August 19, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Quinyon Mitchell #27 of the Philadelphia Eagles takes the field during training camp at the Jefferson Health Training Complex on August 4, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The two most important days of Philadelphia Eagles training camp are Wednesday and Thursday, when the Birds will be practicing with the New England Patriots. The Eagles do not play starters during the preseason games, largely because they find the joint practice sessions to be more useful. Here are the six Eagles players I'll be watching closely.
1) QB Jalen Hurts: We've seen Hurts battle it out against Vic Fangio and the Eagles' stellar defense all summer, but this will be an opportunity to run Sean Mannion's offense against a different look, and another good defense. The Eagles' second- and third-string units looked like crap in the first preseason game against the Ravens last Saturday. That performance was rightfully dismissed, for the most part. But certainly it will be alarming if the starters look anything like what we saw in Baltimore.
2) WR Dontayvion Wicks: DeVonta Smith has missed most of camp with a hamstring injury, but there should be little worry that he'll produce when the regular season rolls around. The bigger concern is the supporting cast at wide receiver. Wicks is pretty clearly the Eagles' WR2 at the moment, and isn't likely to appear in any preseason games. In Green Bay he was never really higher than fourth on their wide receiver totem pole. Is he ready for this elevated role? If he's a no-show in New England, the Eagles might have to consider trading for a receiver.
3) iDL Jalen Carter: In past Eagles-Browns joint practices, I've seen Myles Garrett go out and just completely wreck practices, so much so that he almost kind of had to leave so the other guys on the field could get their work in. Carter showed up to Eagles camp in outstanding shape and he looks like he is primed for a big season. Can he mess up practice in some fraction of the way that we've seen Garrett do it?
4 and 5) LB Jihaad Campbell and S Andrew Mukuba: The Eagles' defense is absolutely stacked heading into 2026. They have the best interior defensive line trio in the NFL in Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo; a good set of edge defenders in Jalyx Hunt, Jonathan Greenard, and Nolan Smith; a couple of All-Pros in the secondary in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean; and a linebacker in Zack Baun who has (meritoriously) been to two straight Pro Bowls. They're loaded. Campbell and Mukuba showed promise as rookies. If they can make second-year leaps the Eagles' defense will be that much better. I'm curious to see if they'll stand out in Foxboro.
6) CB Quinyon Mitchell: Does Mitchell need to have a strong performance in these practices to prove he's ready for the regular season? Not at all. But, he'll be seeing a lot of A.J. Brown over the next two days, and, well, in case you missed it Brown didn't want to be an Eagle anymore so the team traded him to New England. There's some entertainment factor here. Of course, we've seen Mitchell cover Brown plenty over the last two summers. Last summer he kinda shut Brown down. Certainly, Brown is going to be treating these practices like they're the Super Bowl, so it'll be a good challenge for Mitchell.
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