Eagles Training Camp: 17 Winners, 8 Losers, And 5 Idks From The First Week

Philadelphia Eagles training camp began just over a week ago. Let’s take a look at the most notable winners, losers, and I don’t knows from the first six practices down at the Jefferson Health Training Complex.

Obligatory disclaimer: The Eagles only held one fully padded practice and it’s obviously early in camp. There’s still plenty of time for players to change their outlook — for better or worse — over the next few weeks.For historical context, here’s a look at the W-L-IDKs from this time last year.

WINNERS

JALEN HURTS

By no means has Hurts and the offense been perfect. They’ve had some rough days where they’ve been dominated by Vic Fangio’s defense. But Hurts has also been missing Lane Johnson, DeVonta Smith, and Makai Lemon for multiple practices. Despite this, the slimmed-down signal caller has turned in some sharp sessions where he looks totally in control on offense. Hurts seems to be fully embracing Sean Mannion’s new offensive direction. It feels like the arrow is pointing up here as he enters a pivotal season.

JALEN CARTER

Carter signed a record-breaking contract extension before training camp began. The early returns on that massive investment are looking good. Carter has dominated the Eagles’ offensive line. He seems to be buying into the messaging about how he was paid for what he’s going to do next, not his past accomplishments. Carter should be expected to have the best season of his career in 2026.

JALYX HUNT

Hunt made a big leap from Year 1 to Year 2 to lead the 2025 Eagles in sacks … and interceptions! The 25-year-old looks poised to take another significant step forward this season. Hunt has been living in the backfield. He absolutely feasted on Fred Johnson at right tackle in one practice. And that was after he gave Jordan Mailata trouble on the other side of the line the previous day. I’d advise buying all the Hunt stock you can possibly afford. No one should be surprised if — no, WHEN — he produces double-digit sacks this season.

DONTAYVION WICKS

Wicks has been Hurts’ top target with both Smith and Lemon missing time due to hamstring injuries. The former Green Bay Packers wideout looks ready to take on the WR2 role in Philly. He’s done a nice job of getting open and he’s made some tough contested catches as well. Wicks has had some struggles with drops in the past (nine in 2024) but that hasn’t been an issue for him so far in camp (knock on wood).

DARIUS COOPER

As the original identifier of Darius Cooper’s greatness, I’m admittedly biased here. But don’t just take my word for it. Look at what Hurts said about DC, unprompted:

MIKE GARAFOLO: How about this receiver room? We know DeVonta Smith, what he’s done over the course of his career, we know he’s going to produce. Everybody’s saying, ‘Who’s the number two?’ And I don’t even know if you look at it that way. Maybe it’s two, three, four, and that’s all one kind of cluster to you. But you’ve got some veterans who have been around, [Dontayvion] Wicks has got the cheat code because he’s been in this offense before. Who’s really emerged and opened your eyes there?

JALEN HURTS: I think Darius Cooper has done a really good job. I think Darius Cooper has done a really good job. He’s always been a big body, physical, strong hands guy. But just to see how he’s transitioned going into Year 2, definitely excited for him. Along with the rest of them.

Cooper rotates in with the first-team offense and gets a lot of looks that result in good outcomes for the offense. At this point in time, I’d be surprised if the Eagles actually make him one of their top three receivers. But he’s building a compelling case to be more involved in the offense than he was as a rookie last year.

ELIJAH MOORE

On one hand, it shouldn’t be surprising that Moore is flashing. The 2021 second-round pick (No. 34 overall) has generated some excitement in the past. But this is also a player who got cut by the wide receiver-needy Buffalo Bills last season … and finished the 2025 campaign on the Denver Broncos’ practice squad. So, it’s not like it was a given that Moore would make the most of his opportunities in Philly. That’s exactly what he’s done, though, as he’s rotated in with the first-team offense. While Moore clearly has some juice to offer on offense, I do wonder if his lack of special teams experience could hurt him when it comes to roster cuts.

If I had to rank the Eagles’ receivers solely based on what I’ve seen from them in training camp, I’d go:

1. DeVonta Smith
2. Dontayvion Wicks
3. Darius Cooper
4. Elijah Moore
5. Hollywood Brown
6. Johnny Wilson
7. Britain Covey
8. Danny Gray
9. Quez Watkins
10. Makai Lemon
11. Erik Ezukanma
12. Samori Toure
13. Brandon Hayes

TANK BIGSBY

As we’ve noted, Bigsby looks simply too good to not be involved more on offense this season. An encouraging sign on that front: he’s gotten a decent amount of work with the starters. Of course, part of that is probably about managing Saquon Barkley’s practice workload. Still, Bigsby has shown a lot of juice as both a runner and a pass-catcher. He’s clearly RB2 and I have to imagine he would be RB1 on a number of teams.

ANDREW MUKUBA

Mukuba had made some nice plays and I can’t recall him losing many reps or being caught out of position. I have reason to believe he’s at least going to be a quality starter, if not more. The safety position as a whole seems to be in good hands. I know Eagles fans have been worrying about this spot but Mukuba, Marucs Epps, and Michael Carter II have all had some positive moments. I’m not really concerned about this group.

MARKEL BELL

Lane Johnson’s excused absence has benefited Bell, who’s been able to log more first-team reps than he would be getting otherwise. The rookie third-round pick has seen more starting action than veteran Fred Johnson. He might actually take over as the Eagles’ swing tackle … or at least be the primary backup at one of the two tackle positions.

DREW KENDALL

Kendall has repped at both center and guard, which speaks to the Eagles preparing him for last year’s Brett Toth role as the top backup interior option. Kendall saw some first-team left guard action earlier this week with Landon Dickerson getting a rest day. He doesn’t look like he doesn’t belong when he’s out there.

ANDY DALTON

I wouldn’t say Dalton has been great. But he’s been much better than he was in the spring (low bar). He looks like a veteran backup who knows what he’s doing in this offense. So, he’s meeting realistic expectations. Dalton is ahead of McKee so far. Still time for that to change as we see them perform in practice and preseason games over the next few weeks.

COLE PAYTON

Payton is not a lock to make the roster just because the Eagles used a fifth-round pick on him. Just look at Kyle McCord last year, who was waived despite being selected at No. 181 overall. And consider that Payton was taken at No. 178 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. The difference here is that Payton is showing more intriguing potential. Yes, he’s been guilty of throwing interceptions. But I would call them good mistakes because he was being aggressive. The Eagles will probably want to reign him in a bit but, to me, it’s good that he’s erring on the side of fearlessness rather than looking too scared to let it rip. The team shouldn’t risk losing Payton to waivers, especially since Hurts is their only other quarterback under contract beyond 2026.

JEREMIAH TROTTER JR.

Fangio talked up Trot Jr. on Wednesday morning:

Trot’s had a very good camp. Trot, to me, along the same lines as we talked about with Mukuba, looking better, moving better, playing better. I just think it’s not so much a conditioning and physical thing. It’s more of [he] knows what he’s doing, seeing things quicker, faster, and playing faster. He’s had an excellent camp. It’s the best I’ve seen him look since we’ve had him.

The praise is well-earned. Trot Jr. looks like a starting-caliber linebacker. The Eagles are to glad to have him as good depth behind Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell.

CHANCE CAMPBELL

Campbell regularly makes good plays and Fangio made it sound like he’s a lock to make the team:

Don’t sleep on Chance now. You guys, when you make your [projected 53-man roster] list out there, we like Chance. Chance is a good football player. He had some injuries earlier in his career that set him back. Since the day we picked him up last year, he’s shown that he’s a football player and we like him. Interestingly, last year we picked him up the last week of the preseason. I don’t remember the exact date. It was just a few days before the game, and he didn’t need that acclimation period.

Campbell previously earned praise from his teammates as a practice squad standout last year. He has good size, he’s physical, and he’s made some plays in coverage. The Eagles are loaded at off-ball linebacker, which is a stark contrast from the many years of them struggling to find good players at that position.

A.J. EPENESA

Epenesa has caught my eye multiple times when I wasn’t even watching him. He’s been able to generate some pressure and he also looks comfortable dropping into coverage. I think he’s going to make the team as a rotational edge rusher.

JOSHUA WERU

Weru has generated some buzz from Eagles practice observers. PHLY’s Bo Wulf has gone as far to crown him as his “camp crush” this year. Relative to all the attention that Uar Bernard has received since the Eagles drafted him, the undrafted Weru entered camp as an afterthought despite similarly lacking American football experience. But his movement skills have looked good and he might be pushing for a spot on the practice squad, if not more. Going to be interesting to see if the Eagles try to hide him in the preseason or if they’ll prioritize getting him reps, even if it risks another team getting interested in poaching him.

VIC FANGIO

Fangio’s defense is poised for another strong season. Perhaps the best defense in the NFL kinda season.

One could say Fangio is feeling … cocky. (And justifiably so.)

QUESTION: I know it’s a relatively small sample size still, but do you have a sense of Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion as a play caller and setting things up?

FANGIO: No because there’s no scoreboard out there. We’re doing a lot of call-it periods to where it’s not scripted to get him acclimated that way. It’s good to do that, but it’s not a game. I wouldn’t be worried. I told him, we obviously got the best of yesterday’s practice by a long shot, but that’s the way it’s been the last two years in training camp. The defense has gotten the best of the offense. So, not to be too concerned.

LOSERS

MAKAI LEMON

Lemon missed at least four of the Eagles’ eight spring practices due to a hamstring injury. Now he’s missed three days of team drills through six training camp practices with a hamstring injury (unclear if it’s related to the previous one). Lemon wasn’t exactly lighting it up prior to getting hurt. There’s precedent for a rookie to miss time in camp only to later shine; just look at Cooper DeJean in 2024. But that scenario is probably more of the exception than the norm. Lemon is missing valuable practice reps, which could hinder building chemistry with Hurts.

ELI STOWERS

Stowers has followed up his very quiet spring with a very quiet start to training camp. The rookie tight end has yet to rotate in with the first-team offense. Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt, E.J. Jenkins, and Grant Calcaterra have all taken more reps with the starters. Perhaps Stowers will heat up later this summer but, for now, it’s hard to expect him to have a significant role in 2026.

JONATHAN GREENARD

Greenard getting hurt while weight training prior to camp is unfortunate. He already missed all of spring practices and it’s not clear how much he’ll get to rep in a defense that’s new to him prior to Week 1. I don’t think Greenard’s injury will prevent him from playing in the regular season but it could hamper his effectiveness.

TANNER MCKEE

I previously didn’t understand the Eagles’ motivation to challenge McKee as QB2 but, hey, Dalton has been better thus far.

WILL SHIPLEY

Given Bigsby’s success, Shipley is no better than RB3. He had a brutal drop while wide open for a touchdown earlier this week. And it should be noted that Dameon Pierce and Elijah Mitchell are showing some juice. I tend to think the Eagles will keep Shipley but there’s competition coming for his spot.

FRED JOHNSON

Big Fred hasn’t had a good camp. It seems like Bell might overtake him.

TY ROBINSON

Robinson has taken reps on the third-team defensive line alongside the likes of Uar Bernard and Zion Wilson. Despite being a fourth-round pick last year, he shouldn’t be considered a lock to make the roster.

ROCCO UNDERWOOD

I’m going to outsource my long snapper analysis to BGN alumnus Jimmy Kempski, who hasn’t been impressed by the undrafted rookie. Underwood’s struggles make me think back to what we shared about him from Bob McGinn’s draft series.

Said one coach: “He’s the best-looking athlete but probably the least accurate. He’s had a couple of unplayable snaps, and in some critical spots. An unplayable field-goal snap this year and an unplayable punt snap over the guy’s head the year before. NFL snappers just don’t have that. You don’t ever see that. But it happened to him a couple times and that really, really bothers me.”

Guessing the Eagles will bring in a more experienced long snapper after roster cuts provide them with some more options than they currently have.

I DON’T KNOWS

LANE JOHNSON

Johnson has been excused for four of the Eagles’ six training camp practices thus far. It’s unclear what’s keeping him away, though he’s reportedly expected to rejoin the team soon. Hopefully that’s the case and everything is OK.

HOLLYWOOD BROWN

Brown’s had some good moments as a short/medium target but he’s yet to stand out as a deep threat, which should be part of his appeal. Also, as previously noted, he’s been out-shined by some of the Eagles’ other receivers.

JOHNNY WILSON

Speaking of being out-shined by some of the Eagles’ other receivers … Wilson has had some nice moments (Dalton loves throwing to him) but not to the extent where he should be considered a lock to make the roster. Even with Smith and Lemon missing time, he hasn’t seen a lot of first-team action. Cooper, Moore, Brown, and Covey have notably seen more reps with the starters.

JAKE ELLIOTT

Elliott has made 13 of 14 kicks this summer, with the sole miss being a 40-yard attempt that went wide left with the wind blowing in that direction. So, why isn’t he in the winners section? Well, at this time last year, I had Elliott as a winner since he hadn’t missed a single kick. And then he went out and had a bad year for the second season in a row. I don’t know how much training camp really matters for him but at least he hasn’t been bad thus far.

UAR BERNARD

Understandably, Bernard doesn’t look anywhere close to being ready to play in a regular season game. I wonder if the Eagles will even have him take snaps in the preseason. Still very much an intriguing long-term project but patience is going to be key here.