Top 10 things I want to watch at Eagles training camp 2025

Top 10 things I want to watch at Eagles training camp 2025 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Training camp is the most exciting time of the year for a beat writer who covers an NFL team.

Lather up in sunscreen, pop a hat on top of your head and get out there to watch practice every day before writing and talking about it. It’s the best.

Did I know the Eagles were winning the Super Bowl after watching last year’s training camp? Nah. But I knew they had a lot of talent and it was fun to watch it develop into a championship team over the months. A new journey starts this week.

Here are 10 things — in no particular oder — I’m looking forward to watching over the next month:

1. The safety competition

There are plenty of quality competitions that will take place over the next few weeks but the one I’m most looking forward to watching is at safety, where the Eagles will try to replace C.J. Gardner-Johnson. According to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, there are three candidates for the starting job next to Reed Blankenship: Sydney Brown, Drew Mukuba and Tristin McCollum. While everyone knew Brown and Mukuba were competing, Fangio let it be known that McCollum has a shot too.

During spring practices, the Eagles rotated a ton at the safety positions. If that continues during training camp, Fangio will get a good look at plenty of different combinations. Even though Fangio included McCollum, it seems more likely that this competition will come down to Brown vs. Mukuba. Brown has the edge in experience but most of his NFL experience came in 2023 before Fangio was the DC. Mukuba is a second-round pick who was already getting first-team reps this spring. The fun part about this competition is the individual players. Both Brown and Mukuba have different but very fun play styles. Brown is a huge safety with great speed and he plays with an aggression and hair-on-fire style that will be exciting to watch. And Mukuba proved himself to be a ballhawk last year at Texas. While he might be undersized, Mukuba doesn’t play that way.

2. Kevin Patullo’s offense

The Eagles in 2025 will have their fourth different offensive coordinator in five years under Nick Sirianni. Kevin Patullo this offseason was promoted from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator after Kellen Moore left to take the head coaching position in New Orleans.

It seems like this coordinator change will be less dramatic than some of the previous ones the Eagles have undergone. In fact, plenty of the language is expected to carry over this season. And it’s not like the Eagles’ offense truly looked all that different under Moore in 2024, so it seems unlikely that it’s suddenly going to look drastically different under Patullo in 2025. But there might be some minor tweaks from a guy who has had four years to watch the offense and devise a plan for if/when he got his opportunity to run the show.

3. Who brings the juice?

C.J. Gardner-Johnson is now a Houston Texan and Brandon Graham is retired. Not only will the Eagles miss their contributions as players but they’ll also miss the juice they brought to practice every single day. Both CJGJ and Graham were the two players you’d hear from the sidelines no matter how long practice went or how hot it was. They always brought energy.

So who will replace that in 2025? The Eagles have some candidates. The names who really stand out are Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. Both of those young edge rushers seem to have juice on the field.

4. Jihaad Campbell

The Eagles were thrilled on draft night when they were able to move up just one spot and draft Jihaad Campbell out of Alabama with the No. 31 overall pick. The only reason Campbell was likely available that late in the round were injury concerns that the Eagles clearly didn’t share with the rest of the NFL. Campbell was widely considered to be a top-15 talent in this class.

Campbell had shoulder surgery in March and missed most of the spring as he rehabbed. But he did get back on the field for linebacker drills on the one and only mandatory minicamp date. Campbell might not be a full participant until August, but it’ll be a fun day when he’s back on the field in team drills. Because Campbell (6-3, 235) is a heck of an athlete. He’ll begin at inside linebacker but it’ll be interesting to see if the Eagles get him any work as an edge rusher, even if it’s just in OL vs. DL 1-on-1 drills. Even if he doesn’t work off the edge, his size, speed and length off the ball should be fun to watch, especially next to Zack Baun in the Eagles’ defense.

5. The returners

Former Eagles receiver Britain Covey missed significant time last season and signed with the Rams as a free agent in the offseason. So the Eagles will have to figure out who their punt returner is in 2025. Cooper DeJean filled in admirably last season but he’s so important to Vic Fangio’s defense that it would behoove the Eagles to take that off his plate. And at kick returner, Kenny Gainwell and Isaiah Rodgers both moved on this offseason too.

The easiest answer to both questions might be free agent pickup Avery Williams. While the Eagles now list Williams as a receiver, they initially called him a return specialist after they signed him to a one-year deal. The 27-year-old veteran has experience in both roles during his time in the NFL. But his roster spot is also not a lock so we’ll be watching who else lines up as returners all summer.

6. Ben VanSumeren at fullback

After experimenting with Ben VanSumeren at fullback last season, the Eagles are making it a full-time thing this season. VanSumeren, who is coming back from a knee injury that ended his 2024 season in November, is now officially listed as a fullback and not a linebacker. He even changed his number from 57 to 43. The Eagles were committed enough to having a fullback that after BVS went down last season, they brought in veteran Khari Blasingame to the practice squad to hold down that role.

VanSumeren, 25, is an excellent athlete and it’s fun to think about a player with his size and speed being deployed as a blocker for Saquon Barkley. It’s not an easy thing for a player to switch positions but VanSumeren does have a background as a tight end. If he can make the team, his major role will still be special teams but we might get a better sense of the plan for the fullback position and VanSumeren this summer.

7. Young defensive players

The Eagles had to rely on a ton of young players on defense in their Super Bowl season and that won’t change in 2025. There will just be other young players filling in those roles. While that might seem like a daunting task, the Eagles’ defensive coaching staff did a brilliant job of developing young talent last season.

This year, players like Jalyx Hunt, Moro Ojomo, Jihaad Campbell, Drew Mukuba, Kelee Ringo and more are all going to need to play big roles in Vic Fangio’s defense. There’s something exciting about having that much youth again.

8. Jahan Dotson’s 1st Eagles camp

The Eagles didn’t acquire Jahan Dotson in a trade until Aug. 22 last season so he missed all of training camp and the preseason. Dotson didn’t have a super productive first season with the Eagles but he didn’t drop any passes and always seemed to make a play when the ball came his way. We’ve seen over the years with Jalen Hurts that trust is very important with his receivers and he is now getting a full spring and training camp with Dotson. That could lead to more production from Dotson in 2025 and we might get some hints this summer.

9. The edge rushers

If there’s one position where the Eagles might still want to add talent before the season begins, it could be at edge rusher. They lost Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham from last season and Bryce Huff got traded after one disappointing year in Philly. The Eagles might have enough with Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Azeez Ojulari, Josh Uche, Antwaun Powell-Ryland and Patrick Johnson. But Howie Roseman will likely keep a close eye on this position during training camp. If he thinks they need a boost, Roseman has never been shy about pulling off a trade.

10. Handling the bull’s-eye

There will be more pressure on the Eagles in 2025 as they attempt to defend their Super Bowl title. Of course, the Eagles are making sure to not talk about the Super Bowl anymore. Nick Sirianni’s message to the team has been similar to past years. He loves to use the analogy of climbing a mountain; one step at a time. That can be easier said than done.

Top 10 things I want to watch at Eagles training camp 2025

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