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  • Eagles grades: Tanner McKee struggles, Makai Lemon debuts in preseason finale loss to Bengals

    Eagles grades: Tanner McKee struggles, Makai Lemon debuts in preseason finale loss to Bengals

    Instant grades on the Eagles’ performance in their 30-13 preseason loss to the Cincinnati Bengals:

    Quarterback: C-

    The winner of the No. 2 job is still unclear. Can both lose? Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton have been that uninspiring. The preseason finale offered more questionable quarterback play. There have been only glimmers.

    McKee got his first start of this preseason after Dalton started the first two games. He played the entire first half. It was a brutal watch. McKee completed 12 of 22 passes, but for only 55 yards. He underthrew and overthrew receivers, looked timid in the pocket, and ultimately became a check-down artist.

    Eagles close out winless preseason with uneven 30-13 loss to Bengals; roster cuts are up next

    McKee didn’t exactly have the best players around him. There were several drops, one that resulted in his lone interception. But receivers were also schemed open. Britain Covey got separation off a nifty double move for a would-be touchdown, but McKee completely overshot him.

    Dalton took over in the second half. Like McKee last week vs. the New England Patriots, he outplayed his competition in relief. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown — and with a few lesser players at certain spots.

    Dalton had some shaky moments, too. And when given the opportunity to engineer a go-ahead, fourth-quarter drive, he and the offense couldn’t get the job done.

    On Dalton’s first series, he airmailed a third-down throw over an open Covey. He did better on his next turn. He got to his third read on a third-down conversion to receiver Quez Watkins. Later in the possession, he hit receiver Danny Gray for 26 yards over the middle. A series later, Dalton did well to avoid the rush and throw across his body for a 12-yard completion, and he drove the Eagles to their lone trip into the end zone.

    Rookie Cole Payton came in late in the fourth quarter. He continued to hold the ball too long when he dropped. His passing wasn’t much better. In Payton’s defense, he hasn’t practiced much the last few weeks. The Eagles will take a long view with the fifth-round draft pick.

    Payton must really want to play, though. He was in on the cover unit for the Eagles’ first punt.

    Running back: B

    Will Shipley was rewarded with a rest day after his impressive performance in the second preseason game. That gave Dameon Pierce, who missed most of camp with a hamstring injury, the nod to open the game. He looked strong and decisive in four carries for 44 yards. Pierce had a rumbling, bumbling 16-yard run in the first quarter. He did have a couple drops as a pass catcher and left early after an apparent injury.

    Carson Steele got in the game in the second quarter. Like last week, he stood out more as a receiver. He broke a tackle as a receiver and picked up a first down. Steele later had a 17-yard reception that also included a broken tackle. He caught a 5-yard touchdown out of the backfield in the third quarter.

    Steele also rushed eight times for 24 yards.

    Receiver/Tight end: C-

    Makai Lemon got his first NFL preseason action after missing the first two games because of a hamstring strain. It was a tentative beginning. McKee went to him early and often. The first pass was underthrown for just a 3-yard catch. The second was an out pattern where Lemon got a little separation, but Bengals corner Tacario Davis broke up the pass.

    Eagles wide receiver Makai Lemon missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Lemon later had a McKee delivery sail through his hands that was intercepted by Davis. It was thrown a touch behind him, but the ball should have been caught. The Eagles seem intent on starting Lemon right away, but he still seems green.

    Receiver Darius Cooper was among several who played in the first two preseason games but got the night off, virtually assuring his place on the 53-man roster. Elijah Moore had a couple first-half grabs for 10 yards. Covey got open often and had two grabs for 20 yards. He dusted his man on the double move. Too bad McKee overshot him. Gray caught a 26-yard pass over the middle off play action in the third quarter. He had a couple other grabs.

    Eli Stowers missed another chance to get live repetitions before the season. The rookie tight end was sidelined with a hamstring injury he suffered last week. Tight end Cameron Latu caught a 10-yard pass in the second quarter, but stopped his route when targeted on the next play. Latu later couldn’t reel in a Dalton pass. He had a solid wham block on Pierce’s first carry for eight yards. E.J. Jenkins dropped a strike from McKee in the first quarter.

    Stone Smartt had two catches for 10 yards.

    Final Eagles 53-man roster prediction: Will all four quarterbacks make the initial roster? It’s possible.

    Offensive line: B-

    The blocking up front was solid, all things considered. While it’s not clear if Willie Lampkin was held out because of injury or because he already has made the team, Drew Kendall was among the non-injured Eagles who played last week to be inactive. Either way, both interior linemen are virtual locks to make the roster after strong summers. Rookie tackle Markel Bell probably would have gotten one more test before the opener, but he was held out with thumb and leg injuries.

    Fred Johnson’s roster spot isn’t as secure. He started at right tackle and didn’t make any obvious errors. Johnson was also the first O-lineman to get pulled — a good sign he’ll make the cut. Jake Majors started at center and played the first three quarters. He did well to climb to the second level and lead the way on Pierce’s 16-yard carry. Majors is also a solid guard, but he could be on the outside looking in by Sunday. The same could be said for left tackle John Ojukwu and right guard Michael Jordan. All three are still NFL-caliber, but the Eagles will invest in youth.

    Left guard Micah Morris got driven back in the second quarter on a run play that netted just a yard. But Morris continued to show enough promise to make the roster as a rookie. Cameron Williams replaced Johnson at right tackle and promptly got roasted off the edge. McKee’s arm was moving forward, however, and a strip sack was reversed to an incompletion. Myles Hinton didn’t get in until the fourth quarter.

    Defensive line: C-

    The effort was there, and so were some highlights, but the front just didn’t have the numbers to compete all night. Ty Robinson didn’t get home for a sack as he did in the first two preseason games, but the defensive tackle didn’t play as much. Robinson did draw a holding penalty in the first quarter.

    Eagles general manager Howie Roseman (left) and coach Nick Sirianni opted to protect most of their starters in the preseason.Monica Herndon / Staff Photo

    Gabe Hall started slow. He vacated his gap assignment and the Bengals had a nice run on their first play from scrimmage. But he finished strong and showed impressive closing speed and hit quarterback Sean Clifford in the third quarter.

    A.J. Epenesa and Arnold Ebiketie started at outside linebacker and played just a few series. Epenesa set the edge on an early run stuff. Ebiketie generated pressure on an early third down that resulted in an incomplete pass.

    Keyshawn James-Newby made a late plea to make the team after missing most of camp. The edge ripped the ball out for a fumble with a second effort. Earlier, he flashed on back-to-back plays in the second quarter when he ran down Bengals quarterback Josh Johnson for a sack and then pressured him into an errant throw. James-Newby drew a holding penalty in the fourth quarter.

    The Eagles’ two foreign exchange students, as defensive coordinator Vic Fangio likes to call them, struggled. Defensive tackle Uar Bernard and edge Joshua Weru may make the 53-man roster because of the team’s belief in their promise, but the future isn’t now. Bernard’s agility tangibles pop off the screen, but he understandably looks lost at times. Weru is more refined, but he needs to get stronger. He committed an early illegal use of the hands penalty.

    Linebacker: C-

    The Eagles allowed more than 150 yards on the ground and a lot of those yards were on the off-ball linebackers. There were a lot of missed tackles. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was another who played in the first two preseason games and did not dress.

    Smael Mondon wasn’t given that luxury, although he’s assured a roster spot. He started in the middle and was all over a screen pass that resulted in a loss. Chance Campbell was his counterpart. He’s a physical defender. He could sneak in. Campbell won at the point of attack vs. a pulling tight end and made a run stop. Deontae Lawson took over for Mondon. He made some poor reads as a run defender and was out of his gap a few times.

    Cornerback: C

    Kelee Ringo started opposite Mac McWilliams on the outside. He had an early pass breakup and got an early hook. Ringo won’t be getting a call on Sunday.

    McWilliams got beat deep over the middle for 25 yards on the Bengals’ first drive. He surrendered another first down on the next series, and then the next, and then another. He might have the roster made, but it shouldn’t be certain.

    Eagles safety Andre Sam was carted off with an injury on Friday.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Kapena Gushiken started in the slot and was targeted early on a few completions. He moved to safety on the second series and back to slot and got rubbed out on the Bengals’ second touchdown in the third quarter.

    Shaun Wade got toasted by a double move in the first quarter. He did have a pass breakup a quarter later. Ambry Thomas was shaky once again. Isaiah Bolden got hurt late.

    Safety: C-

    Michael Carter II made the team, but he likely played because the Eagles wanted to give him more exposure at safety. He tied up a tight end on a fade into the end zone on the opening possession. He later swapped spots with Gushiken and was yanked before the half.

    Andre Sam broke up an early pass. A few plays later, Sam made a play on the ball from the post but couldn’t pull in the interception. He forced a fumble that the Bengals retained in the third quarter. Sam left when he was carted off with a likely significant leg injury.

    The safety play was sloppy after Carter and Sam left. Maximus Pulley finished with seven tackles. Cole Wisniewski was back on the bench after suffering a concussion last week.

    Special teams: B+

    Kicker Jake Elliott needed three games to attempt his first field goal of the preseason. He converted from 45 yards out before the half and got another chance on the opening possession of the second and nailed a 56-yarder. Punter Braden Mann averaged 40.6 net yards on five punts.

    Lemon was deep to field a punt in the third quarter and casually handled a squirter in which he lost a yard. Gushiken made a strong open-field tackle as a gunner on the punt cover team. Mims punched the ball and the Eagles recovered on the opening kickoff of the second half.

    Rookie long snapper Rocco Underwood didn’t make any noticeable errors, but he may not survive post-waiver wire signings next week.

    Coaching: C

    Nick Sirianni’s decision — or should we say general manager Howie Roseman’s — to rest Jalen Hurts and most of his starters didn’t come as a surprise. The Eagles avoided serious injuries and have previously proved that you don’t have to play in the preseason to win in Week 1. But with offensive coordinator Sean Mannion installing a new offense and Hurts and Co. struggling in camp, it could come into question if the unit is sloppy in the opener. Time will tell.

    Mannion called plays in the booth for the second straight game. He didn’t deviate much from the vanilla play-calling of the first two games. He will get to display his arsenal for the first time in a few weeks. Fangio is looking forward to having his massively talented first unit on the field in a few weeks.

  • Final Eagles 53-man roster prediction: Will all four quarterbacks make the initial roster? It’s possible.

    Final Eagles 53-man roster prediction: Will all four quarterbacks make the initial roster? It’s possible.

    Training camp is officially over, and Howie Roseman is on the clock.

    The Eagles have to submit their initial 53-man roster by 6 p.m. Sunday, and there are key decisions to make at multiple positions, including the quarterback spot.

    Projecting the 53-man roster has its twists and turns throughout a training camp. The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane revealed his one and only roster prediction earlier on Friday before the team’s 30-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the final preseason game.

    Final Eagles 53-man roster prediction: Will all four quarterbacks make the initial roster? It’s possible.

    But Friday night’s defeat provided some more data when it comes to decision making, both for Roseman and in this roster view. So, let’s get to our final projection of the 2026 training camp:

    Did Tanner McKee do enough to win the No. 2 quarterback job?Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Quarterbacks (4): Jalen Hurts, Andy Dalton, Tanner McKee, Cole Payton

    Well, this is quite a departure from every projection from this training camp. But if you watched Friday night, and saw the other two games, can you really imagine another NFL general manager parting with draft capital to acquire one of Hurts’ backups?

    Dalton probably has more trade value at this time of year given his body of work. But trading him means the Eagles would be committing to McKee as the primary backup, and while that was fine last year, backing up Hurts with McKee and Payton seems a bit risky for a team that fancies itself a Super Bowl contender.

    McKee was dreadful Friday night, though the necessary caveats need to be applied: he was playing with backups, and the only first-teamer who joined him on the field, Makai Lemon, was playing NFL football for the first time. But he was playing against backups, too. He finished the game 12-for-22 for 55 yards and an interception (that hit Lemon in the hands). A year ago, McKee dominated the Bengals in the first preseason contest of the season and cemented himself as the bona fide backup.

    Keeping four quarterbacks would be a bit unusual, but it also gives Roseman some time to figure out what to do next. The first game is still two weeks away, and a lot can change on his roster and the other 31 between now and then.

    The easy answer might be to cut Payton. The fifth-round pick has been turnover-prone during camp, but the Eagles may not want to expose him to waivers and ensure they’re the team that gets to develop him.

    All of this uncertainty begs the question: Is the Week 1 backup quarterback even on the team’s roster right now?

    Saquon Barkley’s work in the Sean Mannion offense will bear watching once the regular season gets started. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Running backs (3): Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley

    Cut: Dameon Pierce, Carson Steele, Jordan Mims

    This projection has been steady all camp. Pierce ran well Friday night, and Steele has been a playmaker, but that’s why there’s a practice squad.

    DeVonta Smith highlights a new-look Eagles receiving corps. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Wide receivers (5): DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon, Darius Cooper, Hollywood Brown

    Cut: Elijah Moore, Britain Covey, Quez Watkins, Danny Gray, Samori Toure, Erik Ezukanma, Tahj Washington

    It’s fair to argue Moore had a better camp than Brown, but Brown signed a guaranteed $5 million deal, and Moore is a vested veteran that won’t have to go through waivers. Do the Eagles keep him around by promising him a game-day elevation to avoid him going elsewhere? Injuries plagued the top end of the receiving corps throughout camp, so the unit will enter the season without A.J. Brown and with some question marks hanging over it.

    Eli Stowers’ development would give the Eagles another weapon in the passing game, but he’s been slow to acclimate to the NFL. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Tight ends (4): Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt, Eli Stowers, Cameron Latu

    Cut: Grant Calcaterra, E.J. Jenkins, Stone Smartt

    Stowers, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, did not have an inspiring camp. He’s likely to be ready to go for the start of the season, but he may not be ready for a real role. Thus, the need for Latu, who could clear waivers if he’s cut but provides the Eagles with a valuable special-teamer who can block.

    Tight end is a spot where Roseman could be looking to upgrade via trade between now and Week 1, too.

    Lane Johnson and a talented O-line must adapt to a new wide zone blocking scheme. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Offensive line (10): Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson, Markel Bell, Drew Kendall, Willie Lampkin, Micah Morris, Fred Johnson

    Cut: John Ojukwu, Jake Majors, Michael Jordan, Cameron Williams, Myles Hinton, Zeke Correll

    Bell seems to be the winner of the swing tackle competition between the third-round pick and Fred Johnson. It’s possible Johnson’s job is in danger. He had a rough camp and the new offense might not be a scheme fit for him, but the Eagles aren’t very deep at tackle, which could work in his favor.

    Ojukwu could be a player the Eagles want to get on the practice squad, as a veteran who has positional versatility. Kendall and Lampkin both have positional versatility along the interior, as does Majors, who had a good camp and may end up making the team.

    Jalen Carter (left) headlines one of the most talented defensive line groups in football. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Defensive tackles (6): Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Byron Young, Ty Robinson, Uar Bernard

    Cut: Gabe Hall, Zion Wilson, David Blay

    Robinson came on a few weeks into camp and solidified his spot on the roster. The Eagles have one of the best interior trios in the NFL in Carter, Davis, and Ojomo, and a pretty solid No. 4 in Young. It’ll be hard for Robinson to carve out a large role, and he’ll need to show he can execute against first-team offensive linemen.

    Bernard, meanwhile, is a long-term project the Eagles want to develop and probably won’t risk losing to a waiver wire claim.

    Joshua Weru (46) and Chance Campbell (59) are two of the names bidding for roster spots in the front seven. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Edge rushers (6): Jonathan Greenard, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, Arnold Ebiketie, A.J. Epenesa, Joshua Weru

    Cut: Tarron Jackson, Keyshawn James-Newby, Jose Ramirez

    Greenard’s status for Week 1 might be in doubt, but it seems unlikely he starts the season on the PUP list, so the Eagles will need to roster him on the initial 53. Hunt has had arguably the best training camp of any Eagles player. It’s after Smith where the Eagles may have some depth concerns. Ebiketie hasn’t exactly looked like a world-beater in camp, but he’s signed to a relatively expensive deal (one year, $7.3 million, $4.3 million guaranteed).

    The Eagles plucked Epenesa out of free agency in June, and while he’s firmly in the mix for a roster spot, the Eagles could cut him and bring him back on the practice squad with the aim to elevate him on game day. He will not need to go through waivers.

    Weru is in the same category as Bernard.

    Zack Baun leads the inside linebacker group. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Linebackers (4): Zack Baun, Jihaad Campbell, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Smael Mondon Jr.

    Cut: Chance Campbell, Deontae Lawson, Brandon George

    Vic Fangio likes Chance Campbell, but is he even the best deep reserve at his position? Lawson has as good an argument for a roster spot. The Eagles have an abundance of capable linebackers. Trotter probably could start on multiple teams. Mondon, a 2025 fifth-round pick, seems to be developing well.

    Campbell and Lawson are deserving of spots. But that doesn’t mean the Eagles need to keep a fifth linebacker. The Eagles could roll the dice and cut both Campbell and Lawson and live with one of them being claimed and getting one of them on the practice squad while crossing their fingers it’s both of them.

    Cornerbacks Cooper DeJean (left) and Quinyon Mitchell (center) are part of one of the team’s positional strengths. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Cornerbacks (6): Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Riq Woolen, Jonathan Jones, Kelee Ringo, Mac McWilliams

    Cut: Jakorian Bennett, Tariq Castro-Fields, Shaun Wade, Ambry Thomas, Isaiah Bolden

    McWilliams struggled during the team’s preseason games, but the Eagles need all the depth they can get behind their top-line trio of Mitchell, Woolen, and DeJean (nickel). Jones battled a shoulder injury during camp, and while he may be the primary backup option on the outside, he’ll be 33 in a few weeks.

    Ringo’s special teams talents help get him on the roster.

    Marcus Epps seems to have won the starting job at safety but the Eagles could still seek to bolster the position. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Safeties (3): Andrew Mukuba, Marcus Epps, Michael Carter II

    Cut: Cole Wisniewski, Maximus Pulley, Andre Sam, Kapena Gushiken, Jaylen Mahoney.

    Maybe Wisniewski ends up on the roster if he didn’t suffer a concussion in the second preseason game. The seventh-round pick dealt with a hamstring injury for most of the first part of camp.

    Safety is the thinnest position on the roster, and keeping just three is fitting. Roseman could be looking to acquire a safety to bulk up the position.

    But keeping three is also reasonable because DeJean is going to eat up some snaps at safety when the Eagles are in base. Carter, meanwhile, could be on the field in dime packages and can provide some backup nickel snaps, too.

    Jake Elliott (right, with punter Braden Mann) finished the preseason strong on Friday night. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Special teams (2): Jake Elliott (kicker), Braden Mann (punter)

    Cut: Rocco Underwood (long snapper)

    Cutting Underwood helps Roseman get other players on the roster and bides time.

  • Eagles close out winless preseason with uneven 30-13 loss to Bengals; status of QB2 competition unclear

    Eagles close out winless preseason with uneven 30-13 loss to Bengals; status of QB2 competition unclear

    The preseason mercifully ends with a goose egg in the Eagles’ win column.

    Andy Dalton led his first touchdown drive of the preseason, but the Eagles still fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-13, at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday night.

    Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ third and final game of the exhibition slate:

    Meh-kee; Dalton shows (a little) life

    The Eagles backup quarterback competition continued to underwhelm on the whole.

    After displaying signs of progress in the second preseason game against the New England Patriots, Tanner McKee took a step back on Friday.

    He started and played the entire first half. On 32 plays, McKee went 12-for-22 for 55 yards and an interception, good for a 41.1 passer rating. He was sacked twice.

    Dalton, meanwhile, had his best single-game performance of the preseason on paper. He went 12-for-19 for 104 yards and a touchdown (95.1 quarterback rating) on 26 plays.

    Still, aside from the scoring drive, Dalton amassed just 45 net yards on 15 plays. In total, the Eagles depth quarterbacks combined for four touchdown passes — two from McKee, one from Dalton, and one from rookie Cole Payton — through three preseason games.

    While neither McKee nor Dalton seemed to definitively separate themselves in the competition, Nick Sirianni expressed confidence in both quarterbacks and their capabilities.

    “I’ve been pleased with both those guys through camp,” Sirianni said after the game. “I feel we’re in a good spot there. We’ll go back and look at every throw they made from preseason games to practices to joint practices to operation practices and we’ll make our decision.

    “I thought there were some good things. There were obviously always things you got to clean up at every position and in every game.”

    McKee, the 2023 sixth-rounder out of Stanford struggled to push the ball downfield in Friday’s game. Most of his yardage came on short gains, namely checkdowns to the running backs. Running back Carson Steele was McKee’s most popular target in the first half, as he amassed five receptions on five targets for 32 yards. Steele had one long 17-yard catch-and-run gain, but he averaged 3.75 yards per reception on his other four.

    The sacks that McKee took highlighted his inability to escape the pocket. Former Eagles defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland split a sack with Bengals defensive end Isaiah Foskey on the Eagles’ opening drive, collapsing on McKee from either side as he lingered too long in the pocket and eventually attempted to flee.

    Right before the end of the first half, McKee took another sack from Foskey, who beat left tackle John Ojukwu. Again, McKee failed to get the ball out quickly, but this sack was less egregious than the first one.

    McKee was nearly strip-sacked in the second quarter by Powell-Ryland after right tackle Cameron Williams gave up the pressure, but the play was eventually ruled an incomplete pass.

    Despite his shaky performance in the preseason finale, McKee said he felt good about his overall showing in training camp.

    “I feel a lot more comfortable just with the offense, calling the plays, [getting] guys in the right spots. I feel like at the beginning, you’re thinking a ton. … Then by the end of training camp, you can get guys on the right page, and they have questions about their route stem or their depth or whatever it is. And as a quarterback, you’ve got to have all the answers.

    “Felt like we’ve made a huge step, and we’re going to continue to grow in that way.”

    Dalton, the former Bengals quarterback of nine seasons (2011-19), took over at the beginning of the second half. He wasn’t any more impressive than McKee was to start.

    Dalton was handed favorable field position after Eagles receiver Jordan Mims, who signed with the team on Monday, forced a fumble on Bengals kick returner Tahj Brooks and Andre Sam came up with the recovery at the Bengals’ 43-yard line.

    The 38-year-old quarterback didn’t do much with it. After a Steele five-yard run, Dalton threw two straight incomplete passes to Steele and Britain Covey. The Eagles settled for a 56-yard Jake Elliott field goal to pull within 9-6.s

    Eagles quarterback Andy Dalton looked crisper against the Bengals than he did in last week’s meeting with the Patriots. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    But Dalton heated up on his second possession. He led an 11-play, 76-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a 26-yard play-action strike over the middle for Danny Gray that put the Eagles in the red zone. Steele continued his impressive preseason showing, as his five-yard touchdown reception made it 16-13, Bengals.

    Overall, Dalton was pleased with his entire body of work throughout the summer.

    “I think just being comfortable in everything that we’re doing,” Dalton said. “Having a good understanding of the little things that go into play in this position. I felt really comfortable out there, especially tonight. I felt like I was in a good place.”

    What does the future hold for either quarterback, as the Eagles trim the roster down to 53 on Sunday at 6 p.m.?

    “They haven’t given us a time frame [for a decision],” McKee said. “So, we’ll see.”

    Lemon drop

    After missing three weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury, rookie first-round receiver Makai Lemon made his preseason debut.

    He was rusty. Lemon was on the field for the Eagles’ first four possessions on offense. He finished with three receptions on five targets for three yards.

    McKee got Lemon involved right away. On the first play of the game, he completed a three-yard play-action bootleg pass to Lemon. His throw was a little low, but the 22-year-old receiver managed to adjust and snag the pass.

    That three-yarder was Lemon’s longest reception of the night.

    He was targeted again on the opening drive on another play-action pass, this time down the right sideline. McKee’s pass was nearly intercepted by Bengals rookie cornerback Tacario Davis, and it fell incomplete.

    Bengals cornerback Tacario Davis intercepts a pass intended for Eagles wide receiver Makai Lemon on Friday night. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    McKee wasn’t as lucky in the second quarter. On third-and-7 from the Bengals’ 25, the Eagles’ best field position at that point in the game, McKee was picked off by Davis after Lemon dropped a pass on an in-breaker. The pass was a bit high, but the ball deflected off both of Lemon’s hands.

    “I’ve got to get the ball down,” McKee said. “I know it’s not fun as a receiver to put your hands over your head when you’re going across the middle, and so as a quarterback, I’ve got to get the ball down and make that an easier catch for him.”

    The Bengals turned Davis’ 15-yard return to their own 36 into an eventual 34-yard field goal, going up 9-0.

    He also took a rep at punt returner late in the third quarter. Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow shanked it, and while Lemon initially waved it off, he mishandled the ball when it bounced in his direction. Lemon ultimately managed to secure it, but he lost a yard on the return.

    Seeing double

    Two No. 10s in white Eagles jerseys shared the field on Friday.

    Payton and Braden Mann are both wearing the number in camp, which is not uncommon, especially between players in different phases of the game. But it’s less common to see those two players on the field at the same time.

    Cole Payton was one of two No. 10s wearing white jerseys on the field Friday night. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    On a couple of Mann’s punts in the first half, Payton was on the field in punt coverage. As the Eagles mull whether to keep the rookie fifth-rounder out of North Dakota State on the initial 53-man roster, they’re getting a better sense of the ways he can contribute beyond the quarterback position.

    Payton entered the game at quarterback with roughly four and a half minutes remaining in regulation. He did not complete either of his two pass attempts. He was sacked by Powell-Ryland.

    Injury report

    Safety Andre Sam went down late in the third quarter after attempting to make a tackle. He did not put any pressure on his left leg as he was lifted off the field and carted indoors.

    Sam, the 2024 undrafted free agent out of LSU, had a strong outing prior to his injury. He recorded a pass breakup, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries (one on defense, another on special teams), and three tackles.

    Cornerback Isaiah Bolden was injured late in the fourth quarter. He did not return to the game.

  • Phillies World Series winner Larry Christenson has died at 72

    Phillies World Series winner Larry Christenson has died at 72

    Former Phillies pitcher and 1980 World Series champion Larry Christenson died on Friday morning while on a fishing trip with family and friends in Washington state, the team announced. Christenson was 72.

    Known as “LC,” he spent his entire major league career with the Phillies after being selected third overall in the 1972 MLB draft. Over 11 seasons, Christenson went 83-71 with a 3.79 ERA and 781 strikeouts in 1,402 ⅔ innings.

    “It is with great sadness that we just learned of the passing of Larry Christenson, who was a friend for 50 years,” former Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt said in a statement. “Larry was very special, the guy that kept in touch with all of us, he always had a smile on his face, he never forgot a moment he spent with you. His passing will leave a hole in all of our hearts. May he rest in peace.”

    A native of Everett, Wash., Christenson made his major league debut at 19 on April 13, 1973, and pitched a complete game in a 7-1 win over the New York Mets. He went on to help the Phillies qualify for the postseason six times over his 11 seasons. The 220 games Christenson started rank ninth all-time among Phillies pitchers.

    Christenson posted a career-high 19 wins in 1977. In the Phillies’ Sept. 27 victory over the Chicago Cubs that year, which clinched the National League East title, Christenson earned the win on the mound and hit a grand slam in the seventh inning.

    “My heart is heavy today,” former Phillies shortstop and manager Larry Bowa said in a statement. “LC was a tremendous teammate, an outstanding pitcher, and a true friend. Win or lose, he was always the life of the clubhouse. He loved the game and enjoyed every minute of his big league career. He will be deeply missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

    Following his retirement, Christenson remained an active supporter of Phillies Charities, according to the team.

    “The club and its fans are forever grateful for his contributions and the legacy he leaves behind in Philadelphia,” the Phillies said in the announcement.

  • Paulsboro man gets 3 decades in prison for sex assault of young teen

    Paulsboro man gets 3 decades in prison for sex assault of young teen

    A 48-year-old Paulsboro man was sentenced Friday to more than three decades in state prison for sexually assaulting an underage teen girl in 2023, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said.

    After an eight-day trial, a state jury in April found Jason L. Bailey guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and fourth-degree refusal to provide a DNA sample.

    Prosecutors said Bailey in December 2023 sexually assaulted a girl between the ages of 13 and 16. When Bailey was arrested, he refused to provide a mandatory DNA sample, prosecutors said.

    The jury also decided that Bailey was a persistent offender, based on his criminal history.

    Bailey must serve 85% of his 30-year sentence for aggravated sexual assault, prosecutors said.

    He also was sentenced to an additional 18 months for refusing to submit a DNA sample.

    In April, prosecutors said Bailey faced a maximum life sentence. If he were eligible for release, he would be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and be subject to parole supervision for life.

    Bailey’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

  • Ex-Philly fire department officials accused of overtime fraud are likely at center of federal probe, records show

    Ex-Philly fire department officials accused of overtime fraud are likely at center of federal probe, records show

    Federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate at least one former Philadelphia Fire Department official who city investigators say facilitated a brazen overtime abuse scheme, according to court records.

    Evidence of the probe became public in recent weeks as part of a lawsuit filed against the city by Anthony Hudgins, a former high-ranking fire official who was demoted after two women at the center of the overtime probe accused him of sexual harassment. He maintains that they did so only in retaliation after he exposed their wrongdoing.

    Court documents made public this month include a report drafted by the Philadelphia Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which conducted a yearslong investigation into Hudgins’ claims that lower-level employees were abusing overtime. Attorneys for a woman at the center of that probe revealed that she is now the target of a U.S. Department of Justice grand jury, while the woman she is accused of conspiring with suspects she, too, is under federal criminal investigation, according to court records.

    Inspector General Alexander DeSantis previously declined to release the findings of the office’s overtime probe into the fire department, saying the investigation was ongoing.

    The report, dated September 2025, details claims of rampant overtime abuse by former paramedic Jacqulyn Murphy that amounted to more than $180,000 in “unjust” compensation through 2023 and 2024, well over her $94,549 annual base salary.

    Ex-Philly fire deputy says he was framed for sexual harassment after he exposed fraud — and that the city is hiding reports that clear him

    Murphy made some of that pay during “impossible shifts,” investigators wrote. In May 2024, for instance, Murphy clocked 22 hours of overtime while she was vacationing in Cancún. And four months later, she was paid to work 12-hour shifts every day while traveling to Las Vegas to get married, including on her wedding day and the day of her return trip home.

    Investigators said that she did not act alone. Supervisor Marian Farris, they wrote, rubber-stamped the overtime approvals and manipulated tax withholding statuses for Murphy and herself. The report cited emails from Murphy’s city account showing she made biweekly $500 payments to someone named “Marian F.” for six months in 2024.

    “Murphy and Farris worked together to defraud the City of Philadelphia of thousands of dollars in unearned compensation and other benefits,” the OIG report said. It calls for “heavy administrative and criminal consequences.”

    Farris and Murphy did not respond to requests for comment.

    In a June 4 letter included in the court filing, federal prosecutors based in Philadelphia informed Farris that she is the target of a grand jury investigation concerning bribery and wire fraud. The letter did not elaborate on the nature of the investigation.

    Attorneys for Farris filed the target letter in the Hudgins case as part of a request to the court to delay discovery proceedings, citing conflicts with the federal investigation.

    Murphy has not yet received a target letter, but she expects she will “given the findings of the OIG that Ms. Farris and Ms. Murphy worked together to commit fraud,” her attorneys wrote in a filing on Friday.

    Farris resigned in March 2025. Her attorney did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview earlier this year after Hudgins initially filed his lawsuit and detailed some of the inspector general’s findings, Farris denied receiving cash payments from Murphy in exchange for manipulating time sheets and said any payments were innocent transactions between friends.

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania declined to comment.

    A spokesperson for the fire department did not comment.

    City Solicitor Renee Garcia said in a statement that the city “takes any allegations of fraud, including overtime fraud, very seriously, including allegations of misconduct that predated this administration.” Some of the allegations involving Murphy date back to 2023. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker took office in January 2024.

    Garcia declined to comment on “personnel matters,” saying only that “if misconduct is found, we take appropriate action to implement any warranted discipline.”

    Harassment and overtime investigations collide in Philly Fire Department

    The publication of the inspector general’s long-guarded report is the latest twist in a saga that has long roiled the fire department. It began with what appeared to be dueling probes, as multiple women contended that Hudgins — who was formerly the fire department’s No. 2 in charge — engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior in the workplace that included unwanted touching and intimidation tactics, The Inquirer reported in 2025.

    But Hudgins has maintained those complaints were lodged by Murphy, Farris, and other associates only after he uncovered and reported their overtime inconsistencies.

    His timeline was confirmed in the OIG report. Investigators wrote that Hudgins conducted an overtime review that predated a discrimination complaint filed in November 2024 by the union that represents firefighters and paramedics. That complaint listed Murphy as an alleged victim and Hudgins as a respondent.

    The OIG report does not offer a conclusion related to the sexual harassment complaints.

    Hudgins declined to comment through an attorney on Friday.

    The city hired the law firm Campbell Durrant to conduct an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations, but that report has not been made public. Hudgins claims in his lawsuit against the city that the firm cleared him of “verbal misconduct” and found that he had “hugged co-workers.”

    Hudgins was reassigned to work remotely, and then was forced to take a leave of absence.

    The inspector general recommended that the city implement several reforms to prevent future overtime abuses, including retraining and rehiring the fire department’s payroll and human resources staff. The office also said the fire department should implement new overtime controls.

    Garcia did not respond to specific questions about whether those changes had been instituted in the fire department, saying only that “the administration has implemented significant actions across all city agencies to strengthen its overtime procedures and protocols.”

  • Police believe a new video shows violent pornographer Raymond ‘R.C.’ Horsch killing a woman on camera, sources say

    Police believe a new video shows violent pornographer Raymond ‘R.C.’ Horsch killing a woman on camera, sources say

    Philadelphia police have recovered video footage that they believe shows the late pornographer Raymond “R.C.” Horsch killing a woman on camera, law enforcement sources said.

    The footage, discovered on a hard drive inside Horsch’s house in Olney, appeared to show him strangling the woman at his home, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

    Police have not disclosed the woman’s identity, but have notified a relative, the sources said. It was not immediately clear when the footage was taken, and the sources said police have not found her body.

    Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore declined to comment Friday. The department has said it is working with forensic experts to discern the authenticity of the materials on the 50 hard drives found in the house, a process that could take months.

    How a pornographer’s violent art complicates Philly’s missing women mystery

    The discovery is the most significant breakthrough yet in the sprawling investigation, and means that at least five missing women are now linked to the Chew Avenue property where Horsch lived for decades with his son, Eugene.

    Police have digital evidence that they believe indicates at least three of those women are dead, according to the sources. Earlier this month, police said they recovered images that showed two women who had been reported missing were inside the home and were later photographed dead there. The new footage adds a third victim.

    Police block the entrance to 417 W. Chew Ave. during an investigation in June. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Sources said police expect the number of missing women connected to the home to grow as investigators sort through the hundreds of thousands of videos, photos, and pages of writings recovered on the hard drives at Horsch’s house.

    The development also means police may have to confront the possibility that the property and hard drives hold evidence of killings that went undetected for years — and at the hands of a man who spoke and wrote publicly about his fantasies of killing women for decades with little scrutiny.

    Police have not found any human remains in the house.

    Horsch died in May 2025, at the age of 82, from lung issues.

    Police grapple with a lack of bodies in disturbing Olney investigation — and for families, a lack of closure

    Horsch built a career luring women in addiction in Kensington to his home with drugs and cash. He photographed and featured them in pornographic films that often depicted graphic violence — including hangings, stranglings, and drownings. He adopted the persona of an “empathetic” serial killer who murdered addicts to end their pain, and he claimed his writings were autobiographical, yet laced with threads of fiction that often left his audience wondering what was real.

    Two weeks ago, police said they had recovered “dark and graphic” images on the hard drives that indicated Maribel Fresses, missing since 2018 at the age of 27, and Gabrielle Amarando, who was 22 when she was reported missing in 2012, were dead.

    Gabrielle Amarando, (left) missing since 2012 and Maribel Fresses, 27, reported missing in 2018. Police believe they were killed inside the Olney home.Obtained by The Inquirer

    Police said they had not recovered footage of the women being killed, but instead had images of both women alive inside the house — and then dead. Officials have not determined what happened to their bodies.

    But sources say police have since discovered additional footage that is far more disturbing.

    The investigation began this summer after a chance encounter near Independence Hall.

    On June 19, police said, a U.S. park ranger came upon Eugene Horsch near Sixth and Market Streets acting suspiciously inside his black BMW. When officers searched the car, they found drugs, two illegal guns, a cattle prod, and a fake drug enforcement badge. What’s more, the woman who was with him presented a license in the name of Blair Tonzelli, who had been reported missing in 2023.

    Documents show that police interviewed people connected to Eugene Horsch who said he had bragged about knowing how to mix chemicals that could melt human remains and make a body so small “it could be flushed down a toilet.”

    Records show that Tonzelli was reportedly last seen at the Horsch house in 2022, and Raymond Horsch posted at least one nude photograph of her — with a black eye and bloody lip — on his website. Her friends reported her missing in February 2023.

    Raymond Horsch’s ex-wife, Amy McHale, who went missing in 2016, was also last seen at the Chew Avenue house. Investigators have since renewed the inquiry into her disappearance.

    Amy McHale.Courtesy of the family of Amy McHale

    Local and federal law enforcement searched the Horsch home in the weeks that followed the car stop and said they found an “astonishing” amount of evidence: five urns of cremated remains, more than 20 containers full of unknown chemicals and oily substances, and 50 hard drives and other electronic devices holding more than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and 10,000 pages of writings and drawings.

    Police also found additional guns and drugs. And in the weeks that followed, investigators excavated the yard of the Chew Avenue home and recovered a piece of a pipe for additional forensic testing.

    Police continue to investigate the whereabouts of Tonzelli and McHale.

    Eugene Horsch, 44, remains in federal custody, charged with illegal gun possession. Police have declined to say whether they believe he played a role in his father’s business. He has not been charged with any crimes connected to the women’s deaths or disappearances.

    His attorney has declined to comment.

  • Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide allowed to suit up after court ruling

    Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide allowed to suit up after court ruling

    After a summer of uncertainty around Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide’s eligibility, he was granted a preliminary injunction that allowed him to start the Wildcats’ season opener on Friday night.

    On Friday, Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court judge Timothy McCormick granted a preliminary injunction that named the Patriot League as a defendant, clearing McQuaide to be eligible for league contests, McQuaide’s attorney, Richard Hamilton Jr., confirmed to The Inquirer.

    McQuaide started for Villanova in its season opener against William & Mary on Friday hours after the injunction was granted. He initially was deemed ineligible by the Patriot League, despite having an injunction granting him another year of eligibility on Aug. 4. The conference then rejected an eligibility appeal from Villanova on behalf of McQuaide on Aug. 22.

    Key games, key players, new faces, preseason rankings, and more about Villanova football

    Friday’s preliminary injunction is the result of a separate legal battle between McQuaide and the Patriot League.

    Without Friday’s ruling, Villanova would have been forced to forfeit any game McQuaide played in, according to Hamilton.

    The question around McQuaide’s eligibility pertains to his season at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in 2022. In the original waiver request to the NCAA, Villanova argued that the COVID-19 pandemic directly led to the quarterback’s season with the junior college. Villanova described the move to a JUCO as a “necessary bridge rather than a choice to ‘use’ an additional season.” McQuaide contends that the pandemic stunted his development in high school, after which he walked on at Kent State. After one year redshirting with the Golden Flashes, he transferred to Mississippi Gulf Coast before two seasons at Nicholls State.

    Historically, JUCO seasons have been counted against players’ eligibility.

    McQuaide threw for 3,123 yards and 25 touchdowns last season to guide Villanova to an FCS semifinal appearance.

  • How two deaths in a Pennsylvania measles outbreak led to a clash between Gov. Josh Shapiro and RFK Jr.

    How two deaths in a Pennsylvania measles outbreak led to a clash between Gov. Josh Shapiro and RFK Jr.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro came to the Philadelphia suburbs on Friday morning to announce a new investment in a local police department. But the first question he fielded at a news conference concerned the growing confusion and political intrigue surrounding his administration’s response to two deaths associated with the state’s spiraling measles outbreak.

    For the last three days, Shapiro, a Democrat, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Republican heading the federal Department of Health and Human Services, have clashed over what the state has disclosed about the deaths and the consequences of Kennedy’s longtime anti-vaccination activism.

    By Friday, Shapiro wanted to bring the focus back to an outbreak that has grown to more than 400 cases so far this year, saying “getting into a back-and-forth with people online who are spewing irresponsible conspiracy theories” does not “serve the public interest.”

    But public health and communications experts say that the state’s initial refusal to share more information on the deaths created an environment in which anti-vaccination skeptics could spread their own narrative.

    State officials announced the deaths of two unvaccinated Lancaster County residents at a news conference Tuesday, calling the deaths “measles-associated.” Their ages, causes of death, or their medical histories were not disclosed by the governor or his health secretary.

    Within hours, other voices started filling the information vacuum. Lancaster County’s coroner told reporters that he had handled just one of the deaths. Coroner Stephen Diamantoni, a Republican elected official who is also a physician, said his office had examined a newborn who had tested positive for measles, but said the baby had not died from measles.

    Soon misinformation and innuendo were spreading online out of the seemingly contradictory and limited details being disclosed by state officials, the local coroner’s office, and federal health leaders — all with their own political affiliations at a time when the safety of the measles vaccine increasingly divides Democrats and Republicans.

    In response to the coroner’s statements, state health officials said they define a “measles-associated death” as one in which measles was present, even if measles is not identified as the immediate cause of death. Shapiro’s administration confirmed the newborn’s case was one of the two announced deaths, but offered no information on the second death.

    President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Kennedy, pounced on the missing details the next day to spread misinformation. He wrote on X that the deaths may have been “fabricated” by the Shapiro administration and said in a television interview that “they cannot find any measles deaths in Lancaster County.”

    Shapiro’s administration has called this inaccurate. Still, his administration has not revealed details of its medical review, beyond saying the state Department of Health’s epidemiology team had “thoroughly investigated.”

    By late week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which operates under HHS, posted on X that state health officials were not sharing “information relevant to the outbreak” as it worked “to clarify conflicting information from Pennsylvania officials about whether the two reported deaths were caused by measles.”

    State officials, including Shapiro, have repeatedly said the state is cooperating with the CDC.

    But Pennsylvania health officials could have shared information on the patients’ ages, causes of deaths, and reasons for being unvaccinated, said Paul Offit, a physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who heads the hospital’s Vaccine Education Center and is a vocal critic of Kennedy.

    “It created fertile ground for conspiracy theories to thrive,” he said.

    In a statement, a Shapiro spokesperson said the governor understands the “desire for as much information as possible to be made public.”

    “However, when an individual dies, it is our legal responsibility to protect their right to privacy by maintaining patient confidentiality,” the statement said, noting this is critical to maintaining trust among communities statewide.

    In a highly politicized environment in which measles cases are rising — and vaccination rates dropping — public health experts say it’s imperative for health officials to communicate accurately and transparently.

    “You have to be transparent, be very clear about what you know, what you don’t know, what you’re trying to find out, and what questions are outstanding,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

    A lack of information from the state, he said, “created an information vacuum with people very adept at using information vacuums to spread their message.”

    President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order about vaccines as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks on Aug. 10 in the Oval Office of the White House. Jacquelyn Martin

    What’s known about the Lancaster County deaths

    Diamantoni said Friday that the baby died shortly after birth at a Lancaster County birthing center on Aug. 14.

    Postmortem testing of the baby’s lung tissue showed that the baby had an active measles infection acquired before birth, he said.

    He has not talked to the baby’s mother or the midwife who delivered the baby, and has not fully reviewed records from the birthing center where she gave birth, he said in interviews.

    He told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that measles was listed on the baby’s death certificate, in a section of the certificate that reports other ”conditions contributing to death but not resulting in the underlying cause.”

    He told the outlet that measles was included on the death certificate “to offer a broader view of the general health of the child.”

    Babies can become infected with measles in utero if the mother is infected with measles and develops a rash within 10 days of giving birth, Offit said.

    Diamantoni said a forensic pathologist in his office concluded the baby died of a ruptured spleen and cited trauma to the baby’s torso. He said he was unsure what had caused the trauma, and added that the baby’s spleen did not appear enlarged or infected.

    Offit said that measles can cause an enlarged spleen that is then more likely to rupture — including during birth — and that it’s often difficult to tell whether a spleen has become enlarged once it ruptures.

    A spleen also doesn’t have to become “massively” enlarged to rupture, he said: Measles can cause the spleen to become fragile, which also heightens the risk of rupture.

    In conversations with state health officials, Offit said he learned that the patients who died in Pennsylvania would not have died were they not infected with measles.

    He said the coroner should explain why the spleen ruptured, if it was not damaged from measles. Diamantoni said the office is still investigating the cause.

    The state has released no additional information on the second death, and Diamantoni said his office was not handling it. He said his chief deputy spoke to the department prior to Shapiro’s news conference Tuesday.

    “At no point was the Pennsylvania Department of Health told that this was not a measles-associated death,” a state spokesperson said on Friday. “The Shapiro Administration stands firmly by their comments on Tuesday.”

    Public health communications

    Pennsylvania’s health department has cited a state law prohibiting public access to death records, saying they cannot release more information on the deaths. Another state law requires the state to keep records of diseases confidential, except when it’s necessary to inform the public of the risk of communicable disease, a department spokesperson said in a statement.

    The department “works hard to build and maintain trust in communities all over the Commonwealth — which includes doing everything possible to keep people’s identities confidential,” the statement read.

    The department didn’t share information that could be used to “personally identify individuals or their grieving families” because “the circumstances of these individuals’ deaths do not change the Commonwealth’s response: Measles is a serious, highly contagious and preventable disease, and our focus remains on protecting Pennsylvanians, getting people vaccinated, and stopping the spread of this outbreak,” the spokesperson said.

    But the state could have been more transparent about how they characterize deaths in a measles outbreak, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director emerita of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

    People who are not trained in medicine may not understand the term “measles-associated,” for example, or how it differs from a cause of death, and state officials should have taken time at the news conference to explain what they meant by that term.

    “You have an obligation to make sure that people don’t mishear on something as fraught as this topic,” she said.

    Jamieson added that the political clashes around the deaths could overshadow a crucial point: A highly contagious disease is spreading in an under-vaccinated community, exposing children — including newborns unable to be vaccinated — to a serious illness.

    “If we miss that moment, then the public health community has failed,” she said.

  • ICE’s policy to detain nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful, a Philly-based federal appeals court ruled

    ICE’s policy to detain nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful, a Philly-based federal appeals court ruled

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s controversial policy mandating detention for nearly all undocumented immigrants is unlawful, a split Philadelphia-based federal appeals court ruled Friday.

    In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that ICE violated the federal immigration law and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by holding undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for years in detention without a hearing. The policy, enacted last summer, has been a key part of efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration efforts to ramp up deportations across the country.

    The ruling will take immediate effect in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    Undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades “are entitled to due process rights beyond those provided to noncitizens at the border,” Circuit Judge Patty Shwartz wrote in the majority opinion.

    The government has a legitimate interest in keeping dangerous noncitizens in custody, the judge said, but a “neutral decisionmaker” should make that assessment on a case-by-case basis — rather than a practice of detaining all undocumented immigrants indefinitely.

    Circuit Judge Theodore A. McKee, who was appointed by Bill Clinton, joined the opinion written by Schwartz, who was appointed by Barack Obama.

    In a dissent, Circuit Judge Jennifer L. Mascott said the ruling was inconsistent with federal immigration law.

    “A bond hearing focused on flight risk and dangerousness would generate irrelevant facts, not material to individual determinations,” wrote Mascott, who was appointed by Trump.

    The Justice Department disagrees with the ruling and believes its position will “ultimately be vindicated,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

    “This is a huge win for due process,” said Rachel Rutter, a lawyer and executive director of Project Libertad, a Phoenixville-based nonprofit that provides free legal and social services for migrant youths facing deportation. “The Third Circuit has joined a chorus of other circuit courts striking down the Trump administration’s inhumane practice of mandatory detention of people who have spent years building lives in the U.S.”

    The decision “reaffirms decades of case law stating that these people have the right to challenge their detention through a bond hearing,” Rutter said.

    Nine other circuit courts have issued rulings on mandatory detention, and seven found the policy unlawful. The Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court in June, asking the high court to resolve a split it said was “disrupting the orderly administration of immigration law.”

    The mandatory detention policy was rolled out by the Trump administration last year, and has led to an avalanche of lawsuits by immigrants who challenged their incarceration and demanded a bond hearing.

    These requests, known as habeas corpus petitions, were rare not long ago, but since the policy change, they’ve dominated the docket in Philadelphia’s federal courthouse. More than 1,100 such petitions have been filed since September. Between 2020 and 2024, by contrast, only 11 such suits were filed.

    Philadelphia’s federal judges have granted these requests at near-universal rates, often chastising ICE for continuing the practice despite the overwhelming judicial pushback.

    The Third Circuit case involved two undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States for over a decade and were picked up by ICE after the mandatory detention policy took effect. Neither has a criminal history. Federal judges in Philadelphia ordered their release, finding their detention was unlawful.

    Christopher Casazza, a Philadelphia-based immigration lawyer who represented one of the immigrants at the center of the case, called the court’s decision a “great ruling that will help thousands of people.”

    The benefit for immigrants, he said, would come primarily in two forms: Anyone still being detained in the region after being arrested under the Trump administration policy can now apply for a bond hearing. And going forward, anyone who is arrested will be able to ask an immigration judge for bond.

    That doesn’t guarantee release, Casazza said, but it provides people the opportunity to make a case to an immigration judge, as had been the practice before the new policy took effect after Trump began his second term.

    “We’re going back to the rule of law that’s been the case for 30 years,” he said.