August 25, 2026
The Philadelphia Eagles stepped out onto the field and under the lights of Lincoln Financial Field, like they do every summer, to a roaring crowd waiting to get any kind of glimpse of them ahead of another season full of some high hopes.
Tuesday night was the annual open camp practice at the Linc.
Here's a rundown of who stood out, for better and worse...
• CB Quinyon Mitchell: At 4th and goal distance, Jalen Hurts was scanning in the pocket and looking for an option, when he turned and tried to jam a pass through to rookie receiver Makai Lemon on a slant in toward the goal line. Mitchell, though, had the read and the quickness to close in and break up the play right away, which ended the first-team offense's first turn with the ball.
Later on at midfield, Hurts tried to dial up a deep, Dagger-like pass to the end zone for DeVonta Smith, and Smith looked like he had the step ahead, but as the ball fell into Smith's grasp, Mitchell looked like he caught up just enough to cause a bobble and a drop.
Hurts went for another end-zone bomb, this time down the left sideline for Dontayvion Wicks, but Mitchell stayed glued to him on a ball that sailed well out of reach anyway, though would've had to been contested even if it was on the mark.
Mitchell is an island at this point, and Philadelphia is already well aware of that. But entering Year 3, the already All-Pro corner might be set to hit another level, which could very well rob half the field from a lot of quarterbacks across the league.
• CB Riq Woolen: As Hurts tried to force another throw to Lemon across the middle of the field, Woolen jumped in front and picked it, sprinting to the opposite end zone and then tossing the ball into an amped up crowd. The ball would come back Woolen's way soon after, and he wasn't so fortunate the next time, but he is being looked toward to solidify the Eagles' secondary, and a big play in front of the home crowd ahead of the season can do a lot for reassurance of that.
Doubly so when you do it again, as Woolen jumped in front of another Hurts pass intended for Smith in the right flat to house it for a pick-six, launching the ball into the crowd again.
• WR DeVonta Smith: The first-team offense wasn't looking particularly great as practice pressed on, which even applied to Smith with a couple of strange drops for him, but then he cut across the field and Hurts fired. Woolen, on the star receiver in coverage, threw his hands up for the ball, but Smith plucked it out of the air and took off into the open field to set the offense right around the red zone. That play finally got the first-team offense to find a bit of a flow – at least for a little bit.
A play call that left Hollywood Brown wide open for a touchdown followed. All Hurts had to do was loft it to him.
• DE Jaylx Hunt: Lane Johnson had to exit practice early on after appearing to tweak something, but stayed on the sideline to watch. Fred Johnson took over at right tackle, and well...Hunt made him look like a turnstile. Hunt was generating constant pressure and finding his way into the backfield often.
Hunt has looked great through camp in general, and looks poised for a major breakout as an edge rusher this season. Turns out when you're not opposite an all-time offensive tackle, too, your job pass rushing gets way easier. So it seems important to note here as the season approaches: No other team in the NFL has a Lane Johnson.
• Philadelphia: I'm more than four years in now, and with every year the Eagles have had their open practice, fans have never failed to fill out the Linc well into the upper-level – for a practice.
Obviously, there's a lot that factors into the open practice's popularity – mainly, that it's the most, if only, affordable means to see the Eagles up close for a lot of people. But even so, not every city can boast that they can pack the house like this in August.
There's no other place in the world like Philadelphia.
• RT Fred Johnson: Again, Lane Johnson left practice early, and Markel Bell, his heir apparent, didn't practice at all, but had a great preseason performance against New England on Saturday working in his favor. So Fred Johnson was the fill-in at right tackle, and as mentioned above, yeah, he really didn't have a great time doing it.
• QB Jalen Hurts: Understanding you can't say this lightly, knowing that it's only going to further spark the weird debate around Hurts that has carried on for years now, yeah, it was a choppy practice for him.
He had some quickly collapsing pockets, but also, some of his throws were just plain off the mark or sent into no-man's land on miscommunications.
Hurts found a bit of a groove once the first-team was several sets in, but he's definitely had much better open practice showings in years past.
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