The Eagles officially wrapped up training camp on Wednesday afternoon in a non-padded practice that lasted about an hour and a half.
Next up: The Eagles will host the Bengals in the preseason finale on Friday night at the Linc. They will then have to cut their roster to 53 players by Sunday evening.
The regular season will be here before you know it.
Let’s get to our observations from Day 17 of training camp:
1. As always, we’ll start with housekeeping:
• Lane Johnson practiced on Wednesday after pulling himself out of Tuesday night’s public practice at the Linc with an apparent leg injury. Johnson was full-go on Wednesday and wasn’t listed on the report at all.
• The same goes for Jordan Davis, who seemed to injure his left elbow at the public practice. Davis was a full-go on Wednesday but did have a brace on his arm.
• Here’s the injury report to start Wednesday’s practice:
Not practicing: OT Markel Bell (thumb/leg), CB Jakorian Bennett (knee), TE Grant Calcaterra (back), TE Eli Stowers (hamstring), S Cole Wisniewski (concussion)
Limited: CB Jonathan Jones (shoulder)
Jones missed eight full practices before returning in a limited fashion on Wednesday.
2. Some depth chart notes:
• The QB2 battle continued on Wednesday. Andy Dalton got the first crack at the job in team drills on Wednesday, but Tanner McKee was up first in 7-on-7s.
• The Eagles opened up in 12 personnel with Dallas Goedert, Johnny Mundt, Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks on the field. When they went to 11 personnel, Mundt was replaced by Makai Lemon. A few other receivers mixed in after that.
• The offensive lines from Wednesday:
First team: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson
Second team: John Ojukwu, Drew Kendall, Jake Majors, Willie Lampkin, Fred Johnson
• The four punt returners from Wednesday were Lemon, Britain Covey, Quez Watkins and Cooper DeJean. It seems very possible that returning will be a part of Lemon’s role in his rookie season.
3. The Eagles continued to throw to their backs on Wednesday. On one play, Jalen Hurts tossed a quick pass to Saquon Barkley, who was split out wide to the left and DeVonta Smith was able to block Quinyon Mitchell to spring Barkley for a big gain. Last season, Barkley caught 37 passes and he caught 33 in 2024. The most he has ever had was 91 in his rookie season with the Giants in 2018. It seems like this year’s total could fall somewhere in the middle.
4. Because the Eagles were in 12 personnel for their first practice period in 7-on-7s, Makai Lemon got work with the second team and caught back-to-back passes from Tanner McKee. The second one was a touchdown.
A bit later in practice, the Eagles were trying to use their 11 personnel package but had just 10 players on the field. There was a delay before the Eagles got Lemon’s attention to get him on the field.
5. Michael Carter II had an interception on Wednesday when an Andy Dalton pass to Darius Cooper soared a little bit by the goal line and Cooper couldn’t catch it. Andre’ Sam had tight coverage and the ball popped up in the air and into the waiting hands of Carter. The former Jets nickel corner has had a flashy training camp playing a few different positions. Vic Fangio on Wednesday said the safety battle between Carter and Marcus Epps hasn’t been called yet.
6. Good moment from rookie seventh-round pick Keyshawn James-Newby, who beat John Ojukwu for a “sack” in a team period. James-Newby missed a bunch of time this camp with an ankle injury but flashed in that moment.
7. Former UFL receiver Erik Ezukanma caught a touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal from Tanner McKee in team drills. There’s not a spot for Ezukanma but he has been battling this summer. And it was an excellent pass on the money from McKee.
8. While Carter did have that interception in this practice, he was the victim of a great Andy Dalton pass. The veteran rifled a ball to tight end Stone Smart on a slant that was just out of the reach of Carter’s fingertips in the middle of the field.
9. The highlight for the Eagles’ offense in this practice came on a touchdown throw from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith, who made a leaping grab in the end zone. Just your daily reminder that Smith is ready to be this team’s WR1.
10. Some odds and ends:
• Cam Latu had a bad drop in the middle of the field on a pass from Tanner McKee. But Latu also had a great play on the line of scrimmage, releasing a block and floating into the flat for a catch. Latu has a good shot to make this roster as a TE/FB/special teams player.
• Ambry Thomas was called for a DPI late in practice and he really disagreed with the call. He let the ref hear about it for a little longer than he probably should have. He likely would have gotten and extra penalty for that in a game.
• Quinyon Mitchell had a pass breakup on a Hollywood Brown target from Jalen Hurts. The throw was a tad behind Brown, which was just enough to let Mitchell get his hand in there and break it up.
• UDFA DB Kapena Gushiken has flashed at times in this camp and was playing both safety with the second team and then moved to nickel corner. His versatility makes him an intriguing prospect.
• Jalyx Hunt was able to beat Johnny Mundt into the backfield for what looked like a TFL. It was ruled no gain.
• Riq Woolen had a pass breakup against DeVonta Smith. A bit later, Cooper DeJean had excellent coverage against Smith on an incompletion.
Stupid Observation of the Day: During an early portion of practice, I was amazed to watch how smooth DeVonta Smith looks running backwards. It’s not awkward at all. It looked like someone taped him running normally and just played it in reverse.