August 10, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Darius Cooper has had a very good training camp for the Eagles so far this summer, but is he ready for a starting role?
The Philadelphia Eagles are eight practices into training camp, and while there's still plenty of time for players to play their way into important roles — or out of them — let's examine which positions Howie Roseman and the front office could still address. In order of most to least urgent:
Makai Lemon is small. He's 5'11, 192, 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. He does not possess impressive physical measurables.
But, in college he showed that he has more than his share of positive traits and intangibles. To begin, Lemon catches everything. He had an outstanding 2.8% drop rate in college, and he has the ability to win contested catches despite his smaller size. He is also a good receiver against all kinds of coverages, averaging a lofty 3+ yards per route run against both man and zone. You don't do that at Lemon's size and speed unless you know how to run routes. And despite a lack of blazing speed, Lemon gets a lot of yards after the catch, whether it's in chunks or just squeezing out an extra yard or two when other receivers might otherwise concede the tackle.
But what likely really appealed to the Eagles' coaching staff is that he is considered a fierce competitor. He is also a willing and able blocker, which is important in the type of offense Sean Mannion is installing.
The Eagles did not select Lemon to be a developmental player over time. He profiles more as an immediate contributor, and in my view the Eagles were hoping he would start right away.
Well, Lemon missed half the spring and so far half of training camp, and on the days he did practice he didn't do a whole lot. It's fair at this point to doubt that he will start, at least early in the season.
Dontayvion Wicks and Darius Cooper have had good camps so far, but let's be honest. If a month ago those guys were projected to be the WR2 and WR3 everyone would be saying that the Eagles need to trade for a receiver.
In a weird way, I think the Eagles have a lot of playable receivers. Hell, they could even trade one away because they can't all make the team. But Wicks has never really been better than his team's WR4. Cooper has only played 212 career snaps and he has single-digit receptions. My concern would be at those WR2 and WR3 spots.
When Eagles training camp began, safety was very obviously the shakiest positional group on the roster. I believe that it is less of a concern than it was when camp opened roughly two weeks ago.
• Andrew Mukuba is better than he was this time last year, and so far he has remained healthy. His stock is up.
• In base, Cooper DeJean will play safety. And really, if Mukuba and DeJean were just the full-time safeties, we might be talking about the Eagles potentially having one of the top safety pairings in the NFL (with DeJean doing the heavy lifting there).
• In nickel, DeJean moves to the slot, and Marcus Epps has been the player getting the vast majority of first-team reps. Epps seems to have Vic Fangio's trust, and he's an established vet who knows where he needs to be. My knock on him is that he just isn't much of a threat to create turnovers.
• Michael Carter is also in the mix. He plays slot corner, safety, and he's the fourth DB in the Eagles' dime looks. Fangio has praised Carter for his play in camp so far.
As noted in a recent practice notes post, if I were Howie Roseman I'd be tempted to get greedy and add a playmaking safety who can capitalize on the pressure the defensive line is going to get this season. But I think that's less likely after the encouraging way camp has gone so far on the back end.
The only long snapper on the Eagles' roster is undrafted rookie Rocco Underwood, who appeared in 50 games in college for the Florida Gators. He was the long snapper for Trey Smack, the lone drafted kicker in the 2026 draft. Smack finished his career 53 of 64 (82.8%) on field goals and 100 of 101 (99%) on PATs.
Underwood's upside is that he's a great athlete who gets down the field quickly and in on tackles in punt coverage. Fumble recoveries here and here; big hit here. The downside is that he air-mailed a couple snaps during his college career, as noted in Bob McGinn's draft primer (h/t BLG):
Said one coach: “He’s the best-looking athlete but probably the least accurate. He’s had a couple of unplayable snaps, and in some critical spots. An unplayable field-goal snap this year and an unplayable punt snap over the guy’s head the year before. NFL snappers just don’t have that. You don’t ever see that. But it happened to him a couple times and that really, really bothers me.”
So far in camp, I've seen him fire off some high snaps to Braden Mann, and his field goal snaps require the holder to spin the ball so the laces are out, whereas most NFL long snappers these days are so precise that they can put a perfect amount of spin on the ball so that when the holder puts it down the laces are already pointing out.
If Underwood pans out, the benefit is that he would be making very little money for at least the next three seasons. They certainly want him to pan out. But that's also a position where you need perfection, and the Eagles could look to bring in a more established vet.
• Interior offensive line depth: I really like what I have seen so far from Drew Kendall and Willie Lampkin. Also, although sixth-round rookie Micah Morris has missed some time with an injury, he has shown some promise as well.
• Interior defensive line depth: Byron Young has had a good camp so far.
• Kicker: Jake Elliott is 19 of 20 so far on his camp kicks. We'll see if he can have a bounce-back season in 2026, but he's been accurate. The Eagles are not going to bring in competition for him.
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