July 29, 2024
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
Eagles CB Isaiah Rodgers signs autographs (not a contract extension) after a training camp practice at the NovaCare Complex.
Training camp is underway, the new NFL season is drawing near, and we have some more tangible things to talk about with the Eagles because of it.
A few practices in, Jalen Hurts has his throwing accuracy sharp, the offense – at least in its structure – is looking a whole lot more dynamic with the additions of Saquon Barkley and new coordinator Kellen Moore (they're running motion!), and the also new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio seems to be getting that unit back on track.
Things are still only just getting started down at the NovaCare Complex – no one's even put pads on yet. But the ball's rolling forward, and the picture of what the Eagles are going to look like for Week 1 is starting to take form.
Here's a bit of what they're saying about it...
Darius Slay has one starting cornerback job locked down, but the one opposite of him, that's a position very much up for grabs.
First-round pick Quinyon Mitchell is in the running, and so is second-year DB Kelee Ringo, who got eased into more playing time last season as 2023 wore on. But maybe the early front-runner so far: Isaiah Rodgers, who didn't play at all last season because of a gambling suspension.
He certainly hasn't looked like he has been away for a year, as Dave Zangaro wrote in his early stock watch:
During the spring, Rodgers didn’t show any signs of rust after a year suspension and he’s kept it up in training camp. He’s given up some catches but so have all the corners; it’s tough to cover [A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith]. But what’s notable is that Rodgers got the first reps as a first-team cornerback to begin camp. The battle between him and Kelee Ringo (who has also looked solid) is ongoing. Rookie Quinyon Mitchell is also potentially in the mix. [NBCSP]
Bouncing off of that, I was at camp on Saturday morning, and Rodgers seemed to generally stick to his assignments well. He did get burned in a 1-on-1 drill when Smith hauled in a perfectly placed pass over the shoulder from Hurts, but that's just going to happen when you're manning up DeVonta Smith.
He's looked pretty good otherwise.
MORE: Eagles 2024 training camp battle tracker
Maybe save for finding a new team for James Bradberry, most of the Eagles' offseason business is wrapped up. That said, it never hurts to get a little future-proofing done.
Over at PFF, and before camp officially started, Thomas Valentine highlighted a move that each team in the NFC should make, and or the Eagles, that was taking care of a Milton Williams extension.
Williams has been an under-the-radar performer on the Eagles' defensive line for the past three seasons. The 2021 third-round pick started 10 games in 2023, earning a 70.4 PFF overall grade and adding a career-high 25 pressures and 26 stops.
Philadelphia's defensive line is getting younger after Fletcher Cox retired in the offseason. The bulk of the interior snaps will be shared between Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter and Williams in 2024. As such, Williams is an important cog in one of the NFL's more talented defensive lines, and he is also a free agent in 2025. He could get paid big bucks on the open market, so the Eagles will know his value and should plan to extend him. [PFF]
Williams only registered half a sack last season, but did show flashes of becoming a much bigger piece in the trenches, and now that room has opened up a bit along the line, that could set the stage for a breakout.
Parris Campbell had a brutal year with the Giants last season, to the point where he wasn't sure what was next for his NFL future (you can hear more about that from his media scrum on Saturday HERE).
But he's with the Eagles now, trying to find a role within a stacked receivers room and with a massive chip on his shoulder.
It might be the perfect place for him to be, because as he quickly observed, the rest of the team does too with the way last season crashed and burned.
Here's Campbell talking about seeing that team-wide fire from back in OTAs on the Varsity House Podcast:
"Bro, we walked into it. OTAs and the offseason program, I was like 'Yo, we grindin'...
"We're y'all doin' this last year? And it was like 'Nah, bro. We finished 1-7. It ain't sweet.' You can definitely see the chip just from top to bottom. That was kinda like – when I signed with them, talking to Howie Roseman, the GM, that was kinda like what he was telling me, he was like 'Yo, we think you have that chip on your shoulder just from what happened with you,' and he was like 'I can tell you damn straight that we got that chip on our shoulder just because of how we finished.' So it was just, yeah, I'm walking into a team that's hungry." [Varsity House Podcast]
You can check out the full podcast episode where Campbell reflects on much of his football career so far HERE.
MORE: Jalen Hurts is stacking good days at training camp
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