Eagles news: Less-than-alarming DNPs, DB mix-and-match, Jihaad Campbell’s arrival

The Philadelphia Eagles training camp is underway. The whole team reported on Tuesday, and then they practiced on Wednesday and Thursday. The Birds are back.

Not everyone gets to go to those practices, but fortunately, we’re getting a whole bunch of reports from beat writers about who’s playing, where they’re playing, and how they’re doing. These are some of the big stories from the Eagles' first two days of training camp.

Jihaad Campbell is already practicing:

The whole reason Jihaad Campbell fell to the very end of the first round of the 2025 draft is because he was coming off a shoulder injury. Other than that, he was every bit of a first-round grade for (what I would assume is) most teams. 

In the spring, Vic Fangio said he was hoping that Campbell would be practicing at some point in August. It turns out he didn’t need to wait that long. 

Campbell’s actually kind of just good to go. He’s listed as limited on the practice reports, and this isn’t a padded practice or anything like that, but he’s out there and getting reps. That’s just about as good of news as you could ask for, and by almost all accounts, he’s looking freakish, good, and freakishly good. 

Fangio was asked about Campbell being ready early: “I’m learning that our trainers like to understate and overachieve so they look good.” It’s nice to know that the Eagles' training staff implements the same practices as pizza places. 

You order a pizza, and they tell you that it’ll be delivered in an hour. Then they get it there in 45 minutes, and look good because of it. Fangio ordered an off-ball linebacker, and the training staff said they’ll deliver one by September. Then they get him one a month earlier, and they look good because of it. 

That’s a great life lesson. Under promise so you overachieve, and always set your expectations low so you’re always feeling delighted. It’s a great move. 

Cooper DeJean might be a safety:

Now that the linebacker next to Zack Baun looks like it’s going to be sorted out sooner rather than later, the biggest question mark is the complicated defensive backfield.

The three returning guys are Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Reed Blankenship. That’s a really, really good start. On top of that, Fangio plans to keep Cooper DeJean on the field all the time. 

In the spring, DeJean took snaps at outside corner, and so far in training camp, he’s taken reps at safety when the defense is in base. He’s still the nickel corner in that package. Fangio says the position DeJean plays in base depends on who the other corner and safety are, and who allows the defense to have the best 11 guys on the field.

He also has had Quinyon Mitchell playing on the other side of the field than he did last year. Fangio said, “If we ever get to a point where we want to match him on a particular receiver, he’s got to know how to play both sides. Or if we want to play him at left versus right, so we’ll figure that out on a weekly basis.” 

He was then asked about his philosophy on having a corner travel with a specific receiver: “When it’s warranted, there are two factors: One, is there a guy on the other team worth doing it? And two, can your guys do it?”

That second point is very important. We know that Quinyon Mitchell rocks, and he’ll probably be able to do it… But that also means that the other corner would also have to be able to travel. The two other cornerbacks fighting for the job are Adoree’ Jackson and Kelee Ringo.

Jackson is 29 years old and going into his eighth season in the NFL. He offers a relatively low performance ceiling, but also veteran experience and proven versatility. These are his snap counts and percentages on each side of the defense going back to 2018 (from NFLPro).

Ringo is 23 years old, going into his third season in the NFL, and is an unknown. The Eagles drafted him in 2023 to develop, so he could hopefully win a starting spot when Darius Slay left. Well, now’s that time, and he’s set up to win the job. Unfortunately, training camp didn’t start too hot for him. On Wednesday, he got beaten deep twice by wide receiver Terrace Marshall and once by A.J. Brown. 

For reference, this is Kelee Ringo’s snap counts and percentages on either side of the field.

So far, these two have been rotating every session that the first-team defense is on the field, but it’s a battle that sounds like it’s far from over. 

It’s pretty much the same deal with safety, except there are more contenders. Sydney Brown, rookie Drew Mukuba, Tristin McCollum, and Andre’ Sam are all getting reps with the first team defense, but Brown and Mukuba have gotten a handful more reps than the other guys. 

There’s a whole lot going on. Luckily, there’s a whole lot more training camp and three preseason games to figure out how everything will shape out. 

The two DNPs:

The only two Eagles listed as “will not practice” have been Kenyon Green and Jalen Carter. Green’s dealing with a knee thing, and Carter’s dealing with a shoulder thing. 

We don’t know the nature of Carter’s shoulder injury or which shoulder it’s on, but I went back and looked to see if he’d been on the injury report in the past for shoulder injuries. In 2024, he was listed on an injury report for a shoulder seven times; a DNP twice, and a full participant five times. 

It’s still July, so it’s not really concerning, but it’s something to keep in the back of your mind since shoulder injuries have been a thing for him in the past. 

The Kenyon Green knee thing isn’t that big of a deal by itself; instead, it’s more about who else it affects… Specifically, Tyler Steen. The only personnel change on offense from 2024 to 2025 is the right guard. Mekhi Becton left in free agency, and now the job is Steen’s to lose. 

When the Eagles traded for Green in the spring, there was a thought that he would challenge Steen. Steen ended up taking the starting reps in OTAs, and he’s getting the starting rep in training camp.

It sounds like this might end up being more of a one-sided camp battle than the ‘Jordan Mailata v. Andre Dillard for starting left tackle’ one back in 2021. Mailata grabbed the job and never looked back. 

Steen might not even let Green get a rep between Lane Johnson and Cam Jurgens. Johnson was asked about how Steen has looked. He said, “Tyler’s really developed the past couple years. Physically, communications been good, he’s playing with more confidence. I have confidence with him moving forward. Ain’t got a chance to play much with him a bunch the past couple years/ So, you know, it’s good.”

I doubt there’s a situation where Lane Johnson dumps on one of his teammates, and maybe this is just a canned answer. But at face value, this is a stamp of approval… and if Lane Johnson gives you a stamp of approval, that’s pretty valuable.

Now, maybe things will change when they finally put pads on, but right now it seems like Steen is the guy.

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