{"id":103214,"date":"2025-06-04T11:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T11:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/103214\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T11:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T11:42:12","slug":"7-big-takeaways-from-vic-fangio-at-eagles-otas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/103214\/","title":{"rendered":"7 big takeaways from Vic Fangio at Eagles’ OTAs"},"content":{"rendered":"

7 big takeaways from Vic Fangio at Eagles’ OTAs<\/a> originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n

We learned a lot from Vic Fangio in just 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

The Eagles\u2019 veteran defensive coordinator spoke at a news conference before Tuesday\u2019s OTA practice at the NovaCare Complex and answered a bunch of questions about a myriad of topics.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The good news about Fangio is that he pulls no punches. Ask him a direct question and he\u2019ll answer it. That happened a bunch on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Here are some key takeaways from his availability:<\/p>\n

The Bryce Huff trade<\/p>\n

This was the first time talking to Fangio since the Eagles traded Bryce Huff to the 49ers for a conditional fifth-round pick. Huff was the Eagles\u2019 highest-paid free agent a year ago (three years, $51 million) but his one season in Philly was a disaster.<\/p>\n

Fangio on Tuesday was asked why Huff didn\u2019t work out with the Eagles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the one thing is he was getting better,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cWhen he hurt his hand, he tried to play with it a couple weeks, it wasn\u2019t going good because he was reluctant to use his hand. And then when they operated on it, he had to play with a big cast on his hand, which basically rendered his hand useless and then rendered your arm useless because you can\u2019t use your hand. That really had an effect on him. We just came out of draft season and the first thing you see with the guys name on the board is his hand size, his arm length. Well, he lost all that. When he was out, Nolan (Smith) got more snaps, Jalyx (Hunt) got more snaps, things evolve. But I think he\u2019ll do fine in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

That seemed like a diplomatic answer from Fangio because even before Huff\u2019s injury, he didn\u2019t seem to fit in with this defense. In San Francisco, Huff will be reunited with Robert Saleh, who was his head coach with the New York Jets. Saleh is now the 49ers\u2019 DC and will likely have a better understanding of how to use him.<\/p>\n

Where does Jihaad Campbell fit?<\/p>\n

First-round pick Jihaad Campbell isn\u2019t practicing yet after having shoulder surgery in March and on Tuesday Fangio volunteered that Campbell likely won\u2019t return to the practice field until \u201csometime in August.\u201d The Eagles will report in late July.<\/p>\n

When the Eagles moved up a spot to draft Campbell at No. 31 overall in April they really talked up his potential as a pass rusher, but so far, Campbell has been spending his time with the inside linebackers. Fangio said that\u2019s because \u201cthere\u2019s a lot more to learn there\u201d at inside \u2018backer.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing all we can,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cHe\u2019s doing all he can in meetings, we\u2019re doing all we can with him on the field. I take him to the side and do an individual drill with him that\u2019s suited to what he can do right now. So, he\u2019s working good and trying to pick it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell on Tuesday was a spectator at practice but had a helmet on. It seems like he\u2019s itching to get back on the practice field for real.<\/p>\n

As far as that pass rush upside, does Fangio see it?<\/p>\n

\u201cPossibly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More Cooper DeJean<\/p>\n

One of the big takeaways from last week\u2019s OTA practice was that Cooper DeJean was lining up as an outside cornerback in the Eagles\u2019 base package and bumping inside on nickel downs.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to keep him at nickel,\u201d Fangio said, \u201cand then in our base package, we\u2019ll find a spot for him either at corner or safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fangio volunteered the potential DeJean snaps at safety. Basically, it seems the Eagles have decided that DeJean shouldn\u2019t come off the field in 2025 and even though they mostly live in nickel, there are some snaps with just four defensive backs on the field. DeJean needs to be one of them \u2014 either sliding outside to corner or back to safety.<\/p>\n

Of course, Fangio did point out that the Eagles were in their base package for just 160 total snaps last year, so we\u2019re not talking about as big a change as some might think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of it will end up depending upon how the rest of the guys develop and where we most need him,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cSo, it will be determined by what\u2019s best for him and what\u2019s best for the team, and probably what\u2019s best for the team will win out in that decision. But he\u2019s capable of playing corner and he\u2019s capable of playing safety also.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The linebacker position<\/p>\n

With Nakobe Dean (knee) and Jihaad Campbell (shoulder) still not practicing, second-year linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. has been getting all the first-team inside linebacker reps next to Zack Baun.<\/p>\n

And it might be that way for a while.<\/p>\n

Not only did Fangio said that he doesn\u2019t expect Campbell back until August but he also said Dean \u201cwon\u2019t be back for a while.\u201d Dean is recovering from a torn patellar tendon and it seems possible he\u2019ll begin training camp on the PUP list. That means plenty more reps coming for Trotter, who is trying to make the most of them. The good news is that Baun wore the green dot as the defensive signal caller in the final three playoff games and handled those duties well.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The safety competition\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Eagles\u2019 most surprising move of the offseason was trading starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans after just one year of his contract and a Super Bowl title.<\/p>\n

What were Fangio\u2019s thoughts on that trade?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a salary cap-type thing, and Howie (Roseman) made that decision,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cI was fine with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top candidates to replace CJGJ are Sydney Brown and Drew Mukuba but Fangio made it known that it\u2019s a three-man competition. He tossed veteran Tristin McCollum\u2019s name into the mix as well. No matter who wins this job, Fangio doesn\u2019t expect to have his answer anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a competition that is going to take a training camp and a few preseason games to sort out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Entrenched starting safety Blankenship after practice agreed that he\u2019ll need some time with whoever wins that other job but he didn\u2019t seem worried about building that rapport. There\u2019s a lot of mixing and matching going on this spring so everyone is playing with everyone else.<\/p>\n

Jordan Davis in great shape<\/p>\n

The Eagles this offseason picked up Jordan Davis\u2019s fifth-year option that will pay him nearly $13 million in 2026. Fangio on Tuesday said he didn\u2019t have anything to do with that decision but did like what he saw from Davis late in 2024.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the last seven or eight games including the playoffs, (Davis) played very well down the stretch,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cI think that\u2019s carried over into this offseason and I anticipate it carrying over into the season. I think he\u2019s in the best shape that he\u2019s ever been in, which he kind of got into late in the season last year and he\u2019s carried it over, so I think he\u2019s going to do very well for us this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why it took Davis so long to get into his best shape last season, Fangio allowed that for some guys it takes time but also said, \u201cI\u2019m ducking that question.\u201d<\/p>\n

After having just one sack in 17 regular season starts in 2024, Davis had two in the playoffs. Fangio said he saw improvement from Davis as a pass rusher late in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got better towards those last seven or eight games. He really did,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cYou saw it in practice first. A lot of people think you don\u2019t need practice, you do need practice, and he showed it in practice first and then it carried over into the games. I think he realized that, felt it, felt good, and he\u2019s just carried it over all offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Into the unknown\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Eagles had the No. 1 defense in the NFL last season but they did lose plenty of players this offseason. Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Darius Slay, Brandon Graham, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Isaiah Rodgers and Oren Burks are all gone.<\/p>\n

So there are some serious questions about this defense going into 2025.<\/p>\n

But Fangio had a good point on Tuesday: Think about how many questions there were about last year\u2019s defense at this time.<\/p>\n

This was Fangio\u2019s longest answer of his press conference and it\u2019s a message he said he delivered to his players as well:<\/p>\n

\u201cI look at this year, very similar to last year in that at this time last year, we had a lot of turnover in personnel from the previous year. You had (Zack) Baun, nobody knew what he was at this point last year. You had Nakobe (Dean), who hadn\u2019t played any meaningful NFL football in his first two years. You had Oren Burks, who we had just signed. You had Isaiah Rodgers, who we had just signed. You had (Moro) Ojomo, who didn\u2019t play hardly at all his rookie year. We got Nolan (Smith), who didn\u2019t play hardly at all his rookie year. We got Chauncey (Gardner-Johnson) back. We drafted Q (Quinyon Mitchell), Cooper (DeJean), Jalyx (Hunt).<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of question marks at that time. This year, those names are replaced. (Kelee) Ringo, Adoree\u2019 (Jackson), Sydney (Brown), (Tristin) McCollum, (Azeez) Ojulari, (Josh) Uche, Byron Young, Gabe Hall, (Thomas) Booker, Jihaad (Campbell), all the draft picks \u2014 (Andrew) Mukuba, (Ty) Robinson, Smael (Mondon) and then the rest of the rookies. Some of those guys in that second list have to become like those guys in the first list, and I don\u2019t know how that\u2019s going to turn out, but I look at us really basically the same one year to the next. The names have changed. Hopefully we\u2019ll get the same results from these new guys that we got from a lot of the new guys last year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"7 big takeaways from Vic Fangio at Eagles’ OTAs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia We learned a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[5830,6731,1172,1171,9313,25,7,253,9714,16150,911,7522,7891,477,255,6,23339,4447,242,109,2476,6043,1161,9717,425,16151,7960,1517],"class_list":{"0":"post-103214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-brandon-graham","9":"tag-bryce-huff","10":"tag-c-j-gardner-johnson","11":"tag-cooper-dejean","12":"tag-darius-slay","13":"tag-eagles","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-houston-texans","16":"tag-isaiah-rodgers","17":"tag-jeremiah-trotter-jr","18":"tag-jihaad-campbell","19":"tag-josh-sweat","20":"tag-milton-williams","21":"tag-nakobe-dean","22":"tag-new-york-jets","23":"tag-nfl","24":"tag-novacare-complex","25":"tag-oren-burks","26":"tag-philadelphia","27":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","28":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","29":"tag-robert-saleh","30":"tag-san-francisco","31":"tag-sydney-brown","32":"tag-the-eagles","33":"tag-tristin-mccollum","34":"tag-vic-fangio","35":"tag-zack-baun"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114624918062238578","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}