The Eagles held their 17th open practice of training camp for the 2025-26 season on Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex. Links to Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Here are my observations from Day 17:
Mukuba and Wilson vacate
A day after getting his most snaps with the first unit, safety Drew Mukuba left practice early with an apparent leg injury. I didn’t see what happened, but others reported that he pulled up lame during individuals. He left not long after and didn’t participate in team drills. If hurt, that’s two injuries already for the rookie. The first — a shoulder strain — set Mukuba back about a week. He can’t afford to miss much time if he wants to win the starting safety spot.
A potentially more serious injury occurred early in team drills when wide receiver Johnny Wilson was rolled up by guard Brett Toth. Wilson tried to hobble off on his own, but he could barely put any weight on his leg. He eventually went to the medical tent and was carted inside.
DeVonta joins A.J.
The receiver corps was already light before Wilson’s injury with A.J. Brown (hamstring) still out and DeVonta Smith (groin) joining him on the sideline. Tight end Dallas Goedert (groin) also made an appearance on the injury list for the first time as a limited participant. The Eagles are taking a conservative approach with some of their key players, from my understanding, but the missing pieces clearly hindered the offense’s functionality.
So did not having No. 2 quarterback Tanner McKee. The apparent hand injury that he suffered late Monday was specifically a finger on his right throwing hand. It’s a nonsurgical injury. The Eagles believed McKee was ready enough to hold him out of the second preseason game, but we’ll see how his absence affects the depth chart with the opener 16 days away.
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Left tackle Jordan Mailata’s concussion, somehow, is the fifth injury-related story to get mentioned here. He was out, as were the following: guard Landon Dickerson (knee), cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields (hamstring), safety Lewis Cine (groin), and cornerback Brandon Johnson (groin).
Metchie’s debut
John Metchie’s first practice with the Eagles coincided with Wilson’s injury. The receiver, who was acquired on Sunday, was tossed into the mix with both the first and second units. He has much to learn and chemistry to seek with the quarterbacks, so I don’t think much should be taken from his first workout in midnight green.
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Metchie had one catch down the seam from Kyle McCord — that was probably negated by a sack — and he pulled in a swing pass from Jalen Hurts on a zone-beating route. He did have one of the McCord’s passes sail through his hands at one point. But it was, overall, a solid start. Metchie even fielded some punts during special teams drills, something he never did in a game in college or the NFL.
Offensive offense
We’ve already seen what the starting offense looked like without Dickerson and right tackle Lane Johnson: not good. Today we got a glimpse of the unit without Dickerson and Mailata on the left side of the offensive line. The results: mostly not good again. Toth continued to fill in at left guard, while Matt Pryor moved over from backup right tackle.
Pryor struggled, especially vs. outside linebacker Jalyx Hunt. Toth had an early false start and then, of course, the unfortunate fall into Wilson. I can’t say with much certainty how he otherwise performed. But it was tough sledding for the entire O-line. If the starting lineup is at full strength, most of the problems go away.
But I would think that there might be concern about the backups, specifically at tackle. Pryor has proven to be a better guard than tackle in his career, but he may end up the swing guy. Kendall Lamm seems to have fallen behind him on the depth chart. Rookie Cameron Williams, surprisingly, got the call at right tackle when Johnson took a series off. He appeared to line up too far off the line and was flagged for illegal formation.
Rookie Myles Hinton took some reps at second-unit left tackle. He got beat by outside linebacker Ochaun Mathis on one rush and was promptly pulled. Hinton did rebound later with a seal block on defensive tackle Gabe Hall that helped spring running back AJ Dillon.
Cornerback update
Adoree’ Jackson took all the first-unit snaps at outside cornerback opposite Quinyon Mitchell and when Cooper DeJean wasn’t there in base personnel. He had a solid day, starting with a pass breakup vs. receiver Darius Cooper in one-on-ones. Jackson was later in Cooper’s pocket and forced Hurts to throw wide of his target.
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Kelee Ringo was relegated to the second team for a second straight day. He had a strong rep against Wilson, before the receiver left practice, during one-on-ones. Ringo also tackled receiver Elijah Cooks to the ground — shy of a first down? — on a short throw by McCord.
Jakorian Bennett and Mac McWilliams split snaps alongside Ringo. The former broke up a toss to Metchie in one-on-ones, and shadowed Cooper on another wide throw by Hurts. Cooper should have probably broken off his route vs. Bennett’s leverage on the play. Hurts had a chat with the undrafted rookie after practice.
Hunt and squish
Hunt took advantage of Pryor filling in for Mailata. He drove the tackle back on his heels on one rush for a would-be sack. Hurts kept the play alive, though, and was intercepted by outside linebacker Nolan Smith, who dropped into coverage. The pass was behind intended target Saquon Barkley.
Hunt, several plays later, was credited with a sack of Hurts when he stormed around Pryor. He was active in setting the edge against the run, as well.
Trot sets
Jihaad Campbell and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. continued to rotate next to Zack Baun at inside linebacker. Campbell seems to be trending toward being the eventual starter. I marked Campbell down for a couple assisted tackles vs. the run.
Trotter won’t go away, though. He sniffed out a red zone shovel pass to Barkley for a stop in the backfield. He squared up running back Will Shipley on a swing pass that probably would have resulted in a tackle for loss. And he met Barkley in the hole on a short yardage run vs. heavy offensive personnel.
A reminder that Baun is still a beast came when he diagnosed a split zone run. Tight end Grant Calcaterra came across the formation for a wham block, but Baun had him beat and was held out of the play for a likely penalty.
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Pickup ball
Shipley has seemingly improved in blitz pickup, but he was late to recognize McWilliams shooting through the “B” gap for an unimpeded sack. The second-year running back had some positive moments on the ground, though, once zigzagging his way through the middle.
Shipley also caught a handful of passes from Hurts in the two-minute drill. He was the easy outlet vs. deep zones, but he extended his streak without a drop this camp.
McCord’s chance
With McKee out, McCord took all the second-unit snaps at quarterback. He was up and down. A throw to Kylen Granson was behind the tight end and sailed through the hands of safety Tristin McCollum. I thought McCord did well to stand in vs. the blitz on a dump to Dillon over the middle and the throw to Metchie that resulted in a drop.
McCollum should have intercepted McCord again when he overthrew running back Keilan Robinson during the late developmental period. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson nearly tossed a pick himself on a pass that slipped high through cornerback Eli Ricks’ paws.
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Here and there
Jahan Dotson assumed the No. 1 receiver role with Brown and Smith watching. That meant seeing plenty of Mitchell. Dotson got the better of the corner in one-on-ones with a nice over-the-shoulder grab. Mitchell doesn’t get challenged much through the air, but he flashed another trait when he shed a block on a screen pass to Barkley.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter hung back and deflected a Hurts pass in the red zone. He showed considerable ups for a man his size (6-foot-3, 314 pounds). Carter then gave the offense the Dikembe Mutombo finger-wag. A second shovel pass to Calcaterra worked for a would-be touchdown. Was Andy Reid calling the plays? Rookie defensive tackle Ty Robinson broke through to touch up Dillon for a run stop.
Extra point
The final open practice of camp is Wednesday. Woohoo. There will be a closed walkthrough on Thursday ahead of Friday’s preseason finale at the New York Jets.
