PHILADELPHIA – Eagles receiver Zach Pascal missed the Eagles’ first training camp practice on Wednesday with an undisclosed non-COVID illness.
The veteran took to social media to confirm that he has been suffering from a case of food poisoning writing “Wouldnt wish food poison on no man.”
The Eagles scaled back to a walkthrough session on Thursday and will be back on the practice field Friday morning. It remains to be seen if Pascal is well enough to participate with temperatures expected to reach near 90 degrees in South Philadelphia.
Pascal, 27, signed a one-year deal with the Eagles this offseason to reunite with Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia. Sirianni often spoke highly of Pascal’s professionalism and work ethic from their time together with the Indianapolis Colts.
Pascal is penciled in by most observers as WR4 behind A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Quez Watkins but there is wiggle room for significant playing time depending on the weekly game plans as well as where the Eagles stand on the scoreboard. As a bigger WR with blocking skills Pascal figures to get more time when the Philadelphia offense plans to be more run-heavy or late in games when the Eagles are trying to protect leads.
The wild card in Aaron Moorehead’s WR room figures to be 2020 first-round pick Jalen Regaor, who has significant talent but has struggled over his first two professional campaigns.
With little pressure on him any longer Reagor excelled on Day 1 of training camp when playing against second- and third-team cornerbacks.
Pascal, an Old Dominion product, has played four professional seasons and has had some production, hauling in 150 career receptions and 15 touchdowns.
The Eagles were also dealing with the aftermath of some recent COVID cases on Wednesday. Both Jason Kelce and rookie receiver Keric Wheatfall missed practice en route to their progression back while veterans Fletcher Cox and Anthony Harris were limited and did not participate in team drills.
Cox, though, noted that he was feeling better after practice.
“I got pretty sick about a week and a half ago,” Cox said. “Just taking the steps to getting me back to where I was. Just being smart about it, working me in. I’m starting to feel a lot better than I did this time last week, so that’s a good sign.”
