Eagles Notebook: What Will The Future Hold For Drew Mukuba?

Eagles notebook: What will the future hold for Drew Mukuba? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Vic Fangio doesn’t just dish out compliments so what he said about Drew Mukuba this week really stood out.

What has Fangio made of Mukuba’s season so far?

“Overall good,” Fangio said. “Again, some plays that he’d like to have back, but I think he’s a good young player that’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.”

For Fangio, that’s high praise. Mukuba is a second-year safety who has struggled at times this season. But Fangio’s saying he’s going to be a good player in the league for a long time didn’t go unnoticed.

Especially not by Mukuba.

“It just means that he has a lot of confidence and belief in me,” Mukuba said. “I’ve got to just feed off of that and keep building.”

The entire Eagles defense has struggled this season and Mukuba has been a part of that. But the 2025 second-round pick had perhaps his best game of the season in Week 8 against the Commanders when he forced a fumble and had an interception that was negated because of a penalty.

Through nine weeks, Mukuba has one interception and one forced fumble. Getting takeaways is a big part of his game and if Mukuba is going to live up to his potential, he needs to get more.

“I feel like that’s why I play safety, is to get the ball back,” he said. “I feel like that’s why they brought me here is to make plays on the ball. That’s my job and I need to do a better job doing that.”

When asked about which part of his game needs to improve most, Mukuba thought about giving a general answer and saying everything, but then he got honest: His tackling.

Mukuba this season, according to PFF, has missed 11 tackles. Just four players in the NFL have missed more. Mukuba said his issues are more about bad angles than they are about wrapping up. He said practice reps are the only thing that will help him improve there.

And Mukuba has also gotten beat in coverage this season. While defensive back coverage stats are generally pretty unreliable, especially for teams who use a lot of zone, Mukuba’s coverage numbers are not good. He has given up 15 catches on 17 targets for 2 TDs and 1 INT this season. His opponent passer rating is 133.5.

But Mukuba is still a young player in the NFL. And because he is a second-round pick last year, the Eagles are obviously hoping he can become a long-time starter at the safety position.

“I feel like I’m getting better every game,” Mukuba said. “I feel like I’m playing my best ball with more left in me.”

Jalen back in the building

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was back in the team facility this week and was able to sit in on meetings, ESPN’s Tim McManus first reported on Wednesday.

It was a boost for his teammates.

“Jalen’s great. Obviously a great leader,” Tanner McKee said. “It was fun seeing him again. Talking to somebody on the phone, it’s not the same as seeing him in person. Definitely lifted the mood. It was really great seeing and talking to him in person.”

Hurts, 28, is going to miss the rest of the season with blood clots in his lungs. But just having him around as a leader will mean something to his teammates. On Wednesday, head coach Nick Sirianni was asked how much he has talked to Hurts.

“Of course, I’ve seen him, and I have no new update on anything,” Sirianni said. “But of course, I’ve talked to him and am in constant communication with him and know he’s resting and recovering. I miss him like crazy. But nothing new on that front.

“I know he’s resting and recovering, and we’re all still praying for him and hoping for a speedy recovery.”

Losing in key areas

There are a lot of numbers to illustrate just how bad the Eagles have been this season, but they’re even very bad in the metrics that Sirianni always talks about. Since he was hired in 2021, Sirianni has always stressed two things: The turnover battle and the explosive play battle.

• Through eight games, the Eagles have just four total takeaways and have turned the ball over eight times. That’s a turnover differential of -4. Just four teams have a worse turnover differential this season. This is their worst turnover differential through eight games in the Nick Sirianni Era.

2022: +15
2025: +4
2021: +1
2024: -2
2023: -3
2024: -4

• The other thing Sirianni tracks are explosive plays. The Eagles under Nick Sirianni have always defined explosive plays as 10+ yard runs and 16+ yard passes. They have won that battle just once this season and through eight games they’re -24 in explosive plays.

Ugly run defense

The Eagles had held the Commanders to under 100 rushing yards on Sunday until the very end of the game when Rachaad White busted a 33-yarder late in the fourth quarter. The Commanders finished with 135 rushing yards.

And that means the Eagles have now given up at least 100 rushing yards in all eight games to begin this season. That’s their longest such streak to begin a season since 1968.

“Inconsistent. Inconsistent,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said about his run defense after eight games. “Thought it was OK to borderline good [on Sunday]. Then at the end of the game, we gave up the 33 yarder.”

Overall, the Eagles are now 28th in run defense this season, allowing 131.9 yards per game. That’s obviously not good enough. The Eagles have also struggling rushing the passer but many think these two issues are connected. Sometimes you have to earn the right to rush the passer and that starts by stopping the run.

Jordan Davis is the lead run-stuffer in this defense and after signing a $78 million extension this offseason, Davis isn’t living up to expectations.

“He’s been not quite as good as he had been in the past, these last couple weeks,” Fangio said. “Think he’s got a little problem with his hand there, but he can be better, but we love Jordan and he’ll get there.”