Eagles training camp observations: Getting more answers at position battles

Here are some Eagles training camp observations from Day 16 at the NovaCare Complex.

By Dave Zangaro • Published August 18, 2025

Training camp is almost over.

The Eagles were back on the practice field Monday morning for a session that lasted 1 hour and 43 minutes on an overcast day with some rain.

With just two more practices before the final preseason game and then cuts, the Eagles have some questions to answer. And in today’s practice with shorts and shells we started to get some of those answers.

Let’s get to the observations:

1. As always, we start with some housekeeping:

• The injury report:

Did not practice: A.J. Brown (hamstring), Landon Dickerson (knee), Brandon Johnson (groin), Lewis Cine (groin), Tariq Castro-Fields (hamstring)

Limited: Lane Johnson (rest), Kenyon Green (shoulder), A.J. Woods (illness)

• There’s over two weeks before the Eagles’ regular season opener against the Cowboys on Sept. 4 and Brown missed practice again. The goal is just to get No. 11 to that opener healthy.

• While Landon Dickerson is still out after having meniscus surgery, he was a spectator at Monday’s practice. He wore a black compression sleeve on his right leg.

• CB Brandon Johnson (groin) got hurt in the game. That’s a shame because he has played well most of this training camp and had been running as the second-team nickel.

• New Eagles receiver John Metchie III was not at practice yet. That trade wasn’t official as of Monday morning.

2. Some depth chart notes:

• This was a big day for Andrew Mukuba, who took most of the first-team reps at safety. The rookie second-round pick had an impressive performance in the preseason game on Saturday so it’s even more notable that he all of the first-team work next to Reed Blankenship. Sydney Brown mostly worked with the second team. We’ll see what happens the rest of the week but it seems very possible that Mukuba has simply passed Brown on the depth chart.

At one point, Mukuba collided with a referee on the field and both went down. But they were OK; they each flashed a thumbs up before the next play.

• Cooper DeJean got some reps at outside cornerback in the Eagles’ base package on Monday for the first time all summer. He did get some work there in the spring. It’s important to note that DeJean bumped inside on nickel downs. The Eagles will likely be in their base package around 15-20% of their plays. Fangio has previously said that DeJean’s role in base is not just about his ability but about putting the best four DBs on the field.

• Zack Baun (back) was removed from the injury report completely and got work in team drills for the first time since July. He began the day next to Jeremiah Trotter Jr. but we also saw Jihaad Campbell next to Baun. And then we saw Campbell and Trotter on the field together too. More on Campbell’s day in a moment.

• Adoree’ Jackson was the first cornerback up in today’s team drills opposite Quinyon Mitchell in the nickel package. Kelee Ringo was actually on the field but then Jackson ran out there and replaced him before the first rep; perhaps a miscommunication of how reps were being handled today. Interestingly, Mac McWilliams was the next guy up to rotate with the first-team defense.

Before practice, Vic Fangio said McWilliams is in the mix and added that all of those corners are close. That group includes Jackson, McWilliams, Kelee Ringo and Jakorian Bennett. 

• Brett Toth began the day with the first-team OL at left guard but Darian Kinnard worked in with the ones. Keep an eye on that position with Dickerson still recovering from injury. With Lane Johnson getting a rest day, Matt Pryor worked at right tackle with the ones.

• Second-team OL (L-R): Myles Hinton, Trevor Keegan, Drew Kendall, Kinnard, Kendall Lamm.

3. Jihaad Campbell continues to splash. While Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was up first on Monday and while the second-year LB from Clemson has had a nice summer, there’s momentum behind Campbell. And the first-round pick made some more big plays on Monday.

On one of them, Campbell had tight coverage on Dallas Goedert in the middle of the field and was able to break up a pass from Jalen Hurts. Campbell also got into the backfield to deflect a pass. And Campbell also showed his closing speed to get to Saquon Barkley on a swing pass to the right of the field.

4. There were some very chippy moments in this practice between two of the Eagles’ best players. Jalen Carter was heated after Cam Jurgens sent him to the ground on a rep. Carter got up and started off in Jurgens’ direction before his teammates pulled him back to the huddle. On the very next play, Carter hit Jurgens on the left side of the helmet with a powerful right-handed club. And then as Jurgens set up for the next play, Carter kicked the ball away. The sequence ended on a play where Brett Toth leveled Carter and sent him to the ground. Nothing came of it.

Give credit to Jurgens for showing discipline and not fighting when Carter hit him with the club and give credit to Carter for not fighting Toth when he sent him to the ground.

Training camp fights can be fun for onlookers but Nick Sirianni hates them. Some coaches like to see that fire but Sirianni wants his players to be under control and disciplined. His view is that players are out there to practice, not fight.

5. It was a sharp day for Jalen Hurts, who was on time and made some impressive throws in rhythm. This was one of Hurts’ sharpest days in a while. He shined in the red zone with passes to Kylen Granson and DeVonta Smith.

He also had two great throws back-to-back early in practice. The first was to Darius Cooper, who found a soft spot in zone coverage; it was a perfect pass between Quinyon Mitchell and Reed Blankenship. And the other was a laser to Dallas Goedert, who had Jeremiah Trotter Jr. all over him.

6. Darius Cooper just continues to make plays. That play to beat zone coverage came with the first-team offense and went for a gain up the right sideline of about 20-25 yards. Later in practice, with the second team, Cooper made back-to-back catches from Tanner McKee. The first one was a quick in-breaking route. The more impressive one was the next route against Kelee Ringo. Cooper dusted Ringo with a comeback route.

7. Another solid day from DeVonta Smith. He caught a few passes in rhythm and was able to beat Cooper DeJean in the end zone late in practice. Smith showed strong hands at the catch point.

8. Jahan Dotson looks comfortable in this offense with a full training camp. He had one of his better practices of the summer. It’s clear that Dotson and Hurts have forged a strong rapport. It doesn’t mean that Dotson is suddenly going to catch 75 passes this year, but expect him to be a slightly bigger part of the offense.

9. There was a rough stretch in this session for E.J. Jenkins, who is fighting for the third tight end position. Jenkins dropped a pass up the seam from Tanner McKee as Tristin McCollum charged downhill at him — bit of a hospital ball but you’d like to see Jenkins make that grab. The next two passes were also targets for Jenkins and he couldn’t pull them in. Neither of them were considered drops but both balls did hit Jenkins’ outstretched hand and if he pulled in one of them, it would have gone a long way.

10. Some odds and ends:

• Credit Jalen Carter and Moro Ojomo with a TFL each in this practice. They are both disruptive pass rushers but show the ability to stuff the run when they get in the backfield on run plays.

• Tight end Nick Muse came alive in the developmental portion late in practice. He had a diving catch on the left side of the field and caught all four targets that went his way. Nice passes from Kyle McCord.

• Elijah Cooks made a catch in the developmental period. Cooks was having a tremendous training camp before injuring his shoulder in the first preseason game. For a while, it was Cooks and not Darius Cooper who was impressing most. A good reminder that training camp is a marathon and not a sprint.

• A.J. Dillon had a hard-nosed run to bowl over some defenders during team drills.

• Will Shipley had an active day catching the ball out of the backfield.

• The Eagles used volleyballs during special teams drills to work on batting the ball down to pin teams deep.

Stupid Observation of the Day: The Eagles flipped their field layout after the joint practices with the Browns. Instead of 3 vertical fields, the Eagles had one vertical field and two horizontal. So it went from this: III … to this: I =

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/eagles-training-camp-observations-depth-chart-position-battles-day-16/679751/