To Andrew Mukuba, there is no sense dwelling on the past.
The fractured fibula that ruined his rookie season with the Eagles in a Week 12 loss in Dallas, the demanding rehabilitation that followed, the emotional ups and downs that come with all of it, that’s all behind him, he says.
When he hits the football field next to play a game, which could be as soon as the preseason opener Saturday night in Baltimore, he won’t be seeking any closure.
“I feel comfortable out here despite what I had going on,” Mukuba said after practice Thursday. “I’ve already put everything behind, just focused on what’s next and what’s in front of me.”
There still is a lot in front of the 23-year-old. The Eagles are putting a lot of trust in their second-round pick from last year’s draft. They lost Reed Blankenship in free agency and did not make major upgrades to the position group in part because they feel like Mukuba is capable of being an every-down difference maker. There were “shaky” moments during his rookie season, Vic Fangio said in the spring, but the longtime defensive coordinator felt like Mukuba was “coming on” in the five or six games leading up to his injury.
Drew Mukuba suffered a season-ending injury on this play last season after colliding with teammate Sydney Brown late in the fourth quarter of a Week 12 loss in Dallas.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
What’s the biggest difference year-over-year?
“It’s just experience, knowledge, and know-how of the defense,” Fangio said last week. “You might look and say, ‘Man, he looks quicker. He’s in better shape.’ I think it’s just the thought process [speeding] up, comfortability with the defense, and what he has to do. He’s in a little bit better shape too.”
That part always helps, especially in the steamy conditions training camp practices come with. But Mukuba agreed that the biggest difference between this version of him and the rookie version this time last year was on the mental side of the game. His offseason was dominated by rehab. He wasn’t fully cleared for workouts during the offseason program, and a lot of his time away from the field was spent watching film and diving into the playbook.
“In that situation, you can’t do anything but try to learn,” he said.
He said he sees the preparation paying off in his ability to recognize plays — “letting the formation talk to you,” he said — and pick up on cues from the running backs and offensive linemen.
“Little things I feel like rookies might struggle with coming in and having a lot thrown at you,” Mukuba said.
The safety position is an interesting one during this Eagles camp. Mukuba is the lone constant, but he has different players next to him at times. When the Eagles are in their base defense, with just two cornerbacks on the field, Cooper DeJean has been sliding from the nickel spot to safety next to Mukuba. When they’re not in base, which is the majority of the time, Marcus Epps has seen a lot of first-team work, as has Michael Carter II, who, like DeJean, is making a transition from nickel to safety.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Eagles search for an upgrade to pair next to Mukuba before the season begins, but Fangio has expressed comfort in Epps and Carter.
Mukuba said earlier this month that DeJean, a “natural defensive back,” was picking up his new occasional position well, but there are challenges.
“You think differently, you play differently with the runs because you’re closer to the ball,” Mukuba said of a nickel. “Obviously with safety you’re further away from the ball. Finding right angles and trying to play in space is a little different than when you’re closer to the ball.”
Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba intercepts a pass intended for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Mukuba, who had 46 tackles in 11 games last season, will have some new duties thrown his way. Blankenship, who left for Houston in free agency, was the defensive quarterback who did a lot of communicating from the back. The safeties will share those responsibilities, Fangio said.
Mukuba said his next steps for year two are to continue getting more comfortable in the NFL and keep growing in his role.
“Trying to see how much I’ve grown from last year, trying to remove the mental errors or the little things that I was struggling with last year,” he said. “A lot of things I struggled with last year, I feel like this year I’ve overcome and I’m playing more confident and faster.
“I feel good. I worked hard to get to this point.”
Luigi Suigo has only been on campus for a few weeks, but he’s already had his Villanova rite of passage.
Assistant coach Ricky Harris took Suigo to Campus Corner, the longtime pizza shop on Lancaster Ave., and Suigo, a 7-foot-3, 19-year-old from Italy, was overwhelmed by all the menu options.
Harris asked: “Have you ever had a cheesesteak?”
Suigo didn’t know what it was, he said, but let Harris lead the way. The cheesesteak was “crazy good,” Suigo said, though he said Villanova general manager Baker Dunleavy playfully cautioned against having too many of them.
“Maybe I’ll have them in secret,” said Suigo, who goes by “Gigi.”
HES FINALLY HERE:
Assistant coach Ricky Harris and new wildcat Luigi Suigo in front of campus corner 🤩 pic.twitter.com/IS7kLO3lHT
He better get them in while he can. Suigo’s stay on the Main Line is not expected to be long. The freshman big man, who played professionally last season with Serbia’s Mega Basket, is expected to join the short list of modern Villanova players who are on campus for one season before being selected in the NBA draft.
Cam Whitmore did it in 2023, but before that was Tim Thomas all the way back in 1996. Suigo arriving at Villanova has rivaled the excitement of those players and even Jalen Brunson, who was a McDonald’s All-American before he played at Villanova for three seasons.
Suigo went through the draft process this offseason and participated in the NBA draft combine before ultimately deciding to remove his name from the field and sign to play at Villanova. He likely is the highest-paid Villanova player in the nascent era of paying players. (Villanova, like all schools, does not publicly disclose the terms of player contracts, but it’s not hard to guesstimate that Suigo is making more than $3 million this season.)
This makes Villanova seemingly a temporary stopping point for Suigo, but it is a rather critical one. Suigo was projected to be selected in the later stages of the first round of the 2026 NBA draft, though there was no guarantee. He is a talented big man with a versatile skill set whose shooting range stretches beyond the three-point line, but there are elements of his game that need to improve if he’s going to be worthy of the “Italian Wemby” nickname.
That process already has started. Since arriving at Villanova at the end of July following a delay in his visa paperwork, Suigo has been working on conditioning. Suigo, who wants to be a lottery pick in next year’s draft, averaged 18.8 minutes in 26 games last season with Mega Basket. Working on his physique is a big part of what he’s doing right now on campus.
It is a bit of a lonely time on an empty campus, Suigo said, but he’s in the gym most days running and dunking on the court, pedaling on the bike, jumping, and doing “everything to get me back in shape.”
Besides his body, Suigo said he wants to expand the things he’s already good at, but also add an improved face-up element to his game from the perimeter. The NBA draft process also taught him about having a strong mindset, he said.
“Even in workouts with NBA teams, they’re just trying to see if you’re weak and you give up, or if you’re strong even if you’re dead tired,” Suigo said. “You just keep going. I learned to be tougher, stronger with my mind before even my body.”
Kevin Willard said in June that with some more development, the “sky is the limit” for Suigo, whose addition near the end of the offseason catapulted Villanova into discussion for a preseason top 25 ranking. With Suigo in tow, the Wildcats have a formidable front court and a versatile roster that can play big or small.
“I think he maybe would have gotten drafted late in the first round, but he doesn’t want that,” Willard said. “He wants to make sure when he gets drafted he’s going to play. The big thing is I think he needs to get Americanized a little bit, to American basketball. I think that’s why college will be really good for him. Get in shape a little bit, just kind of get used to American basketball.”
Willard flew overseas to see Suigo at least twice. Willard first went to see him with Dunleavy in Belgrade, Serbia, before he signed, and Suigo said Willard visited him again this summer in Italy.
Suigo is from Tradate, in the province of Varese, in the Lombardy region of the country, and this is his first time living outside of Europe, but he said he’s not worried about the distance from home. He has lived away from Tradate before. Suigo described himself as a guy who can meet new people easily, who likes to play video games or go bowling, but also a guy who likes to sleep and recover from basketball and doesn’t mind being alone.
Plus, he said, “I have my guys here.”
Luigi Suigo says guard Tyler Perkins is “a machine.”Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
He’s still getting to know his new teammates, but Suigo has been impressed by returning leading scorer Tyler Perkins.
“Perk, he’s a machine, man,” Suigo said. “He’s that type of guy that works every day without saying nothing and he’s never tired. He just keeps working. I’m trying to be like him and be more tough.”
Suigo, who will open his college basketball career in his home country when Villanova takes on Notre Dame in Rome on Nov. 1, said he expects to get along well with Willard, who he called “a good man and a good coach from what I’ve seen.”
The visits from Willard are part of the reason why Suigo was sold that Villanova is the place to help him get to where he wants to go next. There’s money, sure, but it’s “the people, man,” Suigo said.
“I like to be around these people,” he said. “I think they were more honest with me and it’s just a feeling. You have to feel it. When you make new friends or meet new people, you have to have a feeling for those types of people. I think they’re the right people to push me through everything and try to get me better, and also the type of people you can have dinner with and have fun.
New Eagles tight end Johnny Mundt likens his occupation as a tight end in the NFL to “a blue collar job.”
“Getting it done in the trenches next to the big guys is something I take pride in,” Mundt said after a recent Eagles practice.
It is why the Eagles signed the 31-year-old veteran. Their tight end corps lacked a requisite handyman in 2025. Dallas Goedert was his normal self as a weapon in the passing game, but his effectiveness as a blocker took a step back. Grant Calcaterra, meanwhile, is most useful as a pass catcher and not doing the dirty work in the trenches.
But the merit in Mundt’s signing was twofold. Not only has he been one of the better blocking tight ends in recent seasons, but he also broke into the NFL playing in Sean McVay’s offense and learned how to become a multifaceted tight end in a style of offense — the Kyle Shanahan-McVay system — that the Eagles are adopting under first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion.
How will the Eagles replace A.J. Brown’s production? Will the offensive line be healthy enough? Can Jalen Hurts learn a new system and thrive? Those are worthy questions to contemplate when trying to evaluate what happens next with the 2026 offense, but the tight end position will be an underrated element to the engine.
The Eagles are asking their tight ends to do new things. The tight end in the wide zone running scheme is a critical cog, and Goedert, for example, will be asked to block at the point of attack more than he ever has. Tight ends have been crucial to executing the Shanahan-McVay scheme successfully.
Johnny Mundt (83) is among the new faces for the Eagles at tight end. Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Nick Sirianni has used the term “marrying the run and pass” so often that he’s probably at this point ordained to officiate a wedding.
“We’re huge in that,” Mundt said. “Being attached to the line of scrimmage, being the point of attack on a lot of these blocks, you can do a lot of play-action stuff off that. The marriage of the run and the pass has been core to this offense ever since its start.”
The Eagles are installing an offense with more motion and play action. They are shifting from an offense that got to the line of scrimmage, read the defense, and tried to play chess to one that gets to the line of scrimmage and tries to attack.
In the new scheme, Shawn Syed of SumerSports calls the outside or wide zone run “home base.” It is effectively the starting point. The Eagles were formerly a running offense that utilized a lot of inside zone and gap scheme runs. Now, they’ll be implementing more outside or wide runs that aim to stretch the defense horizontally.
The Eagles have athletic tackles in Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, but the tight end is a key part of outside running success. Assuming a run is going to the strong side, the back will set his running track to the outside hip of the tight end while starting to read the defense. A run to the strong side requires the tight end to block at the point of attack and seal off the edge.
“Our aiming points have changed, the back path has changed,” Goedert said recently. “Still trying to get comfortable with it, but I’ve been enjoying it. I think it makes our job as tight ends easier, being able to use the path of the running backs to help stretch the defense and trusting that the running back is going to make us right is a big piece of it.”
Johnny Mundt (86) most recently played in Jacksonville and has experience with new coordinator Sean Mannion, including as his teammate. Maria Lysaker
Sometimes, sealing an edge means going up against a bigger edge defender. Tight ends in this scheme sometimes motion into the backfield before a snap. Sometimes they line up at fullback. They’re then sometimes asked to execute a wham block against an interior defensive lineman, some of whom are more than 300 pounds.
“It’s sometimes a mismatch, but with the right technique and leverage, you can take care of it,” Mundt said.
“If you trust what you’re coached to do and you can win the first half of the snap, you’re going to put yourself in a better position to have success. It comes down to technique and attitude and effort.”
It’s important to note that there’s no one-size-fits-all rule for the offense when it comes to personnel deployment.
Last year San Francisco under Shanahan, and Miami under Shanahan disciple Mike McDaniel ran more 21 personnel (two running backs, one tight end) than any other team in the league. Both teams had a versatile fullback. But Shanahan’s offense in Atlanta ran a lot of 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends).
McVay also has deployed different personnel packages that suited his roster. A few seasons ago, when the Rams had Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, two of the best blocking receivers in the league, the Rams ran the highest rate of 11 personnel (one back, one tight end, three receivers) in the league. They used condensed sets and had receivers lined up close to the offensive line.
But with Kupp on a different team, the Rams last season used 13 personnel on a league-high 30.5% of their offensive plays, according to SumerSports. That was more than double the rate of the team (Pittsburgh) with the second-highest usage rate of 13.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni (center) talks to Los Rams coach Sean McVay (left) before a 2023 game. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
Green Bay, meanwhile, ran the fifth-highest rate of 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends), which the Packers deployed on 33.8% of their offensive snaps, and used 11 personnel on 55.6% of their snaps.
Moral of the story: teams adapt their formations to the makeup of their roster.
What does that mean for the Eagles?
It remains to be seen how the Eagles deploy their personnel. Given their roster, 12 personnel seems like a pretty friendly position grouping that will keep Mundt on the field as a blocker and allow Goedert to use his versatile skill set to impact both the blocking and passing game. They also have a few receivers who can block in Darius Cooper and Makai Lemon, though both are inexperienced at the NFL level.
Perhaps there’s a world where second-round pick Eli Stowers, who has been open about his struggles adapting to the NFL game during camp, gets on the field and the Eagles deploy some 13 personnel. There’s also Cameron Latu, who can play fullback if needed. Calcaterra, meanwhile, is back with the Eagles and has gotten some recent first-team reps. The likeliest scenario has the Eagles keeping four tight ends on the initial 53-man roster: Goedert, Mundt, Stowers, and Latu.
Eagles tight ends coach Ryan Mahaffey was a college tight end who made the transition to fullback. Mahaffey worked with Mannion in Green Bay and also has the title in Philadelphia of run game coordinator.
Mahaffey said in the spring that tight end is a “unique” position at the “cross section” of the offense being part of the passing game, the running game, and being involved in pass protection.
“I think tight ends, generally speaking, they’re intellectual guys,” Mahaffey said. “They got a little bit of a lineman mindset to them where they’ve got a workmanlike mentality and then you also get the pass-catching aspect of things.”
A lot has been made about the new blocking technique being asked of Goedert, but it’s not hard to imagine him having a major role in the passing game. Without Brown, the Eagles have DeVonta Smith and then some question marks behind him when it comes to who Hurts will be able to rely on to consistently make plays.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert works on footwork drills during training camp practice earlier this month. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The new offense utilizing more under-center play action should create opportunities for Goedert to impact the offense with his hands. George Kittle has long dominated in the 49ers’ offense as a tight end who blocks well in the running game and gets open in the passing game. Green Bay often found ways to get Tucker Kraft the ball. And the Rams had three tight ends with at least 24 catches last season.
The Eagles are in the early stages of putting it all together, and there’s still so much more of the offense that hasn’t been shown during the practices open to media.
Mundt so far has acted like a translator of sorts during camp.
“I’ve taken a few guys and taken a play and said, ‘This is how I look at it,’ and it marries well to how we’re coaching it,” he said.
He arrived in Los Angeles in 2017 as an undrafted free agent out of Oregon who viewed himself as a pass-catching tight end. The Rams, he said, taught him how to get hands on defenders and take the steam out of a pass rusher. He morphed into a reliable blocker who had just 13 targets in his first four NFL seasons. Mundt overlapped with Mannion when the two played for Minnesota under former McVay assistant Kevin O’Connell. He was used more there in the passing game, and all four of his NFL touchdowns came with the Vikings. But he had just nine catches last year under Liam Coen — another former McVay assistant — in Jacksonville.
Mundt signed a one-year deal with the Eagles worth just $1.5 million. He said he was happy to be able to join a franchise that always seems to be competing for a championship. The Eagles were looking for some value and to upgrade their blocking chops at the tight end spot. The fit has been a good one so far.
“It’s a lot of what I’ve been brought up doing, a lot of point-of-attack blocking, making plays in the pass game, just being a multidimensional tight end and helping out any way I can,” Mundt said.
Eagles special teams coach Michael Clay doesn’t think Jake Elliott fell out of love with football, but he did see a kicker last season whose body language was that of a player who was being hard on himself.
It is an isolating position. The snap and hold need to go well, sure, but so much rests on the swing of an NFL kicker’s leg, and the precision with which his foot hits the ball, that any decrease of their confidence level can lead to poor results.
Elliott, the team’s primary kicker since 2017, had one of his worst seasons in 2025. He went 20-for-27 on field goal attempts. That 74.1% conversion rate was his second-worst season-long performance, barely edging out his 73.7% (14-for-19) effort in 2020. Elliott converted 93.8% of his field goals in 2023, which included a 7-for-8 mark on kicks of 50-plus yards. But the two seasons that followed have not been particularly good. Elliott is 48-for-63 over his last two regular seasons, and that 76.2% clip rates as one of the worst marks for a primary kicker in the league.
Elliott may have lost confidence in himself, according to Clay, but the Eagles maintained confidence in their kicker. Elliott, 31, is the only kicker in camp and, barring an injury or the unforeseen, will enter his 10th season as the team’s kicker.
Asked Monday his reaction to the team sticking by him, Elliott said he loves playing for the Eagles and is happy to still be in Philadelphia, but …
“You’re always competing,” he said. “There’s 32 of these jobs in the world, so you’re always competing with everybody.”
Jake Elliott (right) is trying to shake off a 2025 season that was below his usual standard. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The competition is mostly with himself. Elliott said he took his normal approach to the offseason despite coming off one of his worst seasons. He looked back at what happened in 2025 — “We played in a lot of really windy games last year,” he said — and tried to learn from it.
He spent his offseason here. The deep dive into 2025 results found issues with kicking in the wind, so Elliott would do his best to replicate the wind whenever he could. Lincoln Financial Field presents winds that tend to blow into the kicker and left to right, Elliott said, so if he could find that wind, he would. He kicked on high school fields that were particularly open and susceptible to higher winds. He kicked at Penn’s Franklin Field, where the wind swirls.
Elliott showed up at training camp feeling good, and Clay said he noticed.
“You never want to see them kind of get out of sorts in terms of their body language,” Clay said last week. “So, for me and him to have our own personal talks, I think he’s done a really good job since then in terms of his body language, being better and not necessarily getting down on himself on things he can’t control. Control what you can control. If you’re able to be on top of that, there’s going to be things in life you can’t control. You’re not going to be able to control mother nature. You’re not going to be able to control the distance we put you out there.”
Jake Elliott remarked on the impact of windy conditions on his 2025 season, but also missed kicks in better weather like in Los Angeles. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Elliott didn’t lose his love for football, he said Monday. It was a fair question considering Clay remarked in May that Elliott had to “fall in love with the game again,” but the crux of the coach’s comments were about Elliott finding his confidence again.
“A confident kicker is a dangerous kicker,” Clay said in May.
Said Elliott: “I’ve always loved the game. I always will love the game. I don’t think that’s necessarily in question. It’s just, how can you be better?”
That’s what the offseason was about, refining his contact and dialing in on his ball flight.
The result?
“I’m extremely confident in myself right now,” Elliott said. “I feel like I’ve had a great offseason, I’m putting together a good camp, I feel like I’m striking it best I have in a while. Every day is a new day. Just trying to build on it.”
The Eagles have four quarterbacks in training camp, and when you’re the fourth man on the totem pole like rookie fifth-round pick Cole Payton, getting on the field for extensive work during 11-on-11 team drills can occasionally be difficult.
The team is committed to Payton’s development, but they’re also learning a new offense under first-year coordinator Sean Mannion. Jalen Hurts and the first-team offense need as many reps as possible, as do potential backup quarterbacks Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee.
So Payton, a dual-threat quarterback out of North Dakota State, often is on the field late, after practice ends, working with quarterbacks coach Parks Frazier and sometimes Mannion on his footwork and technique. Payton called those post-practice sessions “huge,” but the on-field portion of camp is only part of the on-the-job training Payton is going through as he navigates his first NFL training camp.
Cole Payton is going through his first NFL training camp with the Eagles.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The Eagles were off Sunday, but Payton said he has spent some off days strapping a virtual reality headset on to get “mental visualization reps.” The tool, Payton said, was introduced to him by Frazier, who last year was the pass game coordinator and this year moved to quarterbacks coach. The Eagles, Payton said, had the sets last year, too.
Payton can turn on the VR, select any stadium, go through his play calls, break the huddle, and simulate a real play.
“It’s not live footage, it’s animated, but it’s a really good tool to visualize and see things,” Payton said Saturday.
The VR sets are only part of the visualization tools the Eagles are using as they install Mannion’s new scheme. All through the offseason, Eagles quarterbacks have had an extra piece of hardware affixed to their helmets, giving a first-person view of what each player is seeing on the field. That extra footage is yet another angle for the quarterbacks and the coaching staff to analyze in the meeting rooms.
Hurts said on Wednesday that the cameras provide “insight and accountability in the huddle” and said “there’s an aspect of that that is very valuable.”
Jalen Hurts participates in training camp practice with a video camera mounted on his helmet.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Accountability because the camera is recording sound, too. Wide camera angles of the field often used for film review can’t get inside the huddle to hear the way a quarterback calls a play or what he’s seeing when he makes a check at the line of scrimmage, but the helmet cams can.
“It’s been really cool,” Payton said, “not only for myself but just to hear what Jalen is saying in the huddle, what Andy is saying in the huddle, and Tanner, and the reminders they’re giving to the guys and just how crisp and clean the operation needs to be. We’re working and we’re building.”
The Eagles aren’t the first team to use either technology, despite the tools being new to the building. HBO’s Hard Knocks provided a look at Tua Tagovailoa utilizing the helmet camera technology two seasons ago. Russell Wilson wore one at times when he played in Seattle, as did Kenny Pickett in Pittsburgh. There are other examples, too. The Arena Football League introduced helmet cameras in 2014, and while that usage was mostly for entertainment purposes for the viewing audience, other NFL teams and college programs have been using the cameras for teaching purposes for years.
“I think it was more for the coaches to see where your eyes are at,” Nathan Peterman, who used the technology in college and the NFL, told ESPN in 2023. “And also, some of it, was to get a feel for what goes on in the huddle, for the coaches to see the communication of how things are going. That’s what I know [then-Raiders coach Jon] Gruden was looking at, to see the communication in the huddle and checks at the line.”
Like helmet cameras, the use of virtual reality among quarterbacks has been going on. Tom Brady, for example, used VR when he played for Tampa Bay. Penn State quarterbacks use them. And the latest season of the Netflix docuseries Quarterback gave some insight into Jayden Daniels’ use of the technology, which the Washington Commanders quarterback was open about during his standout rookie season in 2024.
Daniels first started using VR in college at LSU, and he would routinely turn the speed up to force himself to process plays even faster.
“It moves faster within the VR than actual human beings,” Daniels told reporters in 2024. “Once you get out there, everything slows down. I know this is coming. I’ve seen this before, [and] it moved more than 20 times faster in VR.”
His former offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury embraced the technology, having used versions of virtual reality while coaching at Texas Tech dating back to 2016. According to The Athletic, Kingsbury changed his daily schedule with the Commanders to spend up to an hour narrating play calls into a recorder so Daniels could hear Kingsbury’s voice in the VR headset.
“[Pilots] don’t go get trained in real planes,” Kingsbury told The Athletic. “They do their flight simulators. … [Jayden] has that thing on all the time. He can see our reads and routes and hears my voice in it. It’s as real as you can [get to] getting game reps, and your mind doesn’t know the difference. Your mind thinks you’re doing it.”
Jalen Hurts is one of a number of recent NFL quarterbacks who has utilized helmet video technology as part of the learning process. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
This offseason, the Commanders, like the Eagles, added the helmet cameras to their toolbox as they implemented a new offense under first-year coordinator David Blough.
In Philadelphia, the helmets are another layer of learning. Hurts hasn’t often taken snaps from under center, but this offense will ask him to utilize play action from under center, which means his back will briefly turn to the line of scrimmage before he gets into position to read the field. The cameras, then, could help Hurts train his eyes to be looking in the optimal spot after the handoff fake.
For Payton, the point-of-view angles could help the rookie continue to work through the struggles of his first training camp. On Saturday, a throw to the sideline that may have been a throwaway attempt resulted in Payton’s fifth interception of camp. Perhaps the camera later would show what Payton saw when he released the ball.
As long as the camera hadn’t been knocked off focus.
“Sometimes the angle is funny,” said Payton, who is wearing a helmet camera for the first time. “You’re seeing the clouds or you’re seeing our feet. When the angle is right, I think it’s beneficial.
The Eagles are Elijah Moore’s fourth team in three seasons, and when you’re 26 years old and your career trajectory is like Moore’s, the end tends to seem a bit closer.
Moore was a second-round pick by the New York Jets in 2021 out of Ole Miss, where he was a college teammate of A.J. Brown. The Jets traded him after two seasons to Cleveland, attaching a third-round pick with him to acquire a second-round pick. Two seasons with the Browns yielded a combined 120 catches, 1,178 yards, and three touchdowns. Moore then signed a one-year deal with Buffalo last spring.
With the Bills, he appeared in nine games and was targeted 17 times before being waived in late November. He landed on Denver’s practice squad and made an appearance in the AFC championship game, with one catch for 4 yards in seven snaps.
The Eagles, preparing for life without Brown, brought in Moore to stockpile as much talent and depth at the position as they could. Moore entered training camp with an uncertain future. His roster spot is not guaranteed. He’s entering a season playing for a lower annual salary — $1.2 million — than he ever has.
Asked Friday after the seventh practice of camp about his NFL journey, Moore was a little philosophical.
“Life is not a linear path, I think, for any person,” Moore said. “There’s rarely — even some of the top players that get picked — that it goes exactly the way that they wanted. I think that’s there to teach you lessons. I’ve got kids. I got things I got to teach them outside of just having everything go my way. What example would I set if everything went my way? I wouldn’t have nothing to tell. I think it’s just brushing myself off, always having high hopes.”
Elijah Moore is on his fourth team in three seasons.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Right now, his hopes may be high for a reason. With DeVonta Smith and rookie Makai Lemon missing multiple practices with hamstring injuries, Moore has taken plenty of first-team reps and has flashed his abilities. It would be too strong to call him a camp standout, but his stock certainly is up from where it was before these seven camp practices.
“I’m super critical of myself so I always think there is so much improvement that I could do with my alignment, my assignment, my execution,” said Moore, who has 209 catches, 2,274 yards, and nine touchdowns through five NFL seasons. “Am I making the most of my opportunities? Yeah. Is there still opportunities I’m leaving out there? Yeah. I always want to be perfect, as perfect as I can.”
Wide receiver for the Eagles in a post-A.J. Brown world is interesting. Smith is the obvious No. 1, and Dontayvion Wicks has emerged as the likely No. 2 option, but beyond them there are question marks. How much time will Lemon miss in camp and how could that affect his preparedness come Week 1? What role will Hollywood Brown have? Will Darius Cooper carve out a role that is more than just the dirty work? Is having Brown and Moore redundant?
That last question is important for Moore, who has stood out more in camp so far than Brown, a player the Eagles signed to a deal with $5 million guaranteed. The Eagles could keep six receivers, but they may keep five, and Moore could find himself on the outside looking in if that’s the case (and even if the number is six).
There still is a lot of time for that to shake out. For now, Moore will continue to try to prove himself to his new coaching staff. Besides his work with the offense, Moore also has taken punt return reps. He has one career kick return and two career punt returns, but he said he wants to make himself available to the Eagles for whatever they ask or need of him.
Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean brings down Elijah Moore when he played for the Cleveland Browns in 2024. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“It’s one day at a time,” Moore said. “You got to make the most of every opportunity that you have. Whenever my number is called, it’s going to sound cliché, but you got to make the play.”
Earlier in the week, Jalen Hurts shouted out Moore for his role in a sequence from Monday’s practice. Moore made a mistake that resulted in Quinyon Mitchell picking Hurts off for a would-be touchdown. But several plays later, Moore ran a perfect route and caught a deep post near the goal line.
“We’re living in live bullets now, and everyone’s learning,” Moore said. “I made a mistake.”
It was a two-part route, Moore said, and he only ran the first part.
“That play is not going to make me,” he said. “You just keep playing.”
Jalen Hurts had his strongest showing of a young Eagles training camp on Monday, the fourth day of practice. And after connecting with Elijah Moore near the end zone on a deep post that went for about 40 yards, Hurts celebrated a little more than he normally would during a practice rep.
It wasn’t the play itself, or even his perfect throw, that had the quarterback feeling good, Hurts clarified Wednesday. The emotion came because of a “mishap” between the two new teammates earlier in practice. Moore, who was getting extra reps with first-round pick Makai Lemon dealing with a hamstring injury, ran the wrong route earlier that practice during seven-on-seven work. The end result was a Quinyon Mitchell interception that would have been an easy pick-six.
“I just think that was an example of responding,” Hurts said. “That’s what I was so proud of and happy about; not the throw, but that he was able to play the next play, show up in the right window at the right time and rip it in there for a touchdown down the middle of the field.”
It was the highlight of the day during what was a clean — besides the Mitchell interception — and efficient day from Hurts and the offense, and it showed Hurts’ willingness to throw the ball in the middle of the field, a characteristic of his game that he’ll need to show when the real football begins to silence those who say he isn’t willing.
Jalen Hurts has had both hot and cold moments within the new offense in the early days of training camp. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The new-look offense under first-year coordinator Sean Mannion is still in the early days of installation. While it got the best of Vic Fangio’s defense Monday, the defense has the upper hand so far through six days of practice.
Wednesday’s practice was a run-heavy day, and it was a shorter practice compared to Tuesday’s session that ran nearly two hours. For Hurts, Wednesday was another chance to “continue to take strides.” It isn’t supposed to be easy to install a new offense against one of the best defenses in the NFL.
“I like to think of the term calibrating,” Hurts said. “This is a time where we’re kind of putting it together and finding out who we are. We’ve got a lot of new pieces, an entirely new approach and MO, philosophy, to our offense. Being able to put that together and make it our own, I’m excited about where we are.”
The Eagles have a walkthrough on Thursday that is closed to media before returning to regular practices on Friday and Saturday, ending what will be the busiest practice week of training camp. Mannion’s unit has shown a lot of new wrinkles. Hurts is taking more snaps from under center. The run and play action plays are looking the same. The wide-zone blocking scheme is being installed. Hurts has kept the ball on more designed quarterback runs, including a read option Wednesday that he smartly pulled away from the running back and ran up the left sideline for a nice gain.
Hurts said it was “too soon to answer” how those designed quarterback runs mesh with the new offense. “I think we’re still installing things and putting all aspects of our offense in,” he said. “We haven’t finished installing. There’s still more to come.”
That’s important context to avoid overreacting to media reports and social media chatter about the offense during camp. Certain days have certain themes. The offense is brand new for most of the roster. There are components of it still not being repped. Lemon, Lane Johnson, and DeVonta Smith have missed multiple practices. Mannion is going through his first training camp as a coordinator and play caller. Oh, and Wednesday was just Aug. 5, more than five weeks ahead of the first meaningful snap.
There are a lot of adjustments for Hurts, but perhaps the biggest is going under center and using play action from under center. Asked Wednesday how that change impacts the way Hurts goes through his reads, Hurts said that nothing changes.
“It’s all going to my feet,” he said. “When I’m playing with my feet and I’m getting my eyes to the right place, you just play the position. I just think that’s more of a flow thing. … It’s a sequencing thing. In the end, you’re still playing the position. You want to play the position the same way: play with your feet, sweep through your reads, know exactly where you’re supposed to go with the ball, where your alerts are, whether it’s down the field or a man alert, just trying to play fast.”
Hurts said he is “letting curiosity lead me” during camp. He has long talked about wanting to know the why behind what he’s being asked to do. With the fresh scheme, he’s also learning about what each player’s responsibility is on a given play and even how Mannion “is seeing the game from a sequencing standpoint” when it comes to calling plays.
Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion watches the offense during training camp at Jefferson Health Training Complex. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Mannion said on Saturday that Hurts “asks really thought-provoking questions.”
“It’s been a constant back and forth,” Mannion said. “Jalen’s had a ton of success in this league and has played in a lot of games. I always want to know the things that he feels comfortable with and if there’s something that maybe we need to go into more detail on for him. There are so many things that you love to dive into, the really nitty-gritty of a play, and help him with total mastery. A lot of it is, for me as a play-caller, getting a feel for what are his comfort calls? What are the things that on a second-and-long he feels super confident in?
“It’s been a great partnership with Jalen since we got here.”
Smith was caught traveling 135 mph in a 70 mph zone, an incident that came four years after Smith was arrested in Barrow County, Ga., for speeding in a construction zone while driving on a suspended license.
“I apologized to the organization, and I’ll make that apology now,” Smith said Monday after Eagles practice. “I represent the Eagles no matter where I go, Georgia, Florida, it doesn’t matter. That’s one of the ones that I own up and I apologize for. It’s just like that. We make mistakes and it can’t happen again and that’s unacceptable. I did apologize to Howie [Roseman], I did apologize to Mr. Lurie, and I can’t let my teammates down like that. They hold me to a different accountability on and off the field.”
Smith, 25, said “nothing came from” the May arrest. A court date was originally set for July 14, but Smith would not need to appear in court if he paid the associated fines. After his 2022 arrest, Smith was accepted into a pretrial diversion program as part of a plea negotiation.
Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. apologized for his offseason arrest on Monday. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Smith is coming off an injury-plagued 2025 season with the Eagles. After undergoing surgery to repair a torn triceps following the Super Bowl, an aggravation in Week 3 forced him to miss five games. Smith called last season “frustrating” and said “all offseason I was just thinking about 18, just make it through the 18 [weeks].”
Smith said he is feeling stronger now and even put on a few pounds of muscle.
The Eagles remade their edge rushing corps in the offseason. Smith and Jalyx Hunt are the two returning players from last year’s roster. The depth chart has a new player at the top in Jonathan Greenard, who is expected to miss the majority of training camp with a pectoral injury. Greenard’s absence has meant a lot more first-team work for Smith, who may end up behind Hunt in the pecking order when the group is at full strength.
Greenard, Smith said, brings a little bit of the Brandon Graham “aspect” to the unit. “OGs bring a different mindset,” Smith said. He has picked Greenard’s brain about the new Eagle’s playing past and players he previously played with. Behind the top trio on the edge are Arnold Ebiketie and A.J. Epenesa, who complete what could be a pretty versatile group.
Nolan Smith had his season derailed at times by injury issues a season ago. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Smith had just three sacks in 12 games last season after 6½ in 16 games in 2024. The Eagles elected to pick up Smith’s fifth-year option in late April, the same day they did the same for their other 2023 first-round pick, Jalen Carter. Smith’s salary on the fifth year in 2027 will be just over $13.7 million, but he is slated to be a free agent after next season and it’s unclear if he’ll be extended by the Eagles before then.
Smith called the option being picked up by the Eagles “just another year to play football and showcase my talents.”
“Down by down, play by play, just play football, play free,” Smith said. “It’s a game you loved as a kid, it was taken away from me for six weeks last year, and I’m just happy to be able to play. Kind of just think about what my mama used to tell me: ‘You don’t make no plays, you don’t eat.’”
The Eagles are three practices into the 2026 training camp and, after a day off Sunday, are scheduled to return to the field Monday morning for practice No. 4.
That starts the busiest six-day practice stretch of camp. The team is scheduled to be on the field Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Let’s take a look at where things stand in our latest 53-man roster projection before the week kicks off:
Andy Dalton has taken more second-team reps than Tanner McKee.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Quarterbacks (3): Jalen Hurts, Andy Dalton, Cole Payton
Traded: Tanner McKee
Nothing has changed here from our previous, way-too-early first look at the 53 in June. It remains hard to believe that the Eagles keep Dalton and McKee on the roster. Dalton has taken more second-team reps than McKee to this point, so we’ll stick with McKee as the one who gets flipped for a draft asset later in camp. Of course, Dalton is a candidate to have the same fate. Both quarterbacks are slated to be free agents after the season. Payton has had an up-and-down start to camp, but the Eagles will take some of the struggles in stride if they believe he can be a developmental player in their system. And if they believe that, they would be taking a risk by trying to get the fifth-round pick through waivers.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Jalen Hurts have battles shaping up behind them on the depth chart.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Running backs (3): Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley
Bigsby certainly looks like he’s going to have a bigger role in this offense than he did in last year’s. Shipley hasn’t done anything spectacular yet, and Pierce has popped a little bit, but Shipley gets the nod again for now. Pierce could make the Eagles if they keep a fourth running back, but we’ll stick with three for now. (Note: We listed Cameron Latu here last time as a fullback, but we’ll shift him to tight ends, where the Eagles roster him. Spoiler alert: He’s still on the 53.)
Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith is among the locks for the roster.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Wide receivers (6): DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon, Hollywood Brown, Darius Cooper, Elijah Moore
Cut: Johnny Wilson, Danny Gray, Britain Covey, Quez Watkins, Erik Ezukanma, Samori Toure
The top four players should be considered locks. Cooper is competing with Wilson for a role that Nick Sirianni described as doing the “dirty work.” Keeping both seems redundant. Cooper currently has the edge in that competition. Moore is a wild card. If the Eagles decide to go with just five here, he likely would be the odd man out. Gray had the play of the day Saturday, but there’s a lot of traffic ahead of him.
Cameron Latu (left), here participating in a drill with Dallas Goedert, likely has a spot on the 53-man roster because of his versatility.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Tight ends (4): Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt, Eli Stowers, Cameron Latu
Cut: Grant Calcaterra, Stone Smartt, E.J. Jenkins, Dae’Quan Wright
No change here. We haven’t seen a lot of targets going to the tight ends so far in camp. Goedert, Mundt, and Stowers likely will be the main trio at tight end, and Latu’s value as a fullback, tight end, and special teamer gets him on the 53 right now.
The Eagles offensive line features a lot of depth behind the likes of Jordan Mailata.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Offensive line (10): Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson, Fred Johnson, Markel Bell, Drew Kendall, Myles Hinton, Michael Jordan
We went extra heavy in Vol. 1 of this exercise by keeping 11 guys, but 10 still is pretty deep. There’s been some shuffling, though the bottom of the depth chart remains plenty up in the air. The first eight guys listed are locks, and the only real competition among that group currently is which of the backup tackles, Bell and Fred Johnson, gets the swing tackle spot. The makeup of the reserves on the interior is still to be determined. Kendall got some work with the first team at left guard, spelling Dickerson, on Saturday. He also took some second-team center reps, flipping with Majors, who played center with the second team during the first two practices. The Eagles seem to like Majors, and they’ve moved Hinton inside. Jordan has experience, which could prove useful. Morris was banged up Saturday and left the field, Roberts appeared to suffer a more significant injury on the final play of practice, and Williams sat out with an injury. Those will be worth monitoring this week.
Eagles defensive tackles Jalen Carter (right) and Gabe Hall share a laugh at the end of practice Saturday at Jefferson Health Training Complex.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Defensive tackles (5): Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Byron Young, Uar Bernard
Cut: Ty Robinson, Gabe Hall, Zion Wilson
No change from June. We had Robinson off the list then, and that prediction looks better now. The fourth-round pick from last season has been taking developmental reps next to Bernard. That’s not a good sign. The last Eagles fourth-round pick to not make the roster in his second season was running back Donnel Pumphrey. Shoutout to NBC Sports’ Reuben Frank for that stat. Bernard’s roster situation is fascinating. Will the Eagles keep a guy on the 53 who won’t play a snap this season because of the fear that another team would claim the first-time football player on waivers? We’ll find out eventually, as long as Bernard gets through camp healthy. Rostering Bernard could make the Eagles want to keep six linemen here, since Bernard likely won’t see a snap. Robinson and Hall would be the beneficiaries there.
Eagles defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Jeremiah Washburn speaks with linebacker Jonathan Greenard at training camp.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Edge rushers (5): Jonathan Greenard, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, Arnold Ebiketie, A.J. Epenesa
Cut: Keyshawn James-Newby, Jose Ramirez, Joshua Weru
Status quo on the edge. Greenard seems likely to miss the bulk of training camp with his pectoral injury. Hunt has been dominant so far in practice and seems likely to out-rep Smith during games. Behind that trio, Ebiketie and Epenesa seem like the most likely pair to fill out the back of the rotation. James-Newby, a seventh-round pick, was carted to the tent and then walked gingerly into the building Saturday, cutting his practice short.
Nick Sirianni talks with linebacker Zack Baun during training camp on Thursday.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The only way this changes (besides a major injury or roster addition) is if Chance Campbell gives the Eagles a reason to keep a fifth linebacker. He was a highly regarded practice squad player last season and had a nice interception on Thursday. Keeping a fifth linebacker would mean going lighter at another spot, like cornerback, offensive line, or wide receiver, and the other positions on this roster are more important than a deep reserve at off-ball linebacker.
Eagles cornerback Riq Woolen (right) works with cornerback Mac McWilliams during training camp drills on Saturday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Cornerbacks (6): Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Riq Woolen, Jonathan Jones, Kelee Ringo, Mac McWilliams
Mitchell, DeJean, and Woolen make up what could be one of the best cornerback units in the NFL. Their backups have different skill sets. Jones can play inside and out and is the veteran of the bunch with 10 NFL seasons under his belt. That combination should get him on the roster. Ringo, meanwhile, has excelled on special teams. McWilliams, a fifth-round pick last season, also has inside-outside versatility. The Eagles could end up going lighter here given safety Michael Carter II’s nickel background.
Eagles safety Marcus Epps catches the football during training camp on Saturday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Safeties (4): Drew Mukuba, Marcus Epps, Michael Carter II, Cole Wisniewski
Cut: J.T. Gray, Andre’ Sam, Kapena Gushiken, Max Pulley
DeJean will play safety in base defense, and when he’s at nickel Epps is getting the majority of first-team reps. Carter has taken a few, too. Wisniewski gets the nod over Gray, who has been a career special teamer. Howie Roseman hasn’t been afraid of August trades, and safety is the position most likely to see an upgrade between now and the end of camp.
Eagles punter Braden Mann and kicker Jake Elliott are two of the three specialists on the roster.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Special teams (3): Jake Elliott (kicker), Braden Mann (punter), Rocco Underwood (long snapper)
These are the only three specialists on the roster.
A second consecutive offseason shoulder surgery forced Jihaad Campbell to miss most of the on-field portion of the Eagles’ spring program. Campbell’s time away from football during chunks of this offseason was somewhat forced, but also intentional, the 22-year-old linebacker said Thursday.
College football at Alabama bled into the pre-draft process. Then came his left shoulder surgery following the scouting combine, an injury that likely caused him to slip a little bit in the draft before the Eagles traded up a spot to pick him at No. 31 last year.
Then came that rehabilitation process, rookie minicamp, gearing up for his first NFL season, his first NFL training camp, and a rookie season that saw him filling in as a starter for the recovering Nakobe Dean, taking snaps as an edge rusher when the Eagles were banged up, and eventually finishing the season as a backup.
Campbell, a South Jersey native, said he spent some time during the offseason and after his right shoulder surgery — which he called “a little fix-up thing” — doing some “spiritual grounding” and “self-critiquing” in an effort to “double down on myself and understand how I can be the best version of myself.”
He’s now two practices into his second NFL training camp. He should feel more comfortable now, more secure in his role, than he did one year ago, considering there is little doubt whether he is the starter or not. He will line up next to Zack Baun, and he does not have a Nakobe Dean-like player looking over his shoulder, working his way back from an injury to take snaps away.
Campbell’s own ailments, he hopes, are in the rearview.
Campbell (then wearing number 30) watched drills during OTAs and minicamp while recovering from shoulder surgery.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
He showed up to camp this week a little bigger than he had been. Baun noticed. Campbell said he put an emphasis on getting stronger as he recovered from surgery. Baun said Wednesday, after the first practice of camp, that he can see Campbell’s growth not just in his body, but in the meeting rooms, where Campbell has a better understanding of the defense, having played in it last year at multiple positions.
“I’m just glad he’s working hard and knows he’s still got some room for improvement,” Baun said.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Thursday, though, that Campbell playing a few games primarily on the edge stunted his development at inside linebacker last season. The days of Campbell cross-training on the edge are over. He may blitz some, sure, but he’s an inside linebacker.
Asked if he agreed with Fangio’s assessment of last season, Campbell said: “Whatever Vic says, right? He’s the big dog. I believe in Coach Fangio, his process, his understanding of how he actually wants things to look like for his defense.”
Fangio’s defense is being stressed a little more in camp so far. The Eagles have a new offense under first-year coordinator Sean Mannion, and they’re implementing a new scheme, one that the Eagles typically have only seen against select opponents in the past. Baun said playing linebacker against an offense that runs from under center and utilizes more play action and wide-zone blocking in the running game requires “good eyes.”
Eagles linebacker Zack Baun (53) celebrates with Jihaad Campbell after breaking up a pass against the Cowboys in 2025.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Practicing against this type of offense should help the Eagles prepare for some of their opponents. The Eagles play principles of the Sean McVay-Kyle Shanahan scheme, and their schedule includes matchups against offensive coaches that hang from branches of that tree (Arizona, Houston, Jacksonville, Seattle).
Campbell said he feels more comfortable in his second season, even against a new offense, dissecting formations and understanding what an offense is running and what it’s trying to do.
Campbell wasn’t playing poorly when Dean — who now is with the Las Vegas Raiders — supplanted him as the starter last season. He forced a fumble in his first NFL game, had an interception in Week 4 in Tampa, piled up a season-high 11 tackles in Week 5 vs. Denver, had solid reps in coverage, and, later in the season, while filling in for Dean in Buffalo in Week 17, showed his speed when he raced past multiple players to recover a Josh Allen fumble.
He finished the season with 80 tackles in 17 games (10 starts). Pro Football Focus grades are far from gospel, but Campbell was the sixth-ranked off-ball linebacker through eight games before Dean took over, and he finished the season graded 14th overall among players at his position.
The offseason then featured another surgery, clarity on his role when Dean left in free agency, and a return to the No. 11, a number he wore in high school and college.
What’s next?
“When you’re a young linebacker, you want to improve on so many things,” Campbell said. “You want to grasp information from a lot of different things, a lot of greats, kind of steal their game, watch film. That’s what I’ve been doing during the offseason.”
