PHILADELPHIA — In stifling heat that took your breath away as indexes soared over 100 degrees, the Eagles began their second week of training camp wearing shoulder pads for the first time.
They’ll be in full pads Tuesday, projected to be the hottest day of the year.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter saw his first action of the summer on Monday after dealing with shoulder soreness. While the D-line bore down on Jalen Hurts, cornerback Quinyon Mitchell pulled down the first interception of camp, picking off a heave intended for a slanting A.J. Brown.
Later, Sydney Brown nearly picked off Tanner McKee when he jumped a route by tight end Cameron Latu, whom the Eagles signed to a reserve contract in the offseason. McKee, who is vying to be the backup quarterback, impressed in a pair of games last year with a 66.7% completion percentage, four touchdowns, no picks and a 117.2 rating.
“A lot of teams will try to install certain things (on offense) for the week, and so the first week of practice you’re gonna have a few plays you’re running, and every week you’re gonna install more,” center Cam Jurgens said. “Same thing with defense. But here, our defense just has everything installed for the first practice and we are slowly getting all our stuff in. They’ve got a lot more in.
“We’re running plays into looks that we shouldn’t be, because that’s just what we have in right now. It’s great for us, mentally and physically, because we’ve got to make plays work. We gotta make some different calls and do different blocking schemes and make bad plays work. That’s what we’re doing right now.”
And in another boon for the Birds’ vaunted secondary, second-year corner Cooper DeJean debuted at No. 60 on the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2025, which is voted on by players throughout the league.
On both offense and defense, the Eagles have incorporated some new drills to focus on some of the everyday details that can be the difference in winning or losing, such as a contested ball drill that wide receiver DeVonta Smith and other Alabama players used in college. Smith suggested it to coach Nick Sirianni, and he was receptive.
“Whether it’s on the sideline, whether it’s an angle tackle out in space, we want to do ordinary better than anybody else because those are the things that end up winning football games,” Sirianni said. “I think a lot of people can get enthralled by, ‘Look at this, how this play’s drawn up and that play’s drawn up.’ That’s very important, but at the end of the day, whether it’s my son’s football team, it’s a high school team, whether it’s a college team, winning football happens with teams that tackle better, the teams that take care of the football better, the teams that block better, the teams that take the football way better, the teams that block destruct better.
“Some of our Alabama guys had some old tape of it,” Sirianni said. “I was able to talk to a couple coaches that had done that. And so, it started as a contested catch drill that really is a good competitive drill to make an open field tackle.
“We focus on doing the ordinary better. And so, we were pretty good in our missed tackles last year, but we wanted to take an even bigger step. … We also know that when you tackle as good as we did and take away the football as good as we did, that other teams are going to prepare for that. So, we better be even better at tackling. We better be even better at taking care of the football. We better be even better at taking the football away. So those are the designs of all those different drills that we try to do and try to get better at those things and not say, ‘Hey, we were a good tackling team, do everything the same.’ No, how do we get better at that?
“If I want our team to continuously strive to get better, even when they’re on top like they were last year, then I better be doing the same thing as the coach. Your culture starts with your actions, and they’ve got to see me doing the same things.”
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NOTES >> Speaking of Smith, he sat out Monday with back tightness. Safety Andrew Mukuba, the Birds’ second-round pick, Jurgens (back), was also out. Linebacker Jihaad Campbell (shoulder surgery) and guard Kenyon Green (knee) were limited. … DeJean got more reps at safety next to Reed Blankenship while in base defense. … The punt returners were Jahan Dotson, Ainias Smith, Taylor Morin, Giles Jackson and Avery Williams.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.
Source: Berkshire mont
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