25 Eagles training camp questions, answered

Each year before the start of training camp, I publish a list of 25 things to watch. Now that camp is over (or at least the parts that the media is allowed to watch), let’s republish the list of 25 things I was looking for, and I’ll provide updates on each.

1) After taking home Super Bowl MVP hardware, Jalen Hurts won’t be facing the same pressure he did a year ago when he was coming off an end-season collapse and his leadership qualities were being called into question. Still, eyes are always on the QB1, and Hurts will continue to work toward improving the flaws in his game as he has consistently done over his still-young career. Hurts had a great spring, at least in the media-attended practices, when he got the ball out quickly, and rarely had any balls hit the ground.

UPDATE: Hurts had some really good practices, but there were also some days — particularly in joint practices against the Browns — when the offense looked sluggish. He went through most of the summer without his favorite target, A.J. Brown, and he was competing all summer against an outstanding defense, so that was part of equation when the offense didn’t always look crisp. I do think he has come such a long way from what he was as a passer three to four years ago.

2) The Eagles have had a veteran originally brought in from outside the organization to be the QB2 in each of the four seasons Hurts has been the starter.

1. 2024: Kenny Pickett
2. 2023: Marcus Mariota
3. 2022: Gardner Minshew
4. 2021: Joe Flacco (and then Minshew)

This year the setup is a little different, in that a home-grown drafted quarterback in Tanner McKee is being promoted from QB3 to QB2 after developing behind the scenes the last couple seasons. McKee has played well in camp, in preseason games, and he was excellent in real game action at the end of the 2024 regular season.

As we have seen repeatedly over the years with this Eagles team, the QB2 can be kind of a big deal. McKee will continue to prepare like a pro just as he has the first two-plus years of his career, but it would be nice to see him also continue to develop.

UPDATE: McKee had the best camp of his career, and he looked great in his lone preseason performance. He is going to get a shot as a starter in the NFL at some point, in my opinion, and he’ll be a fascinating player to debate next offseason from a trade perspective. He does have an injured finger currently, which is worth monitoring.

3) Saquon Barkley got nearly 500 touches last season, so, spoiler, he’s going to get plenty of rest during summer. That means we’re likely to see a lot of Will Shipley, who is poised to take over Kenny Gainwell’s role as the RB2 / two-minute offense back. The Eagles are high on Shipley, but he still has something to prove this summer. Shipley has speed and receiving chops, but it will be interesting to get a look at him in pass protection.

UPDATE: Somewhat surprisingly, we saw a lot of Barkley this summer, who often did impressive Barkley-like things. Shipley caught the ball well, looked explosive at times in practice, and continues to improve in pass pro. 

4) The most interesting receiver to watch in camp this summer will be Jahan Dotson, who the team acquired as camp was wrapping up last year. He had to get ready for the 2024 season with a new team in haste, and was mostly invisible during the regular season. Dotson did eventually make a few big plays in the playoffs, and it will be interesting to see if Hurts goes out of his way to build rapport with his WR3.

It’s worth noting that when A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith both play in games, the Eagles are 41-10. When either Brown or Smith is out, they’re 4-4. If Brown or Smith go down at some point this season — as they both did last season — Dotson is going to have to step up and take on a bigger role in the offense. Getting him more involved in the offense this summer will make that transition easier, if needed.

UPDATE: Dotson had a quiet start to camp, but with Brown missing most of the summer with a hamstring injury and DeVonta missing time as well, Dotson became more involved and had a great close to camp. He was catching passes in bulk, and seems to have earned Hurts’ trust.

The passing offense is always going to go through Brown, Smith, and to a lesser degree, Dallas Goedert, but Dotson should make a significantly bigger impact in 2025 than he did in 2024.

5) Dallas Goedert will be the TE1 and Grant Calcaterra will be the TE2. Thereafter there are a slew of guys competing to make the roster as the TE3 and (maybe) the TE4. And really, it’s not even a guarantee that they’ll keep three on the 53 if nobody stands out. But certainly, we’ll keep an eye on all the other tight ends competing in camp.

UPDATE: After the Eagles traded Harrison Bryant to the Texans, it’s between Kylen Granson and E.J. Jenkins for the TE3 spot. I think Granson is in the lead.

6) For the third straight offseason Tyler Steen will be in a battle for the starting RG job. In 2023 he lost to Cam Jurgens. In 2024 he lost to Mekhi Becton. Camp this year represents Steen’s best chance of finally nailing down that starting spot, as he exclusively got first-team reps during spring practices. Steen’s primary competition will be Kenyon Green, who was acquired as part of the trade that sent C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Texans. That’s the only starting spot up for grabs on offense.

UPDATE: Steen was never really challenged by anyone for the starting RG job. The competition for that spot just wasn’t very good. That said, Steen had a very good camp, and didn’t just win that spot by default. He earned it.

7) The Eagles employ the best offensive tackle tandem in the NFL in Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, but it will be the young guys who will be fun to watch throughout camp. Rookies Myles Hinton, Cameron Williams, and Hollin Pierce are all raw, talented players with some upside, but they all need refinement. It will be interesting to see how those guys — along with rookie C Drew Kendall — develop throughout their first NFL camps under Jeff Stoutland.

UPDATE: Kendall was the best of the bunch. He’ll be a legitimate pro. Hinton showed some ability at times, but was inconsistent, and is probably not yet ready to play in a real game. Williams and Pierce have a long way to go, and are unlikely to make the 53-man roster, in my opinion.

8) Though the rookie offensive tackles will be fun to watch, they are all unlikely to play important roles in 2025. An underrated camp battle to watch will be at swing tackle, with the two most likely contenders being free agent acquisitions Kendall Lamm and Matt Pryor. O-line 1-on-1’s will be particularly important to watch this year.

UPDATE: Pray for Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson to stay healthy.

9) Nolan Smith went from the fourth edge defender in the pecking order a season ago, to the top dog in 2025. He had a breakout season in 2024, and it will be interesting to see if his game can rise to another level in 2025. Similarly, Jalyx Hunt went from a developmental player unlikely to get many snaps when camp began last year to a player expected to start this season. The torch has been passed from guys like Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham to Smith and Hunt.

UPDATE: Smith was concussed early in camp, and he was nursing a left shoulder injury during the back half of camp, so he didn’t really go all-out this summer. As such, it’s hard to pass judgment on his evolution as a potentially great edge defender. I do think there should be some worry about his long-term health, because he is small and he plays with such a physical nature. At the same time you don’t want him to back off, because his play style is what makes him great.

Hunt was fine. I do like the way he carries himself during practices. He brings good energy and noise.

10) Smith and Hunt were depth guys last season. The new depth guys are free agent acquisitions Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche, who have both had pockets of success in the NFL, but not consistency. They’re both talented, they’re both in town on one-year “prove it” deals, and they should both be motivated to prove they can still be productive players.

UPDATE: Ojulari was invisible for most of camp, but he turned it on late. Uche will probably be the first guy in off the bench on the edge.

Patrick Johnson had another good camp and preseason, as he always does. Ogbo Okoronkwo showed some juice as a pass rushe, but is 30 years old and during his time in the pros has mainly been a 4-3 DE, not often asked to drop into coverage or set the edge in the run game the same way he would in Fangio’s defense.  

11) Will Jordan Davis be in shape this year? His conditioning improved throughout camp last year, but he often looked fatigued early in camp. That’s not good enough. Davis needs to already be in shape on Day 1, not use camp as the means to get into playing shape.

UPDATE: I hate this phrase, but Davis truly did show up #InTheBestShapeOfHisCareer, and looked more spry than I’ve ever seen him. We’ll see.

12) Moro Ojomo is primed to step into the role vacated by Milton Williams, who left in free agency. Rookie fourth-round selection Ty Robinson will in turn take on Ojomo’s role as a rotational interior D-lineman, or at least the Eagles hope he will.

In 2024, Jalen Carter played more snaps than any other interior defensive lineman in the NFL. The Eagles need Davis, Ojomo, Robinson, and even deeper backups like Thomas Booker to give them quality snaps so Carter doesn’t burn out.

UPDATE: Ojomo was a star in camp. He made disruptive plays almost every day. We also saw second-year guy Gabe Hall make a huge jump from what he looked like as an undrafted rookie free agent last year. He’ll be part of the rotation in 2025. Robinson was just OK, in my opinion.

13) During a spring press conference, Vic Fangio said that first-round rookie Jihaad Campbell won’t practice until August. To be determined if that also means he’ll start camp on the PUP list. Last year, Cooper DeJean was unexpectedly placed on the NFI list prior to the start of camp, and he missed the first dozen practices. He did not play much in the first four games of the regular season, but he made a big impact once he got on the field after the bye. The Eagles will hope that Campbell can eventually make an impact in his rookie season, but it likely won’t be right out of the gate. The trick for Campbell will be to stay engaged and take mental reps while he continues to rehab his shoulder.

We probably won’t see Nakobe Dean practice at all during training camp.

UPDATE: Surprise! After Fangio told us during the spring not to expect to see Campbell practice until August, Campbell was out there pretty much as a full participant when camp opened on July 23. He showed immediately what an intriguing player he is from a size-athleticism perspective, and he continued to get better throughout the summer as he got more comfortable in Fangio’s defense. He’s going to start Week 1, in my opinion. 

14) With Campbell and Dean both out to start camp, Jeremiah Trotter is likely to get first-team reps at off ball linebacker. An under-the-radar battle could be between him and rookie Smael Mondon for the right to start games early in the season, keeping the seat warm for Dean and Campbell.

UPDATE: Trotter and Mondon had very good camps as well, but they just don’t possess the pure physical traits that Campbell does. Still, the Eagles should be ecstatic about their depth at linebacker. They are absolutely loaded there after often having zero linebackers who could play in recent years.

15) Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were studs as rookies. As noted above, DeJean didn’t even participate in like the first three weeks of camp. It will be fun to watch and see if they can evolve from great rookies into legitimate star players, much like Jalen Carter in his second season.

UPDATE: We mentioned Ojomo above as a camp star. So was Mitchell. He is primed for a monster season. Spoiler: The ball isn’t going to go his way much this season, which brings us to the next question…

16) The third starting cornerback spot is open, with the two main contenders being Kelee Ringo and Adoree’ Jackson. Ringo wasn’t old enough to drink when the Eagles selected him in the 2023 draft, and the plan for him was always to be patient and allow him plenty of time to develop behind the scenes. But the time for Ringo to step up and take on a major role is now. The Eagles will give him every opportunity to win the job, and as long as it’s close, he’ll start. Jackson is just kind of there as veteran insurance.

I also wouldn’t completely sleep on rookie Mac McWilliams, who in my opinion had a strong spring, at least in the practices that were open to the media.

UPDATE: Ringo had a disappointing camp, and is unlikely to start Week 1. Jackson is a savvier player, but he’s small and might have lost a step. Fangio seems to like McWilliams, and the team also traded for Jakorian Bennett. I have no idea who is going to start for the Eagles outside opposite Mitchell Week 1, and I’m not sure if the Eagles do either. That’s presently the biggest hole on the team, and one that opposing offensive coordinators will try to exploit.

17) The other starting spot in the secondary that is wide open is at safety, opposite Reed Blankenship. That’s a three-man competition between Sydney Brown, Andrew Mukuba, and Tristin McCollum. Can one of those guys leave no doubt that they should start?

UPDATE: Brown had a solid-but-unspectacular camp. Mukuba appears to be a smart player who Fangio likes, but he missed time with a shoulder injury previously, and is now out again with a hamstring injury. Still, Brown and Mukuba showed enough this summer that I feel better about the safety spot than I did when camp began.

18) And if none of those safeties inspire confidence, could the Eagles look to the outside for reinforcements, saaaayyy, like Justin Simmons, or Julian Blackmon?

UPDATE: Simmons remains available, but I don’t see that happening.

19) In recent years, I haven’t paid super close attention to the field goal kicking sessions, because Jake Elliott had cemented himself as one of the league’s elite kickers. But after a down season in 2024, we’ll be giving him a closer look.

UPDATE: Elliott was 6/6 during his first kicking session of the summer, 5/6 the next, and either 5/6 or 6/6 in his third session. I missed the distances on his second and third sessions, so I aborted my kicker tracker throughout camp. Bad job by me. But the big picture takeaway was that Elliott looked fine.

20) One of the reasons Elliott struggled last season was because he was dealing with an injury. Another potential reason was because long snapper Rick Lovato had some off-target snaps. Lovato was replaced this offseason by longtime Browns long snapper Charley Hughlett. We’ll see if the Eagles give Hughlett competition at any point during camp. If so, that’ll be a bad sign.

UPDATE: The Eagles did briefly bring in another long snapper named Christian Johnstone after Hughlett suffered a neck injury, but Johnstone was released when Hughlett recovered. I did watch Hughlett’s snaps when I could, and thought he was accurate.

21) Howie Roseman has made 19 trades in between the start of training camp and the start of the regular season since he stepped back into the GM chair in 2016. The only year he didn’t make any trades at all was the COVID year.

• 2016: 3
• 2017: 5
• 2018: 1
• 2019: 2
• 2020 (COVID): 0
• 2021: 2
• 2022: 4
• 2023: 1
• 2024: 1

You can re-live those here. Well, you can re-live them up until 2022 anyway. Albert Okwuegbunam (2023) and Jahan Dotson (2024) aren’t in there. After making only one training camp trade in each of the last two camps, we’ll see if Roseman has an itchier trigger finger this year. If we were to rank the likelihood of positions Roseman could trade for, it’d look like this:

1. EDGE: If Azeez Ojulari and/or Josh Uche don’t look like they can be solid contributors.
2. iDL: They can use more depth.
3. S: If Andrew Mukuba and/or Sydney Brown disappoint in camp, though there are several free agent safeties available as well.

UPDATE: CB and WR would’ve been fourth and fifth on my list, I swear! Howie did swing deals for Bennett, as noted above, and WR John Metchie. He may not be done. If we were to recalibrate the positions of need, I’d go: 

1. CB
2. EDGE

22) Guys likely to get extra rest this summer so they’re fresh for the regular season: Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert, Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson, Jalen Carter, Zack Baun. OK, so that’s not necessarily something to watch for throughout camp, but shut up.

UPDATE: Yep.

23) The Eagles may very well spend less time on the practice field than any other team in the league. Nick Sirianni has always been confident that the training sessions are intense and they get a lot done in their limited grass time, but the priority is on having players healthy and fresh for the regular season. It’s hard to knock them for that philosophy, given that they were missing just one starter for the Super Bowl.

The Eagles always point to the fact that they have won their Week 1 game in each of the four seasons. Sirianni has been the head coach, but that doesn’t exactly mean they have looked good doing it. The reality is that they have started slowly each of the last two seasons. In 2024, they lost at home to the Falcons Week 2 in a game in which they got torn up by Kirk Cousins of all people. In Week 3 against the Saints they didn’t score a point until the fourth quarter. In Week 4 they got blown out by the Bucs. Even in 2023, when they actually started 5-0, they needed a drop (or he didn’t keep his feet inbounds or whatever) by Kayshon Boutte to beat the crappy Pats Week 1, and they got all kinds of lucky breaks against the Vikings Week 2.

I would be shocked if they change their approach, but if we’re playing devil’s advocate, it has potential this season to backfire, given that the Eagles play the Cowboys, Chiefs, Rams, Buccaneers, and Broncos to start the season. 

UPDATE: They did have two more practices than last year, but they never cracked two hours in length. 

24) Hurts is entering his sixth NFL season. He will have his fifth offensive coordinator in those six years:

• 2020: Press Taylor (passing game coordinator)
• 2021: Shane Steichen
• 2022: Shane Steichen
• 2023: Brian Johnson
• 2024: Kellen Moore
• 2025: Kevin PatulloInterestingly, the two coordinators the Eagles hired from the outside (Steichen and Moore) had enough success with the Eagles that they were able to land head coaching jobs with other teams. The two coordinators they promoted from within the organization (Taylor and Johnson) were fired after one season as the coordinator.Patullo was promoted from within.Hurts will also have his fifth quarterbacks coach in six seasons in 2025.• 2020: Press Taylor
• 2021: Brian Johnson
• 2022: Brian Johnson
• 2023: Alex Tanney
• 2024: Doug Nussmeier
• 2025: Scot Loeffler

The Eagles have outstanding continuity on the offensive side of the ball, which helps offset coaching staff instability. Also, Hurts is no doubt used to the changes almost every year and has proven that he can adapt. We’ll get to see Patullo be more vocal in camp this year.

UPDATE: I don’t really have any takeaways here yet. We’ll see what Patullo is as a play caller soon enough.