The Philadelphia Eagles' roster is mostly set, with perhaps a few tweaks to come. Let's take an early look at some of the camp battles we'll have to look forward to this spring and summer with OTAs beginning next week.
1) RG: Tyler Steen vs. Kenyon Green vs. "the field"
For the third straight offseason Steen will be in a battle for the starting RG job. In 2023 he lost to Cam Jurgens. In 2024 he lost to Mekhi Becton.
Steen did get a fair amount of playing time in 2024, getting at least 40 offensive snaps in five games, against the Saints, Bengals, Steelers, and both games against the Giants.
This offseason will probably be his best chance of finally nailing down that starting spot. His primary competition will be Green, who was acquired as part of the trade that sent C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Texans.
Green was the 15th overall pick in the 2022 draft. He struggled as a rookie, and missed the entire 2023 season with a torn labrum. A shoulder injury caused him to miss five games in 2024, and he was also benched at one point, only getting his job back because his replacement got hurt.
So that's the downside. Here are the arguments for Green:
- The Eagles had him in for a pre-draft visit in 2022, so there's documented interest there.
- They employ the best developer of offensive linemen possibly in the world in Jeff Stoutland.
- Green turned 24 years old in March. He is younger than Steen, as well as some guys who were just selected in the 2025 draft.
- The Eagles had success last season with another oft-injured bust in Becton.
Green has talent, but for whatever reason it just just did not work out in Houston. Obviously, the Eagles see something in him.
The other players who could also push for a starting job:
- Second-year pro Trevor Keegan
- Eighth-year vet Matt Pryor
- Fourth-year vet Darian Kinnard
Prediction: Steen is probably the favorite, but certainly not an overwhelming one. I'd stack the odds like so:
• Tyler Steen: 45%
• Kenyon Green: 35%
• Someone not on the roster: 10%
• One of Keegan/Pryor/Kinnard: 10%
2) CB3: Kelee Ringo vs. "the field"
Quinyon Mitchell will start at one outside cornerback spot. Cooper DeJean will start in the slot, and I imagine he'll also stay in the game and play outside corner on the rare occasions the Eagles don't have a third corner on the field.
The favorite to land the CB3 job is Ringo. The Eagles traded a 2024 third-round pick for a 2023 fourth-round pick in order to select Ringo, and Howie Roseman was sure to note from the outset that the team would allow him plenty of time to develop behind the scenes.
"We felt like this was a 20-year old kid who was a good kid, tremendous physical tools, and we really had an opportunity to develop him," Roseman said on Day 3 of the 2023 draft. "He doesn't have to come in here and be a superhero. He can learn. We think we have tremendous veterans at that position who can show the way, and he can come in in a role where he's learning, and there's not a lot of pressure on him, and he can develop."
Ringo played just 234 snaps in the regular defense as a rookie, and 127 defensive snaps in his second year in 2024. He was the CB5 behind Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Isaiah Rodgers. And if the Eagles needed someone to fill in for DeJean, they chose Avonte Maddox.
With the release of Slay, and the losses of Rodgers and Maddox in free agency, Ringo has an opportunity to make a major climb up the cornerback totem pole, possibly into a starting spot. Is he ready? Earlier this offseason we did a film review of his limited snaps in 2024.
If Ringo isn't ready, the Eagles have something of a safety net in place in veteran Adoree' Jackson, who was a Titans first-round pick (18th overall) in 2017. He played his first four seasons in the NFL with the Titans, and his last four with the Giants. Over his eight-year career, Jackson has appeared in 97 games, with 82 starts, so he has plenty of starting experience. Jackson has not been a playmaker, however, as he has just 4 career INTs.
The other long shots are rookie fifth-round corner Mac McWilliams and Eli Ricks, who the Eagles have kept on their 53-man roster for the entirety of the last two seasons.
Prediction: It would have to be viewed as a disappointment if Ringo can't fend off Jackson, though Jackson should provide good competition. I'll project Ringo for now, as the Eagles had a lot of success last season allowing their young players to play.
3) S: Andrew Mukuba vs. Sydney Brown vs. a veteran not already on the roster
Reed Blankenship will start at one safety spot, but the Eagles need to find a starter opposite him after trading C.J. Gardner-Johnson this offseason.
Brown was the third pick of the third round (66th overall) in the 2023 draft. He is fast, strong, explosive, and he can hit. His physical traits are very appealing:
The Eagles also loved Brown's character coming out of college, as he was one of their "red star" players that year.
However, he does seem to lack recognition skills, and he plays a little out of control. In his rookie season, he was buried on the depth chart early in the season behind Band-Aids like Justin Evans and Terrell Edmunds. He suffered an ACL tear late that season, and then in 2024, he was behind a borderline roster-worthy player in Tristin McCollum on the depth chart for the entirety of the season.
It's fair to wonder if Vic Fangio trusts Brown.
In the 2025 draft, the Eagles selected another safety with a second-round pick in Andrew Mukuba, who does not have Brown's bulk or explosiveness but displayed much better awareness in college than Brown ever has.
Mukuba is primarily a safety, but he doubles as a slot corner, in a similar mold as Gardner-Johnson. Howie Roseman said during draft weekend that Mukuba's initial focus will be at safety.
Mukuba is smart, tough, instinctive, and a ballhawk, as he had five INTs and a forced fumble in 2024. He's also a hitter. The downside is that he's only 5'11 and 186 pounds (Combine measurements), though I imagine the Eagles will try to get him to put on more muscle.
The other players already on the roster are long shots to start. That's a group that includes McCollum, Lewis Cine, Andre' Sam, and UDFA Maxen Hook.
We should also note that there are some veteran safeties who are still available on the open market, like Justin Simmons and Julian Blackmon. Simmons played for Fangio for three years in Denver, and he has commented that he would like to play for Fangio again in Philly.
Prediction: I do believe the Eagles will sign a veteran safety, who will split time with Mukuba.
4) LB: Jihaad Campbell vs. Jeremiah Trotter vs. Nakobe Dean's knee
Zack Baun will start at one linebacker spot, and Nakobe Dean will almost certainly begin the season on the PUP list as he continues to recover from a torn patellar tendon suffered in the playoffs. That leaves an open starting spot.
Campbell is, of course, the Eagles' first round selection this year, and he is a physical specimen, with an outstanding blend of size and athleticism.
Campbell was Daniel Jeremiah's 12th ranked prospect, Dane Brugler's 14th overall prospect, and Mel Kiper's 21st overall prospect. Roseman said that he was a top-10 player on the Eagles' board.
In addition to playing off-ball linebacker, Campbell also played on the edge at Alabama. In 2024, he had 64 tackles, 5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and an INT.
However, Campbell underwent surgery in March for a torn labrum in his shoulder, so his availability to participate in training camp when it begins in late July is in question. If he were healthy, we probably wouldn't have included this camp battle in this article. Hell, if he were healthy, there's no way he'd have been available at pick 31.
If Campbell is not ready to go by Week 1, or if he has missed enough of camp that he's simply not ready to play yet like Cooper DeJean wasn't for the first month of the 2024 season, then Jeremiah Trotter could be the short-term starter. The Eagles were ready to have Trotter and Oren Burks split snaps in the playoffs after Dean went down, but when Burks immediately played well, Fangio decided to just stick with him.
Prediction: I do think there is a chance that Campbell will be ready to go for training camp and immediately shows that he should start. In 2024, for example, it was clear pretty quickly that Quinyon Mitchell was not only going to start, but that he was also probably going to be a good player right away.
But I think more realistically the Eagles will take it slowly with Campbell, who just turned 21 in February. What's the rush? They can allow him to fully recover, and let Trotter begin the season as the temporary starter, eventually being replaced by Campbell or Dean whenever either player is ready to go.
5) Swing offensive tackle: Wide open
Fred Johnson started 6 games for the Eagles in 2024. Halapoulivaati Vaitai started 13 games – including the Super Bowl – during the Eagles' first championship season in 2017. Swing tackle can be an underrated position of importance.
Here's how I'd rank the combatants, pre-OTAs:
1) Kendall Lamm: Lamm is a career backup who has stuck in the NFL for 10 years, playing for the Texans, Browns, Titans, and most recently, the Dolphins. He has appeared in 119 games, with 44 starts, and has experience playing both tackle spots. He has played 973 snaps at LT and 1,611 snaps at RT. He started 15 games over the last two seasons combined for Miami.
2) Matt Pryor: Pryor has played four positions along the offensive line, which is something the Eagles value. He has 427 career snaps played at LT, 718 at RT. The bulk of his work in the NFL has come at RG, where he has played 1,645 career snaps, hence his inclusion in the starting RG discussion above. He started 15 games for the Bears in 2024.
3) Darian Kinnard: Kinnard has experience playing at LT and RT in college at Kentucky. He has only played 71 career snaps, 68 of which came at RT against the Giants in a meaningless Week 18 game last season. Kinnard has been in the league three seasons, and he has three Super Bowl rings, having played for Kansas City in his first two. So, you know, he's also a good luck charm.
4) Myles Hinton: Hinton, a sixth-round rookie, will make the 53-man roster as long as he shows something in camp, but he'll have to be really good to be immediately trusted as a swing tackle. He has experience playing both sides at Michigan.
5) Cameron Williams: Williams is yet another sixth-round rookie, who again will make the roster as long as he shows something, but I less like his potential as a swing tackle in the short term than Hinton, because Williams only played RT at Texas.
Prediction: Again, that's my order above, though I've never seen Lamm, Hinton, or Williams play in person.
Omissions (I don't think they're legitimate camp battles):
• QB2: The Eagles traded Kenny Pickett, confident that Tanner McKee is ready to be the QB2. McKee also has a two-year head start over Kyle McCord in the the Eagles' playbook and just generally in the pros.
• RB2: My understanding is that the Eagles were very encouraged by what they saw from Will Shipley during practice throughout the season and in games, and they are confident he can fill Kenny Gainwell's role as the two-minute offense back/RB2.
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