The Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in their preseason finale on Friday night.
Final score, which doesn’t matter, but we’re logging it here anyway: 30 to 13.
The Eagles’ final preseason record, which also doesn’t matter, but we’re logging it here anyway: 0-3.
Time to hand out some winners, losers, and I don’t knows ahead of the team making roster cuts from 90 players down to 53 before 6:00 PM Eastern on Sunday, August 30.‘
WINNERS
DARIUS COOPER
The Eagles rested him. He’s on the roster. The question is:
how many snaps will he play on offense, if any at all?
WILLIE LAMPKIN
The Eagles also notably rested him, though he’s also been banged up a bit recently with a stinger. Regardless, he’s on the roster.
CARSON STEELE
Steele finished the preseason as the Eagles’ leading receiver and it wasn’t close:
Meanwhile, his 21 rushing attempts produced just 59 rushing yards (2.8 average). The Eagles might not keep him on the roster since, at best, he would be RB4 behind Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, and Will Shipley (who was among the rested players tonight). But Steele has made a case for himself and perhaps the Eagles envision using him in a fullback role.
If he doesn’t stick in Philly, Steele shouldn’t struggle to find a landing spot in some capacity with a different NFL team.
JAKE ELLIOTT
After attempting zero field goals through the Eagles’ first two preseason games, Elliott made kicks from 45 and 56 yards out on Friday night. Good to see. Elliott’s had a good summer:
Then again, he also did last year before struggling in the regular season.
KEYSHAWN JAMES-NEWBY
KJN missed most of the Eagles’ offseason practices due to injury. But their final pick from the 2026 NFL Draft followed up a good moment in practice earlier this week with a sack in this game by chasing down Josh Johnson from behind. He’s earned practice squad consideration.
ZION WILSON
Wilson popped in every preseason game this summer. He logged a TFL and a QB hit on Friday night. The Eagles may have found a diamond in the rough here with a player whom originally intended on playing college football in 2026 before being ruled ineligible. Good developmental option for the practice squad.
JORDAN MIMS
Totally forgot the Eagles signed him earlier this week. He has no chance to make the team but he did have a nice punch out for a forced fumble on kickoff coverage.
LOSERS
MAKAI LEMON
Five targets, three receptions, three yards, one drop that went through his hands for an interception, and a muffed punt. Not exactly the most encouraging NFL debut by the Eagles’ 2026 first-round pick.
I wrote more about Lemon and his outlook here.
THE ARCHITECT(S) OF THE EAGLES’ BACKUP QUARTERBACK BATTLE
Training camp competitions are designed to bring out the best from players battling for a given job. “Iron sharpens iron!”
Well, not in this case. I think the Eagles splitting QB2 reps between Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton did neither of them any favors.
Maybe it wouldn’t have actually made a difference if one of the two took all the second-team reps. Maybe they’re just not very good players at this point and it is what it is.
Still, I struggle to feel like the Eagles handled this situation well. I think their approach may have undermined McKee’s confidence. I just refuse to believe he was merely this bad all along. We’ve previously seen him look much better than he has this offseason! And specifically against the Bengals last summer!
It’s just weird to me how much worse McKee looks now.
Anyway, the Eagles better hope Jalen Hurts doesn’t get hurt, because neither McKee nor Dalton are inspiring much confidence. It makes me wonder if Eagles QB2 might be behind door No. 3 …
TANNER MCKEE
He was inaccurate. He held the ball too long. He wasn’t helped by Lemon’s drop that turned into an interception. But he hardly did enough to help himself. McKee’s worst miss came when he overthrew an open Britain Covey for what should’ve been a touchdown.
MAC MCWILLIAMS
McWilliams has looked better in practice than he has in preseason games this summer. He got beat multiple times on Friday night.
AMBRY THOMAS
The veteran cornerback was roasted and committed multiple penalties.
BASICALLY THE ENTIRE EAGLES’ DEFENSE ON THIS PLAY
In the running for the worst tackling I’ve ever seen.
I DON’T KNOWS
SEAN MANNION
For the second week in a row, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator called plays from the booth … and not the sideline, like he did in the first preseason game. Unlike last week and much more like their first preseason game, however, the Eagles’ offense was pretty bad. They ultimately (s)logged 210 total yards at 3.6 yards per play.
I’m not here to crush Mannion; we all know the vanilla play-calling and (almost) no starters caveats apply. We’ll soon get a better read on him when the real games start.
ANDY DALTON
Dalton had better numbers than McKee on Friday night, which isn’t really saying much. And he still looked far from great. Maybe the Eagles feel like he’s done enough to be QB2? I don’t know.
COLE PAYTON
Payton showed some promise in the Eagles’ first preseason game but he only logged three pass attempts in their final two preseason games. Does he make the team ? I lean towards putting him on. Seems like a good sign for his stock that the Eagles were experimenting with using him on special teams coverage units in this game. But I don’t know that he’s a lock by any means.
DAMEON PIERCE
Pierce looked good early in training camp. Then he suffered a hamstring injury that caused him to miss most of the summer. He’s looked good in practice since returning and he also had four carries for 44 yards on Friday night. He clearly has some juice. But he did also drop two passes, albeit one thrown low to him. And he also paid a visit to the medical tent.
Early in camp, it looked like Pierce might challenge for the RB3 role. Early in this game, I felt like he was building a case for RB4 consideration, likely while occupying a practice squad spot. But between him getting hurt (?) again and Steele having another good night, I don’t know where Pierce stands.
ANDRE’ SAM
Sam had an active night (multiple tackles, two fumble recoveries, a dropped gift of an interception that counted as a pass breakup) before ultimately being carted off the field. That’s a shame. While the 27-year-old’s limitations probably would’ve prevented him from making the roster, he would have been a good practice squad option to keep around. Especially with the Eagles being relatively thin at safety. As of me typing this sentence, I don’t know the specifics about his injury … but it doesn’t seem good.
KAPENA GUSHIKEN
The Gush had some good moments on special teams but he struggled with missed tackles and got beat in coverage on defense. Probably going to be on the practice squad.
SHAUN WADE
He can’t really cover but he sure has the Peanut Punch down. Wade logged a forced fumble in each of the Eagles’ three preseason games.
UAR BERNARD
It shouldn’t come as a surprise since he only just played in his third-ever football game of his entire life but Bernard has clearly struggled with the concept of tackling. I don’t know if the Eagles need to use a roster spot on a player who is definitely not ready to play in a game this season. I don’t think other teams will be looking to cut one of their players so they can claim him off waivers?
By the way, this was fun, love to see how much Bernard’s teammates seem to enjoy him:
