Eagles minicamp practice notes: Barkley's arm strength a concern

Let's just get right to it.

• Matt Barkley's arm strength is a major concern. He attempted to throw an out route that needed to be driven in there, and his pass lacked any kind of velocity at all. It had far too much air under it, and Curtis Marsh was able to jump in front of the intended receiver for an INT. I don't want to make too much of one throw, but if that was Barkley's maximum velocity, he's really going to struggle to stay in the league, in my opinion. You simply can't give opposing defensive backs that much time to break on a pass. Again, it's only June and there's a long way to go before the start of the season, but Barkley's play so far has been discouraging.

• Chip Kelly said during his press conference Wednesday morning that Nolan Carroll has impressed him so far. Chip also noted that Carroll was someone the Eagles had targeted early in free agency. I had a chance to speak with Carroll yesterday (more on him from yesterday's notes), and Carroll said that Eagles special teams coach Dave Fipp, who was formerly an assistant with the Dolphins, tried to convince Chip to bring him in. Carroll formerly played in Miami while Fipp was there. "From what (Coach Kelly) told me," explained Carroll, "Fipp was telling him about me since last year. They had an eye on me, and they had an inside look with someone who coached me for a couple of years who knew how I was on and off the field."

• Chris Polk had a great training camp last year, and one thing that really stood out was that he didn't drop passes. Today, Polk had a nice one-handed stab during positional drills. That is one aspect of Polk's game that Eagles fans have not yet experienced, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Eagles tried to utilize his receiving skills in the passing game this year.

• Josh Huff was able to get open behind the defense today, which was good to see. Unfortunately, Mark Sanchez missed him. Huff had a reception of over 20 yards in every game he played at Oregon last season.

• Last training camp, Brandon Boykin did push ups every time he broke up a pass but did not intercept it. He did a lot of push ups. Boykin was roundly identified as a player last training camp who was outstanding. Today, during red zone 11-on-11's, Boykin had two pass breakups in three plays. I feel like Boykin is a player who is entering the territory where if he makes a nice play in practice, nobody cares anymore because we've all already seen it. That could also formerly be said of guys like LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Michael Vick, etc. That's a nice place to be when you're only a third year player.

• Nick Foles had another solid day today. His best throw was down the seam to Jordan Matthews, who finished the play with his patented sprint to the end zone. The Eagles are in big trouble if Foles goes down.

• WeeWee Watch: Todd Herremans and Jason Kelce each used the port-a-potty during practice for the second consecutive day. Tomorrow they'll go for the turkey. Andrew Gardner went once. We'll continue to monitor trips to the port-a-potty throughout the summer.

The offensive linemen are dominating on the #WeeWeeWatch.

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