September 04, 2026
The Philadelphia Eagles' 2026 training camp and preseason is in the books. And now, we wait for the start of the Eagles' first regular season game, which is only nine days away. But before we move on, let's hand out 10 awards.
The Eagles' offensive line is heading into this season healthier than it was last season. Lane Johnson is good to go, Cam Jurgens' back seems fine, and a bunch of depth guys showed during training camp that they're ready to contribute, if needed. I feel good about the line heading into this season. They could be a top three type of line again.
I also feel good about DeVonta Smith. He is built mentally to be an alpha receiver, and he has the physical skills to pull it off.
The rest? Ehhhhhh, we'll see.
• Can the rest of the Eagles receivers at least keep opposing defenses from giving Smith excessive extra attention?
• Are the tight ends good enough?
• Will the run game flourish in an entirely new scheme?
• Will the timing of the passing offense and intricacies of the play action game gel quickly? Or will that be a season-long struggle?
• And finally, will Jalen Hurts bounce back from a shaky season in 2025?
I don't know. All of the above can go either way. We'll see!
The Eagles' defense was great in 2025 and there's good reason to believe they'll be even better in 2026.
• Jalen Carter is healthy, and in great shape. He looked at times in camp like he did prior to his dominant season in 2024. He is primed for a bounce-back season after his disappointing season in 2025. Nolan Smith also had a strong finish to camp, and could be trending toward looking more like the player he was in the back half of 2024 than what he was in 2025.
• Going from Adoree' Jackson to Riq Woolen is a major upgrade.
• Jihaad Campbell and Andrew Mukuba should be more comfortable after their rookie season in Vic Fangio's defense. Ideally, they can think less and play faster this season.
• Guys like Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo already had breakout seasons in 2025. They both had great camps and could bring their games to a new level in 2026.
• Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean are already First-Team All-Pros. They've already reached their ceilings, right? I'm not so sure. What if they start picking off more passes?
• Jordan Davis and Zack Baun have grown into team leaders.
• Their depth is (mostly) good.
And then just generally, it takes some time for players to really know what they're doing in Fangio's defense, and continuity matters. Well, there are no newcomers this year, aside from Woolen and Jonathan Greenard, whenever he returns, which should be soon since he didn't start the season on the PUP list. Everyone should be on the same page.
Even if the offense isn't pulling its weight, this Eagles team has a high floor because the defense is going to be awesome.
A.J. Brown is arguably the greatest receiver in Eagles history, despite only playing in Philadelphia for four seasons. During his tenure, the Eagles went to the playoffs every year, they played in two Super Bowls, and won one. You already know all of that.
For some fans, Brown remains a hero. Nobody is here to gatekeep your fandom, if that's your position. By all means, celebrate him to your heart's content.
I view him as a villain who put personal achievements ahead of the collective. He moped through a down 2025 season on the field, and through coded language he bitched about his role off of it, to the point where teammates got sick of him and have given almost no indication that they lament his absence.
Of course, during training camp, the Eagles had joint practices with the Patriots, and Brown played with more heart and effort against his former team than he did at any point in real games during the 2025 season. He gave Hurts and other teammates a forced quick hello on his way inside the building following the conclusion of practices.
Brown is a little different from other former star Eagles players who wanted out of Philly, like Carson Wentz and Terrell Owens, in that he played in a Super Bowl win with the team. But he would be every bit the villain that they are if he hadn't.
What Brown does with the Patriots this season is kind of meaningless to the Eagles, who traded him to the Pats for a first-round pick in 2028. But the Eagles will certainly be rooting for Brown and the Patriots to fail next season, since that 2028 pick will increase in value if the 2027 Patriots are bad. He's a logical enemy in that respect, but it's also fair for hardcore Eagles fans to be miffed that he didn't match their passion to win in Philly.
Practices and games missed, by rookie draft pick:
• Makai Lemon: 8 practices, 2 games
• Eli Stowers: 3 practices, 1 game
• Markel Bell: 3 practices, 1 game
• Cole Payton: Perfect attendance
• Micah Morris: 2 practices
• Cole Wisniewski: 12 practices, 2 games
• Uar Bernard: Perfect attendance
• Keyshawn James-Newby: 8 practices, 2 games
Wisniewski, Bernard, and James-Newby didn't make the initial 53-man roster. Payton only got 21 (!) snaps in the preseason games. Lemon missed the meaty part of camp, and Stowers showed that he is not yet ready to play in real games.
There's a long way to go, but if we're being honest, only Bell and Morris either met or exceeded short-term expectations.
Who kidnapped Howie Roseman?
Since he reassumed his GM duties in 2016, Roseman has made 24 (!) trades during training camp, including five during 2025 training camp. This year? None.
"I think from our perspective, we had a lot of conversations with every team," Roseman said. "Almost every team. There's a couple, maybe not so much. But I think that when we were talking to these other teams, the players they were interested in, felt like we were going to hold on to. The players maybe we were interested in, maybe they felt the same way.
"With the way that practices went and the games went, there wasn't an opportunity to do some of the player for player trades. We like to get looks at guys just because of where our numbers were. I think you guys know me well enough to know that I like the action and was trying, but it just didn't make sense for us at the time. We would've just been doing it to make a move."
I'm tryin' to put my kid through college, Howie. Please make trades, thanks.
Also, Howie's "almost every team" comment got me thinking. Who won't deal with Howie? Because Howie will deal with anyone. The Cowboys deal with Howie. So do the Commanders. The only team I can think of is the Giants.
Eagles cutdowns this season will be remembered for the quarterbacks mostly playing like trash during the preseason games (Hurts didn't play at all), and then the team keeping all four of them anyway. Roseman will continue to try to trade either Dalton or McKee, but they already damaged McKee's value and I'm not sure why anyone would give up anything at all for Dalton after the way he played this summer.
It'll be interesting to see if Roseman can find some dummy to trade for Dalton, and if not how long he'll be willing to waste a roster spot on a fourth quarterback.
Hey remember when the Eagles posted a video of Jalen Hurts throwing an INT to Quinyon Mitchell?
When Hurts lets this pass go, the speed of the video transitions into slow motion. It's a perfect spiral, and I think most viewers are expecting a completion. But then.. SIKE! It's an INT by Mitchell lol.
So, OK, it was maybe a little ill-advised to show that video the way they did. But ultimately, who cares? The aftermath of it was hilarious (for me) to watch, as there was heavy, often ridiculous criticism leveled at the Eagles, with some even suggesting that it was a conspiracy by the team to purposely make Hurts look bad.
And then as all news cycles seem to do these days, it just went away.
So, I dunno, it was a weird training camp moment, and I'm just putting it here for posterity.
During the 2014 preseason, undrafted rookie free agent Henry Josey carried the ball 34 times for 225 yards (6.2 YPC), and added a 27-yard receiving TD. He hadn't done much in practice, though, and was always a long shot to make the roster. When the Eagles waived him at 53-man cutdowns, fans were pissed.
This year's Henry Josey was Carson Steele, who was a bright spot in an otherwise bad, boring Eagles preseason. Steele had 14 receptions for 136 yards, 2 TDs, and a couple of hurdles, one of which is below:
Like with Josey, a number of fans weren't happy that Steele didn't make the Eagles' 53-man roster, though they were able to bring him back to the practice squad.
If you aren't familiar with the "Na Brown Award" from the old IgglesBlog days, it is the title awarded to the Eagles player who comes out of almost nowhere to cause a big stir at camp and raises his expectations unreasonably high in the process. Back in the early Donovan McNabb days, Na Brown was a camp stud who got a lot of hype but ultimately failed to live up to his heightened expectations. Other examples might include guys like Hank Baskett, Lorenzo Booker, Marcus Johnson, Kamu Grugier-Hill, John Hightower, etc.
Last year, the clear "Na Brown Award" winner was Darius Cooper, an undrafted rookie free agent from Tarleton State, who had a great camp, and unexpectedly made the team.
This year, I'm almost kind of tempted to say it could be Cooper again, since he entered the offseason as kind of an afterthought, but once again had a great camp and earned his way onto the roster.
By my count, there have been 26 teams that went winless/tieless in the preseason since it was reduced to three games in 2021. Half of those teams made the playoffs, two went to the Super Bowl, and one (2021 Rams) won it all.
Conversely, by my count there have also been 26 teams that went undefeated (no ties) in the preseason during that same timeframe. Only eight teams made the playoffs, none played the Super Bowl. The winless 2017 Browns and 2008 Lions also both infamously went 4-0 in the preseason.
Aside from Jihaad Campbell's 14 snaps in the first preseason game against the Ravens and Makai Lemon's 17 snaps against the Bengals, projected Eagles starters played a grand total of 0 preseason snaps. They prioritize being healthy for the regular season, and so far during the Nick Sirianni era the lack of preseason "success" hasn't mattered, as the Eagles have won five straight season openers.
Would it have been more entertaining and a smidge more reassuring if the Eagles' backups had played well? Sure. But ultimately, preseason record doesn't really matter at all.
We'll see what it all looks like September 13th.
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