Eagles Training Camp Practice Notes: Darius Cooper Is Undeniable

Today marked the ninth Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice ahead of the 2026 NFL season. Here’s what I observed down at the Jefferson Health Training Complex!

EAGLES PRACTICE NOTES

• The Eagles were in full pads following Sunday’s rest day. Putting in a good week of work ahead of Saturday’s preseason game. Practice got a bit chippy at times. Most notably, Tyler Steen put Ty Robinson into the ground during an 11-on-11 rep and there was a big pile of linemen bodies on the ground with a lot of loud cursing going on. Steen also seemed to get annoyed with Uar Bernard at one point. Later, Saquon Barkley threw a shove at Andrew Mukuba after the end of a long run. Competitive intensity.
• EAGLES INJURY REPORT: BGN’s Alexis Chassen covered the Eagles’ injury news in more detail. I’ll just note here that neither DeVonta Smith nor Makai Lemon have returned to practice. Lemon seems to be on track to miss the Eagles’ first preseason game, which he probably would’ve played in if he was healthy. Cam Jurgens was back at practice after leaving early for the second day in a row on Saturday. Sounds like his exits were heat exhaustion-related more than anything else. The other big news item here is that Willie Lampkin left practice early to walk to the medical tent with a trainer. Something to monitor, hopefully not serious. Ditto for Johnny Wilson, who is newly missing practice.
• JALEN HURTS UPDATE: Hurts started practice stronger than he finished it.
  • THE GOOD:
    • Hurts had a well-timed connection with Hollywood Brown along the left sideline.
    • Hurts hit Darius Cooper a number of times. More on that in a dedicated Cooper section below.
    • Hurts found a crossing Elijah Moore open and hit him in stride for good YAC potential. After the play, Hurts and Moore did their own little celebration together. I think Hurts is going to want Moore on the roster.
  • THE BAD:
    • On the whole, Hurts has done a better job of not holding onto the ball for forever this summer. But he had a relatively higher number of “sacks” and throwaways today.
    • During a situational period towards the end of practice, Hurts threw an interception to a diving Quinyon Mitchell on a target intended for Brown. Didn’t look like a good throw or decision. Mitchell got up and punted the ball in celebration.
    • Hurts realistically failed to get the offense in the end zone late in another situational scenario. I use “realistically” here because he got a throw off to a leaping Moore in the end zone for a touchdown (good grab and nice effort to uncover while going up against Cooper DeJean) … but it took him over 10 seconds to make the throw. It felt like a real pass rush would’ve disallowed a score on that play. Nolan Smith made sure to vocalize as much with some colorful language after that rep.
• DAILY DARIUS COOPER IS AWESOME REMINDER: Cooper was impossible not to notice today; I kept writing his name down over and over. Not a joke: I think he might’ve set a new franchise record for most catches by an Eagles player during team drills in a single practice. It began with back-to-back good receptions in 7-on-7. His success carried over to 11-on-11, where he got open on an out route to beat Riq Woolen. He made an over-the-shoulder grab down the right sideline with both Michael Carter II and Zack Baun trailing. Cooper also made a good adjustment while going to the ground to catch an off-target throw from Hurts late in practice. Put simply: good things happen when the Eagles throw the ball to Cooper. He’s proven himself to be a reliable option who gets open and catches the ball. Based on merit, I don’t know how one can argue he’s not a top three receiver on this roster right now. And if Cooper hasn’t already outshined Dontayvion Wicks, who is currently considered to be WR2, he’s pretty close to doing so. And that’s not a slight to Wicks, who’s looked good. If I’m the Eagles, I wouldn’t play Cooper much — if at all — in the preseason. He should be a real part of the offense this season. Hurts clearly trusts him, as evidenced by the quarterback shouting him out without even being prompted to do so.
• Fred Johnson, not Markel Bell, rotated in at first-team right tackle today when Lane was resting. Bell previously had multiple days as the top option there.
• BACKUP QUARTERBACK BATTLE UPDATE: Today was Tanner McKee’s day to be first up at QB2. McKee had some good connections with down-the-depth-chart receivers Samari Toure and Erik Ezukanma. He also had an ugly throw fall short of Toure over the middle and was guilty of holding the ball to get “sacked” more than once. McKee was still better than Andy Dalton, who had his worst practice of the summer. The veteran signal caller had some passes broken up and went through a series where he looked totally out of sync with his targets. Dalton misfired on successive throws to Will Shipley in the flat before throwing behind Cooper over the middle … and then way overthrowing a wide open Quez Watkins deep downfield. The backup quarterback battle continues to be close. Interested to see how it evolves over the course of the preseason games.
• Let’s talk more about slow starts for Makai Lemon and Eli Stowers.
  • With the likes of Cooper, Wicks, and Moore stepping up, maybe the Eagles won’t need Lemon to produce right away after all. Maybe he’ll get healthy soon and look awesome upon returning to practice. I don’t want to suggest that he can’t possibly have success as a rookie. But the missed time is genuinely concerning. It’s also difficult to merely give him the benefit of the doubt in the context of Howie Roseman’s struggles with drafting at this specific position. For all the greatness that Roseman — a future Hall of Famer — has accomplished, he’s drafted just two receivers that have earned a second contract with the Eagles since he rose to power in 2010: DeVonta Smith and Riley Cooper. DeVonta was a really obvious pick as the Heisman Trophy winner in 2021. As for Cooper … yikes. Just because Roseman’s other receiver picks didn’t pan out doesn’t mean Lemon is definitely doomed to a similar fate. I’m only suggesting that it’s reasonable to have some worries at this point in time.
  • As for Stowers, PHLY’s EJ Smith saw a positive rep from him on a different field than I was watching (see embedded tweet below). I noticed a bad rep where he dropped the ball after being contacted from behind by Michael Carter II. This isn’t the first time in camp that Stowers failed to make a catch upon being met with some physicality. To a bigger point, I am wondering if Stowers will even be active for Week 1. He’s not a top two tight end right now since he’s clearly behind Goedert and Johnny Mundt (who had a nice grab for a short gain today). Is he definitely TE3? I asked other practice observers for their thoughts on this matter and they agreed that Stowers could be a healthy scratch … early on in the season, at least. PHLY’s Fran Duffy recently noted that Stowers was bullied in special teams drills by undrafted rookie Joshua Weru, who has stood out despite lacking previous American football experience. It’s not necessarily the end of the world if Stowers can’t majorly contribute as a rookie but it doesn’t seem ideal if the coaching staff doesn’t trust a second-round pick to suit up for game action. Of course, there’s still time before we get to that point.

• I missed most of the Eagles’ offensive line vs. defensive line 2-on-2 drills, which took place on a different field while I was viewing 7-on-7. Outsourcing these observations:

• Woolen knifed in front of Hollywood Brown, who ran a curl route, in 7-on-7 to knock down a Hurts pass.
• Mac McWilliams knocked a Hurts pass to Dallas Goedert on a slant out of the tight end’s hands. McWilliams has been more down than up this summer but he’s had some moments as he fights for a roster spot.
• Cole Payton did not look sharp today. He also did not get help; the rookie quarterback’s best pass was dropped by Ezukanma.
• As previously mentioned, Uar Bernard saw some reps with a mixed backup unit going up against the Eagles’ first-team offense. Didn’t notice him so much in that series but he did pop later in practice when he bull-rushed Myles Hinton and drove the right guard back into Payton. Good display of his strength.
• In recent summers, one of my favorite questions to ask other practice observers is: who is the best player on the roster who has ZERO shot of making the team? PHLY’s Bo Wulf mentioned Tariq Castro-Fields in this category and I think that’s a good call. TCF ripped the ball out of Britain Covey’s control after the receiver made caught a pass on a curl route. Later, TCF was roasted deep by Watkins on the play where Dalton overthrew the receiver. TCF is having a better summer than he did last year, when he got flagged a lot for being too grabby in coverage.
• Speaking of Quez, he’s also in contention for best player on the roster who has zero shot of making the team. He’s had some nice moments in practice, such as when he made a good leaping grab on a Dalton throw towards the left sideline today. But he’s behind a lot of other receivers on the depth chart and it’s not like he offers much untapped potential as a 28-year-old. If he doesn’t make the Eagles’ practice squad, another team should put him on theirs.
• One of the Eagles’ assistant coaches (or so I think) voiced displeasure with undrafted rookie safety Maximus Pulley during a rep where the defense allowed a deep completion.
• As noted in our latest 53-man roster prediction, Rocco Underwood is not a lock to be the Eagles’ long snapper this season. The undrafted rookie free agent continues to have some snapping issues.
• Special guests at today’s practice included Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson, who will square off as head coaches in another HBCU matchup at Lincoln Financial Field this season.

UP NEXT: The Eagles practice again tomorrow starting at 10:00 AM Eastern. We’ll hear from Vic Fangio prior to practice around 9:40 AM.