few more first team reps than he had the day before. WR Miles Austin joined him in place of Riley Cooper and Sanchez, with a blitz in his face, went right to the veteran over the middle. The quarterback missed Huff high and wide near the sideline a few plays later. Undrafted rookie WR Josh Reese, who was added recently, made a nice one-handed catch on a Sanchez toss. During team drills, Sanchez found the mismatch and went to WR Jeff Maehl with Smith covering. The pass was complete, but Smith was tight.

9. Tim Tebow had a rough day throwing the ball. He was intercepted by rookie CB Randall Evans during 1-on-1 drills. He underthrew WR Rasheed Bailey deep during 7 on 7s and Denzel Rice batted the ball to the ground. Tebow had Agholor wide open over the middle, but threw a one-hopper. On the next play, he stared down a receiver for too long and was "sacked." Tebow did toss a beauty to Agholor in the end zone, but the rookie dropped the sure "touchdown." (Agholor, it should be noted, bounced back later and made a nifty catch in the end zone when he appeared to drag both feet inbounds.)

10. Cody Parkey was a little shaky during field goal drills. Overall, he went 7 of 10 from various distances between 30 and 50 yards. He missed three 40-something yarders, hooking one way wide left.