The Eagles held their fifth open practice of training camp for the 2025 season on Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex. Links to Days 1, 2, 3 and 4. Here are my observations from Day 5:
Injury update
For the second day in a row, the Eagles had new additions to the injury list, with outside linebacker Nolan Smith and inside linebacker Zack Baun sidelined with a concussion and a back bruise, respectively. They were held out of practice with wide receiver DeVonta Smith (back tightness), safety Andrew Mukuba (shoulder), and receiver Danny Gray (finger).
The following players were limited: defensive tackle Jalen Carter (shoulder), linebacker Jihaad Campbell (shoulder), center Cam Jurgens (back), and linebacker Smael Mondon (illness). Carter has yet to participate in team drills.
Offensive offense
The Eagles moved up practice an hour to a 9 a.m. start because of the extreme heat. The players were also in full pads for the first time for a workout that lasted nearly two hours. All of that might have contributed to what was a relatively sloppy showing by the offense. Give Vic Fangio’s defense credit. It forced some of the mistakes. But I counted eight of about 12 penalties that were called on the offense — many of them pre-snap.
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The scheme and terminology might not be new, but first-year coordinator Kevin Patullo is putting his own spin on the offense and it may take time for the players — some of them new — to pick everything up. Penalties weren’t the only issue. There were also a few turnovers. Safety Reed Blankenship punched the ball from AJ Dillon, although the running back might have been out of bounds. Receiver Darius Cooper was more careless when safety Tristin McCollum stripped the ball from his hands. “Put the ball away!” yelled Eagles receivers coach Aaron Moorehead.
Most of team drills were spent working in the red zone, which can tilt the advantage toward the defense. There were a lot of throwaways from Jalen Hurts and especially Tanner McKee. There were also busted plays that led to the inefficiency. Even the mild-mannered McKee got visibly frustrated when it appeared one of his receivers did something wrong. “Hey, if you don’t know what you’re doing,” McKee said as he circled back toward the teammate, “let me know.”
Offensive sense
There was some positive on that side of the ball. Right guard Tyler Steen bounced back from a so-so Monday and kept defensive tackle Moro Ojomo and other interior linemen in check. “Today was a big day for Tyler Steen in my opinion,” Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland said afterward. While the passing offense didn’t always look sharp, the running game had some moments.
News flash: Saquon Barkley can do a thing or two. He won’t juke or hurdle defenders at practice — we already know he’s capable of that — but the explosiveness is still obvious to the naked eye, and when he wants to turn on the jets, he can. One such example came near the goal line on a stretch run to the right. With tackle Lane Johnson leading the way, Barkley turned the corner and into the end zone ahead of the late-arriving Cooper DeJean. “That’s in, [expletive]!” Johnson screamed.
Dillon and Will Shipley had some chunk-yard rushes. Shipley continued to flash as a receiver. He caught a touchdown pass from Hurts on a “Texas” route, and he got both feet inbounds on a sideline catch ahead of Campbell.
Ringo > Jackson
In the outside cornerback competition, Kelee Ringo appeared to outplay Adoree’ Jackson. The opposite seemed to occur the day before. Fangio made a crucial point to reporters before practice when he said we can’t possibly see it all when evaluating performance. Our eyes are often on the ball and not away from it when players may or may not be doing the right thing.
» READ MORE: Vic Fangio sizes up the Eagles’ cornerback race, depth at edge rusher, and more
Still, we can get a general sense, and neither Ringo nor Jackson has put a stranglehold on the position. Ringo had a strong repetition against Terrace Marshall during one-on-one drills. He got inside the receiver and prevented him from completing his route into the end zone. Later during team drills, Ringo evaded a block on a screen and held receiver Giles Jackson to a minimal gain.
Adoree’ Jackson got dinged up early on, but he returned. He committed a clear pass interference when receiver Jahan Dotson got behind him on a corner fade. He rebounded several sets later with sticky coverage on Dotson that forced an incomplete pass from Hurts.
Cornering the market
The Eagles have other cornerbacks on the roster, of course. Slot corner DeJean may end up on the outside in base defense, but he’s been at safety in that package thus far. Eli Ricks is probably next on the depth chart behind Ringo/Jackson. Howie Roseman kept him on the 53-man roster throughout last season — even though he hardly played — for good reason. He can ball.
Ricks often falls under that column Fangio mentioned, but on the positive side of the ledger. He doesn’t get mentioned as much as others because passes won’t come his way for stretches. It helps that he doesn’t have to consistently match up opposite receivers like A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. But I wonder if it’s only a matter of time before he gets reps with the first unit. He had tight coverage on a Cooper fade route into the end zone that resulted in a McKee incompletion. And he blew up a screen to Shipley.
Rookie Mac McWilliams has been “hit-or-miss,” as Fangio said, during the early portion of his first NFL camp. He lined up opposite Brown during one team drill and got taken to school. Brown got McWilliams to flip his hips with an inside move and — whoop! — ditched the corner when he cut back toward the sideline for about an uncontested 20-yard reception.
Uche can you see
Fangio had this to say about the edge rusher position before practice: “I feel good about Nolan [Smith], and Jalyx [Hunt] is making good strides. After that, we have got some heavy competition going on and nobody’s really truly surfaced yet. Good or bad.” Josh Uche may have risen to the surface with a solid outing on Tuesday. I marked him down for one sack and another pressure. Both came on rushes vs. right tackle Darian Kinnard. So it’s not as if he’s besting Johnson. Still, he’s popped more than fellow free agent edge Azeez Ojulari — so far.
» READ MORE: Jason Kelce is at training camp helping Jeff Stoutland shape the young Eagles linemen: ‘He’s part of us’
Ty Robinson’s Tuesday showing may have garnered the rookie defensive tackle his first snaps with the starters. Later on, with the second-team defense, he batted a pass back at McKee, who knocked the deflection to the ground so that it wasn’t intercepted. Robinson batted more than his share of throws at the line of scrimmage in college at Nebraska.
Trotter blotter
With Baun sidelined, Campbell was first up at inside linebacker alongside Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Campbell was around the ball a fair amount. He kept a completion to tight end Dallas Goedert relatively short when he bumped him to the ground.
Trotter continued to make a strong case that he should start — or at least not be underestimated. He flowed to the ball on several rushes up the middle and I credited him with three stops. Trotter had a tough assignment on a Goedert corner route into the end zone. He blanketed him so tightly that the tight end tried to body up the linebacker to create separation. But Trotter didn’t budge and Goedert couldn’t haul in Hurts’ floater.
First downs
Hurts and Goedert are normally simpatico in the short passing game, but they have struggled to connect when the quarterback pushed the ball downfield during the last few practices. Goedert couldn’t catch up to another deep pass on a corner that glanced off his outstretched hand. Brett Toth has been filling in at first-team center with Jurgens limited. He’s come a ways as a snapper, but he’s still not close to consistent enough. He had several errant shotgun snaps, one of which forced Hurts to improvise and scramble.
Receiver Ainias Smith hasn’t really stood out much as a pass catcher through the first week. Hurts went to him in the back of the end zone during red zone drills and he failed to pull in the pass with one hand. Smith wasn’t “open open,” but he was “NFL open” and he probably could have just turned back toward the ball and used two hands.
Second downs
The second-unit passing offense looked abysmal at times, but McKee found Marshall over the intermediate middle when the receiver found a soft spot in zone coverage. Marshall left practice later when he got tangled up on a run play. Receiver Elijah Cooks has clearly emerged as the undrafted free-agent receiver most likely to compete for a roster spot. He had a splendid grab, tap dancing both feet inbounds in the back of the end zone. Kudos go to McKee for his toss, too.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson appears to love “Texas” routes into the end zone. He threw a dart to running back ShunDerrick Powell for a touchdown on a similar route for the second day in a row. Stoutland reamed out Myles Hinton when he jumped into his set too early. “You don’t know the snap count,” he said. Hinton and fellow rookie tackle Cameron Williams are obvious projects. When asked about the pair, Stoutland mentioned Hinton first and went into greater detail about his progress.
» READ MORE: A year after losing out to Mekhi Becton, Tyler Steen strives to become the Eagles’ starting right guard
Extra points
Kicker Jake Elliott missed his first field-goal try of camp. I didn’t catch the distance, but the attempt was from pretty far out. … Shipley didn’t like it when tight end Cameron Latu steamrolled him to the turf during kick-return drills and fired the ball at him when he got up. … Former Raiders general manager and Philly native Mike Mayock was in attendance. Before practice, he spoke with two other former NFL GMs who now work for the Eagles: Joe Douglas (Jets) and Dave Caldwell (Jaguars). Roseman joined their huddle shortly thereafter and they had a group hug. … The Eagles have a closed walk-through on Wednesday before returning to practice on Thursday.
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