July 27, 2026
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
It's going to be an important training camp for Jalen Hurts this summer.
After a long dead period over the last couple of months, Philadelphia Eagles training camp will begin this week, as the team will hold its first practice Wednesday morning. Here are 30 things I'll be watching this summer.
Hurts will be working with yet another new offensive coordinator this year, Sean Mannion, his tenth OC setup in 11 seasons going back to college:
• 2016: Lane Kiffin
• 2017: Brian Daboll
• 2018: Mike Locksley
• 2019: Lincoln Riley's offense (co-coordinated by Cale Gundy and Bill Bedenbaugh)
• 2020: Doug Pederson
• 2021-2022: Shane Steichen
• 2023: Brian Johnson
• 2024: Kellen Moore
• 2025: Kevin Patullo
• 2026: Sean Mannion
Mannion is a disciple of the Shanahan coaching tree having served under Matt LeFleur. He has also played for a lot of recognizable offensive minds, like Sean McVay, LaFleur, Zac Taylor, Gary Kubiak, Kevin Stefanski, Klint Kubiak, Dave Canales, and Grant Udinski.
From Hurts' perspective, there wasn't wholesale change from one coordinator to the next in some of those years noted above, but the offense should look significantly different with Mannion running the show.
We already saw during spring practices that the Eagles will be operating more under center than they have, as Hurts has mostly worked out of shotgun throughout his career. We will also likely see significantly more purposeful pre-snap motion, designed to provide tells for what looks the defense is in.
Hurts seems to be welcoming these changes, but we'll see how well he adjusts to that style of play. But that's not all we'll be watching from Hurts this summer. Additionally:
• The Shanahan offense also often requires quarterbacks to throw on the run via misdirection play action. Hurts has sometimes looked uncomfortable rolling to his left and throwing on the run, so that could be something the Eagles work on this summer.
• The Eagles got to the line slower than any team in the NFL last season. I would imagine that correcting that has to be a point of emphasis this season. I would put the Eagles' struggles on that front way more on Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni than I would on Hurts, but it will interesting to see if that gets fixed, and if Hurts has more time to make checks at the line, which he often didn't in 2025.
• One big talking point with Hurts this offseason has been his avoidance of the middle of the field. The contention here is that he has already proven in the past that he can throw efficiently over the middle of the field, but there's no debating that he rarely did the last two seasons, whether that was a product of the scheme or his own aversion to it. His usage of the middle of the field in camp will be worth watching.
• Over the last four years Hurts threw a ton to A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert. He did not seem comfortable throwing to other receivers. With Brown gone, Smith and Goedert can't get every target, right? So, we'll see if Hurts can develop rapport quickly with newcomers like first-round pick Makai Lemon, trade acquisition Dontayvion Wicks, and free agent acquisition Hollywood Brown, among others.
Tanner McKee has quietly gone about his business as a backup quarterback for the Eagles for three full years, diligently preparing as if he's the starter. And when he has gotten his opportunities — with the exception of one game last season during which he played with the second-team offensive line and backups at the skill positions — he has mostly looked the part of a player who could earn a starting job at some point, even if with another team.
And yet, despite his continued progression as a pro quarterback, he was competing for the QB2 job this spring with a 38-year-old Andy Dalton, who the team acquired via a mere seventh-round pick this offseason. Weird.
McKee pretty clearly outplayed Dalton during the spring, at least during the media-attended practices, but it's interesting that the team felt that he should have to earn the QB2 spot, which in my opinion, he already has the last three-plus years.
During the spring, Payton got a few reps and showed off nice touch in the intermediate part of the field. I do have some concerns with his arm strength, but there have been plenty of quarterbacks in the NFL who have found success without possessing a Howitzer for an arm. If Payton can't rip throws into tight windows, he's going to have to offset that by throwing with anticipation, and that could be a multi-year learning process.
Because Payton is such a high-level athlete for a quarterback who actually played other positions as well as special teams while he was a backup quarterback at NDSU, I'm curious if the Eagles will try him at any other spots. My guess is no, for the record, since it's already hard enough for a rookie just trying to learn an NFL playbook fresh off an often grueling pre-draft process. The Eagles aren't hurting for impressive athletes, so I believe they'll just let Payton develop at quarterback, and if it makes sense to put more on his plate down the road, then fine.
Ultimately, Payton will have to show something throughout camp to justify his spot on the roster. The Eagles have cut drafted rookie quarterbacks in recent seasons, namely Thorson and McCord. Payton will at least have to be better than them, though that would be a low bar.
If indeed Payton shows anything throughout camp, the Eagles will have four roster-worthy quarterbacks. It'll be hard to keep them all on their 53. With both McKee and Dalton scheduled to be free agents next offseason, it will be interesting to see if trade offers come in for either player.
A trade scenario for McKee would be if some other team around the league suddenly lost their starter, Teddy Bridgewater-style. A trade scenario for Dalton would be if some team just isn't happy with how their QB2 looks, and would feel more comfortable with an extremely experienced player like Dalton.
Barkley had one of the greatest running back seasons of all-time in 2024 when he broke the single-season rushing record (regular season + playoffs), carrying the Eagles' offense to a Super Bowl. However, he had an extremely heavy workload that season, and his production predictably fell off in 2025, when his yards per carry average plummeted from 5.8 to 4.1.
Factors outside of Barkley's control — mainly injuries and substandard play by the offensive line — contributed to Barkley's downtick in 2025, but in my opinion he was also not the ultra-explosive back he was the previous season. By that I mean, he was "regular explosive," not the supercharged beast he was in 2024.
Barkley's workload was not nearly as intense in 2025 as it was in 2024. His total touches were down from 482 to 346, a drastic decrease, but he still also had the sixth-most touches in the NFL.
Barkley insists that he feels just as good now as he did in 2024, but in my view, year-to-year fatigue is still a consideration this season, like it was last season.
As noted above, the Eagles' offense will have a lot more under center looks this season under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. Barkley said during OTAs that he has been studying Todd Gurley, who produced some monster seasons running out of a similar scheme under Sean McVay in Los Angeles.
Our Geoff Mosher wrote a good article on what to expect from Barkley in Mannion's likely "wide zone" run scheme.
Running backs are typically factors as receivers in this type of scheme. Guys like Gurley and Christian McCaffrey, for example, posted huge receiving numbers playing in this scheme. The Eagles have hit on some big plays to Barkley in the passing game, mostly on wheel routes, but overall Barkley has not shown much as a back who can effectively run a full complement of routes. We'll see if that's an area of focus in improving his game this summer.
One of the many issues the Eagles' offensive staff had in 2025 was a misuse of their player personnel, and Tank Bigsby was a prime example. During a four-game stretch from Weeks 7 to 11, Bigsby proved to be an effective runner in the offense, carrying 17 times for 156 yards in those games, for an average of 9.2 yards per carry.
Thereafter, the Eagles just... didn't use him in meaningful games. He got 17 carries in garbage time in a blowout of the Raiders, and 16 carries in the Week 18 "resting starters" game against the Commanders. But in the five other games from Week 12 on, Bigsby only got 8 (!) carries, or 1.6 carries per game.
On the season, Bigsby carried 58 times for 344 yards and 2 TDs. His 5.9 yards per carry average was almost two yards per carry better than Saquon Barkley's 4.1 yards per carry. Had the Eagles used Bigsby more, they probably would have gotten some positive runs out of him, while also keeping Barkley's usage down a bit. Everyone likely would have benefited, but, again, for no good reason they just didn't use him.
He's clearly a player worthy of being on the field more than he was in 2025. To be determined if Mannion will also see it that way.
A.J. Brown isn't on the team anymore, in case you missed that. The Eagles traded him. They will see Brown again during joint practices in August in Foxboro, so that'll be fun.
A huge part of the equation for the Eagles' willingness to trade Brown was that they believe that DeVonta Smith is primed for stardom. Smith has averaged over 1,000 receiving yards per season despite serving as a complementary piece to Brown. He is wired for big moments and big roles, and feels more than ready to become the focal point of the Eagles' passing game. He will almost certainly dominate targets in 2026 as long as he stays healthy.
Obviously, this will be an important camp for Smith, but the Eagles also have to be smart about his maintenance. They're going to need him to carry the passing offense for 17-plus games, so they won't want to wear him out during the summer. Still, it'll be fun watching him battle Quinyon Mitchell, Riq Woolen, and Cooper DeJean all summer.
Nabbing Makai Lemon at 20th overall was a value pick for the Eagles, albeit in a weak draft. But he was also a little bit of a departure for the way the Eagles draft, in that he doesn't have impressive physical measurables. He is short and light with short arms and small hands. He also isn't a blazer by any stretch, as he ran a 4.50 40 at USC's pro day.
The Eagles did not draft Lemon to develop his traits over time. They drafted him because they think he's a good football player, right now. He catches everything, he runs good routes, he gets yards after the catch, he's a fierce competitor, and he had a productive college career.
He is going to start for the Eagles this season in the slot. Or perhaps better stated, if he doesn't start, that would be highly alarming since he in no way fits the description of a developmental player.
We did not get a good look at Lemon competing against the the Eagles' elite corners in spring practices, as Lemon was nursing a hamstring injury. He is expected to be good to go for training camp, and the Eagles will hope he shines immediately, since, you know, they kind of need him to.
The Eagles traded a pair of Day 3 picks for Dontayvion Wicks this offseason. Shortly thereafter, we published a film review of Wicks' game. He does a lot of things well. He runs good routes, and unlike former WR3 Jahan Dotson, he knows how to beat press coverage. He is also pretty clearly a competitive player who is willing to do some of the dirty work stuff. He is a very willing and good blocker.
The downside is that Wicks has had issues with drops throughout his career, which is perhaps at least partly why the Packers were willing to trade him. Wicks will have to prove that he can consistently catch the football this summer.
Like Wicks above, we published a film review of Brown's game.
Brown ran a 4.27 40 time at his pro day in 2019, and is a player known for his speed, however, he has averaged just 11.6 yards per catch over his career. Still, the Eagles view him as a down-the-field threat.
After watching all of his targets in 2025, I concluded that Brown's average yards per catch were affected by a Chiefs offense that has become increasingly dink and dunk over the last few years, as opposing defenses have sought to keep everything underneath and make them drive the field. Brown made a lot of catches immediately after the snap near the line of scrimmage, which obviously hurt those numbers. It certainly didn't help when the Chiefs lost Patrick Mahomes with a torn ACL at the end of their miserable season, and Brown was trying to catch passes from Gardner Minshew, Chris Oladokun, and Shane Buechele.
But Brown did also have seven receptions of 20+ yards and three receptions of 40+ yards. So I don't necessarily believe the Eagles are wrong to view him as a deep threat, despite his unimpressive yards per catch average.
I should note here that I did not watch his targets in prior seasons, so I can't speak on his relatively low yards per target averages with other teams.
It does make sense that offenses tried to get the ball in Brown's hands quickly after the snap. He isn't going to break many tackles, but one thing that showed up consistently on his tape is the ability to make the first guy miss immediately after he makes a catch, even when he doesn't get much separation. He is also a sideline toe-tap master with reliable hands.
In the past the Eagles have taken fliers on sub-4.3 speed guys like Parris Campbell and John Ross. However, unlike those guys, Brown is a legitimate NFL wide receiver, and his speed really showed up during spring practices. He might be getting slept on a bit, in my opinion.
It appears that Johnny Wilson and Darius Cooper will be competing for the designated "dirty work" role this summer. Cooper was a camp darling last summer, and he snuck onto the roster after Wilson suffered season-ending knee/ankle injuries.
In the spring, Wilson got a lot of targets in the middle of the field, and seems to be fully healed. He had a better spring than Cooper, who made a boneheaded play in the Eagles' Week 18 loss last season to the Commanders, when he taunted then-Commanders CB Jonathan Jones after making a catch in the red zone.
That'll be sort of an "undercard" camp battle to watch. And then there are guys like free agent Elijah Moore and Danny Gray who have a chance to make the team with great summers.
Over the years, Hurts has proven that he truly trusts throwing to three players — Brown, Smith, and Goedert. Brown is gone. By my math, Hurts is now down to two players that he definitively trusts in Smith and Goedert. As noted above, Smith is going to be the focal point of the Eagles' passing offense this season. But Goedert could see an uptick in targets as well. Unfortunately, that comes at a time when Goedert might not be the same player that he was in his prime.
Goedert has dominated in training camp in the past. I'm not anticipating that this year against the Eagles' stellar defense, but it'll be interesting to see if he is invigorated by Sean Mannion's new offensive scheme.
Stowers was the Eagles' second-round pick in the draft this year. He was a high school quarterback who moved to tight end in college. The appeal is that he is an elite athlete who ran a 4.51 40, vertical leaped 45 1/2", and broad jumped 135".
The downside is that Stowers is probably more of a big receiver at this point than he is a tight end. He has a long way to go as a blocker in the NFL. Blocking aside, as a general rule of thumb, it usually takes tight ends a few years before they get their NFL sea legs.
And so, it could be a little bit of a waiting game with Stowers. Along the way, it would be encouraging if he could make some occasional impressive plays throughout camp to provide optimism for what he might eventually become. We should also maybe note that Stowers was quiet during spring practices, and even seemed limited in practice due to an injury. (He had a sleeve on his leg.)
Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata seem to be fans of the new scheme Sean Mannion is installing. Mailata referred to Mannion as an "evil genius." He clarified that that's a good thing, that he "knows ball." Appearing on the Fitz and Whit podcast, Johnson noted that his job might be a little easier in the new scheme.
For the entirety of the Doug Pederson era through the Nick Sirianni era, the Eagles have asked Johnson to single-block the league's best pass rushers, game after game, and he shut them down every week. But, even as a still-elite pass protector, the Eagles could slow Johnson's eventual decline if they start giving him some occasional help. (Not that he even needs it yet, in my opinion.)
Scheme aside, Johnson and Mailata have previously only had one offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland. The transition from Stoutland to Chris Kuper will be interesting.
With Johnson sitting out OTAs, Bell, a third-round rookie, got to play with the starters at RT, when it would have been easy to just insert Fred Johnson in there. And then when Lane showed up for minicamp, Bell played LT with the second-team offense. Obviously the team hopes that Bell can develop long-term, but it also appears that they are trying to prepare him for an immediate role as a key backup this season.
There's only so much you can tell in spring practices without pads and very limited contact, but Bell is a massive 6'9, 346-pound OT, and in my opinion he moved well. He also didn't look unnatural at RT, which is noteworthy considering he really only played LT in college in games, though Bell did note during rookie minicamp that he was cross-trained during practices at Miami at RT. Some guys can easily move back and forth between LT and RT. Some guys (cough, Andre Dillard) can't.
The Eagles' hope is that Bell can develop into a legitimate successor for Johnson. And if so, that's a future first-round pick that can be used to address some other position. This camp will be the first true look at what Bell can be.
Both Dickerson and Jurgens participated in voluntary OTAs as well as mandatory minicamp, not just in individual drills, but also in 11-on-11s. Their mere presence throughout the spring is an encouraging step forward.
After playing through a back injury during the Eagles' Super Bowl run in 2024, Jurgens had a procedure last February to alleviate nerve pain. He missed most of training camp, and acknowledged during the regular season that he wasn't fully recovered from that procedure. It showed on the field, as Jurgens did not play to his standard, despite being voted into the Pro Bowl.
Dickerson battled through an assortment of injuries in 2025, some known, like an August meniscus injury that required "a minor procedure," and some that he kept to himself. Dickerson has only played five NFL seasons and he is still only 27 years old, but there were questions about whether he would retire this offseason, as his body has accumulated a lot of wear and tear. He took a pay cut this offseason, and a year was lopped off of his contract, which now runs through the 2027 season.
This winter, Jurgens and Dickerson each went to Colombia to get stem cell treatments. It's alarming that their bodies felt badly enough that they deemed that necessary. To be determined if it will help them play better on the field.
The first guy off the bench along the interior of the offensive line a year ago was Brett Toth, who was a key backup. Toth started four games, he played at least 30 snaps in six games, and he played at least 10 snaps in 10 games. In total, Toth played 199 snaps at LG, and 164 snaps at C. Toth is gone.
This year, Drew Kendall is expected to step into that role, and it's an important one given the concerns about Jurgens' and Dickerson's health. Kendall played exclusively at center in college, but he said that he cross-trained at guard in practice throughout the 2025 season, in addition to his primary position at center.
Earlier this offseason, we reviewed his performance in the Eagles' Week 18 game against the Commanders last season. Based upon what I watched — with the disclaimer that it was a small sample size — I liked what I saw from him.
Here are the career snaps of the backup interior offensive linemen currently on the depth chart above:
• Michael Jordan: 3537
• Drew Kendall: 89
• Micah Morris, Willie Lampkin, Jaeden Roberts, and Jake Majors: 0 each
If the Eagles feel that they need more help on the interior, they could look to trade for a vet.
Greenard battled through a shoulder injury in 2025 with the Vikings, which eventually ended his season and required surgery. He'll get a fresh start in Philly after the Eagles traded a pair of third-round picks for him while also agreeing to a new deal worth $84 million.
That's a pretty bold bet on a player who just turned 29 in May, but the Eagles obviously believe that Greenard will return to his 2023 and 2024 form, when he had a combined 24.5 sacks. He'll be going up against Mailata and Johnson all throughout camp. In the past we've seen free agent acquisitions (cough, Bryce Huff, cough) get dominated by Mailata and Johnson. The Eagles would probably like to see Greenard at least get his share of wins against those guys.
Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith will both get their share of playing time this season, but one guy will be on the field to start games, and one probably won't.
Hunt had a breakout season in 2025, as he improved as a pass rusher and put his safety background to good use, making some huge plays in coverage. Hunt was considered a project player coming out of college, but he has very quickly made an impact in the NFL, and has a chance to take another step forward in 2026. He is in line to start this season opposite Greenard.
Last year's top edge defender heading into camp was Smith, who was coming off a breakout season of his own in 2024.
However, he did not have the season that he or the Eagles were hoping for, as he missed five games after aggravating a triceps injury that he suffered in the previous year's Super Bowl. He was also on a pitch count upon his return.
Smith is an undersized edge defender and he plays a rugged brand of football. His hard-nosed style of play is what is appealing about his game, but it is also detrimental to his health and durability. During the spring, Smith looked a little bulked up. He was not made available to the media during spring camps, so we weren't able to ask about his seemingly added heft, or, you know, his arrest for being clocked at 135 MPH this offseason.
If Smith did indeed add some weight, that could theoretically help him absorb / dish out contact with less risk of injury, but could also negatively affect his impressive athleticism.
The 2026 season is an important one for Smith and his long-term standing with the team, and he has to prove himself again.
After an outstanding season in 2024, Jalen Carter had a disappointing follow-up season in 2025, with just 33 tackles, three sacks, and seven batted passes in 11 games.
Carter had shoulder issues throughout the 2025 season. He was a late Week 6 scratch in a game the Eagles' defense got bullied, by the Giants of all teams. And then later, after a game in which he played poorly and the Eagles' defense got bullied again against the Bears, he had a procedure on both shoulders. In fairness, he did block two kicks in games the Eagles might have otherwise lost.
As we noted in our Eagles dumpster fire last year, Carter led all NFL interior defensive linemen with 1,068 snaps played in 2024. Much like a heavy workload probably caught up to Saquon Barkley on the offensive side of the ball in 2025, the same thing may have happened to Carter on defense.
This offseason was the first that Carter was eligible for a contract extension, and nothing has gotten done yet. He skipped voluntary OTAs, and was present at a mandatory minicamp but did not participate in team drills.
Nick Sirianni was asked if that was injury and/or contract related, and he declined to answer.
Unlike a lot of other teams around the NFL, the Eagles have largely avoided contract drama during training camp. Carter is a "hold in" candidate. (In case you're unfamiliar what "hold in" means, a common thing players with contract beefs have done in recent years is show up to camp so they don't get fined, but they don't participate.)
The Eagles have plenty of star players on defense, but Carter is the guy who stirs the drink. We know what the defense looks like when Carter is at his best, and we saw at times last season that it's not as scary without him.
It will be very interesting to see if Carter is a full participant in camp, and how the Eagles handle the situation if not.
Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo might be the best interior defensive line trio in the NFL. But the Eagles' depth there is shaky.
Byron Young played in every Eagles game in 2025, logging 338 snaps during the regular season and 12 in the playoffs. He had previously played just 99 snaps in his first two seasons after the Raiders selected him in the third round of the 2023 draft.
Young finished the season with 37 tackles and 2.5 sacks, and he has one inexpensive season left on his contract. He's an acceptable rotational interior defensive lineman who Vic Fangio seems to like, and he still has a chance to improve. He's presently the first guy off the bench along the interior D-line.
The Eagles selected Ty Robinson with one of the first picks on Day 3 of the 2025 draft. If you watched Robinson's college highlight reel, you saw a quick, agile bully with a great motor.
Unfortunately, as we showed in a film breakdown of Robinson this offseason, he looked nothing like that guy as a rookie. Sometimes rookies are thinking too much, and not just playing. Maybe that's what happened with Robinson his rookie season? Sometimes when guys go long stretches without playing in real games they're out of rhythm. Maybe that played a part? Whatever the case, he looked tentative, unconfident, and overmatched.
It's not uncommon for interior defensive linemen to take a few years to get their NFL "sea legs." But as an older prospect coming out of college, there was hope that Robinson's transition to the NFL would be a little easier. It didn't play out that way, and Robinson should be expected to show drastic improvement in camp this year.
Late in the seventh round of the 2026 draft, the Eagles took a flier on Bernard, an absolutely jacked prospect from a small village in Nigeria with similar physical measurables to Myles Garrett. Of course, Bernard has never played football. If you're reading this, you all know that story already, so we won't rehash it all here.
However, during minicamp in June, I had a chance to watch Bernard closely, working against the third-string offensive line. He got handled with ease, which is perhaps to be expected. However, I thought that what he might show right off the bat because of his pure athletic measurables was an explosive first step off the ball at the snap. But that's just not there yet.
It's going to be a long process for Bernard, and my expectation is that he will have a rough camp. It doesn't matter if he's 6'4, 306 and chiseled. He is going to get bounced around because the guys he's going up against have some level of learned technique, and he is starting from scratch. I remember years ago when Jordan Mailata got dominated every day by Joe Ostman. Remember him? And Mailata at least had impressive highlights playing a football-adjacent sport. Bernard doesn't.
However, it'll be fun to watch if Bernard can have some occasional moments where he looks like a football player who can make some plays in the future.
Ditto that for Joshua Weru, an undrafted rookie edge defender this Eagles signed this offseason who is in a similar situation as Bernard.
This time last offseason, it was expected that Jihaad Campbell wouldn't be ready to participate in training camp at least until sometime in August, per Fangio. However, on the first day of camp, Campbell was pretty much a full participant, significantly beating his recovery timeline. Campbell looked the part immediately, with his impressive size and athleticism, and throughout camp it became clear that he was going to start Week 1.
In the Eagles' first seven games, Campbell had 43 tackles, an INT, a forced fumble, and a couple of pass breakups. But when Nakobe Dean returned to the field from his patellar tendon tear, Campbell was demoted to make room for him.
Campbell did get to play on the edge a bit as well, but was mostly ineffective there. He has a ways to go as a pass rusher, if the Eagles intend on using him in some sort of edge/LB hybrid role going forward. Spoiler: They will allow him to focus fully on being an off-ball linebacker this offseason, since he'll be an unquestioned starter there this year.
If he had started the whole season as a rookie, Campbell likely would have accumulated stats that would have competed with some of the other rookie finalists for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. But beyond his play on the field, I was impressed by his maturity after he lost his starting job. He didn't complain, and he was prepared to play again when Dean got hurt later in the season.
Campbell missed the entire spring after he had another procedure on his shoulder, but he is expected to be ready for the start of training camp. The test for Campbell this year will be whether he can master the subtleties of Fangio's defense from a mental perspective.
Oh, and he also changed his jersey number from 30 to 11, a major upgrade. 📈
The Eagles probably have the best trio of starting cornerbacks in the NFL in Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Riq Woolen.
Mitchell and DeJean both earned All-Pro honors in 2025. Woolen was a Pro Bowl corner as a fifth-round rookie back in 2022, and his performance during the spring received rave reviews.
Mitchell and DeJean will be eligible for contract extensions next offseason, and Woolen is scheduled to be a free agent. They should all be hungry.
DeJean will split time between cornerback and safety this year, after Vic Fangio announced in May that DeJean would be playing safety in the base defense. He'll continue to play in the slot in nickel, which is the Eagles' most common defensive look, by far.
Fangio recently appeared on DeJean's and Reed Blankenship's podcast, and said to DeJean, "Your days at corner hopefully are over." Some took that to mean that DeJean was moving to safety full-time. To clarify, in Fangio vernacular, "corner" = "outside corner." "Nickel" = "slot corner." So Fangio was really saying that his days at outside corner were hopefully over. He'll still spend most of his time in the slot.
Still, although DeJean has practiced at times at safety in the past, we'll get an extended look at him there this summer.
Safety is easily the worst starting positional group on the team. Whatever position is next is a distant second. And so, there are some who believe the Eagles should trade for a safety.
The top safety heading into this season is Mukuba, a second-year player who was a second-round pick a year ago. During his rookie season, Mukuba compiled 46 tackles, two INTs, and three pass breakups. His biggest play of the season came in Week 2, when he picked off a Patrick Mahomes pass intended for Travis Kelce deep in Eagles territory, and returned it 41 yards. That was also easily the biggest play in that game.
Mukuba was up and down in the games he played, but was beginning to earn Vic Fangio's trust before he suffered a broken fibula Week 12 in Dallas. That ended his season.
Mukuba should be a better player in 2026. We'll see. But the bigger concern is his durability, since, you know, he had shoulder, hamstring, and fibula injuries last season. Mukuba measured in at 5'11, 186 at the 2025 NFL Combine, and his ability to stay on the field was a potential knock on scouting reports. Well, we saw that his rookie season.
The idea of trading for a safety isn't just because the starting spot opposite Mukuba is in question. It's also because relying on Mukuba to play 17 games is a dicey proposition.
DeJean will play safety in the semi-rare occasions the Eagles are in their base defense. They'll have to figure out who will start there in sub-packages.
Marcus Epps is a solid, smart safety who knows where he should be on the field and he seems to have Fangio's trust. There's a sentiment that Epps is "fine" as a starting safety, and to some degree, I agree. He can be a competent starter. But "fine" is also probably his ceiling, and he has not proven to have takeaways skills over his seven-year career. He has three career INTs and two career forced fumbles.
He also only has 18 career pass breakups, and none in 2025. By comparison, the departed Reed Blankenship had 11 in one season in 2023. C.J. Gardner-Johnson had 12 in 2024. Epps simply doesn't get his hands on many footballs. He is a comfortable target for opposing quarterbacks because they know the downside is low.
In my opinion, a safety with some legitimate ball skills could absolutely eat playing behind Mitchell, DeJean, and Woolen, and I'm not so sure Epps can capitalize in the same way. Maybe he can make some plays in camp?
And then there's Michael Carter, who is primarily a slot corner, but played some safety for the Eagles last season. In my opinion, Carter could start in the slot for a decent number of teams. He will be a versatile backup for the Eagles, with a chance to beat out Epps for a starting safety job.
After a near-automatic season in 2023, Elliott signed a four-year contract extension worth $24 million, making him one of the highest-paid kickers in football.
But that season, concerns started creeping up, as Elliott dropped to a 77.8 field goal percentage and struggled especially on kicks from 50-plus yards out (he was 1-for-7 on them during the regular season). The Eagles winning the Super Bowl heavily masked that, but 2025 left nowhere to hide. Elliott's field-goal percentage dropped further to 74.1, going 4-for-8 on kicks from 50-plus yards and 7-for-10 on attempts from 40-49 yards.
In several games late in the season – all losses to Dallas, Chicago, the L.A. Chargers, and then in the playoffs to the 49ers – Elliott missed kicks that ended up being crucial points left off the board for the Eagles.
This offseason, the Eagles restructured Elliott's contract, reducing his base pay from $6 million down to $5 million, but guaranteeing all of it for 2026. They probably should have just gotten a new kicker, but are letting past achievements cloud what he is as a player currently.
We'll be charting Elliott's kicks in camp. If he is not playing well, the Eagles may have to bring in a kicker to compete with him.
Submitted without commentary:
Again, submitted without commentary
What really matters more than anything, as always, is just making it to the season without losing an important player. The Eagles have traditionally valued regular season health over having hard camps, and I can't imagine that'll be any different this summer.
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