With free agency and the NFL Draft behind us, now’s a good time to take a look at how the 2026 Philadelphia Eagles depth chart is shaping up. We previously examined the offense and the defense. We’ll continue today with the special teams unit before moving on to our first 53-man roster projection ahead of the upcoming season. (For fun, take a look at how the roster looks compared to last year at this time.)
KICKER
1 – Jake Elliott
Entering last season, there was hope that Elliott was primed to bounce back
from a down year. That did not happen; Elliott’s percentage of field goals made dropped from 77.8% in 2024 to 74.1% in 2025. Elliott ranked 37th out of 40 kickers in field goal percentage last season, ranking only ahead of Matt Gay, Younghoe Koo, and Joshua Karty. What do all of those players have in common? They were all cut at various points in 2025. So, not very good company for Elliott to be in. The Eagles’ two-time Super Bowl champion kicker agreed to take a $1 million pay decrease this offseason in exchange for the team guaranteeing most of his 2026 salary. Unless he egregiously struggles, Elliott will be the Eagles’ kicker for at least one more season. But he needs to be much better to prevent the team moving on from him in 2027.
PUNTER
1 – Braden Mann
The Eagles re-signed Mann to a four-year contract to put him under team control through 2029. He’s a solid punter. Due to a frustrating offense that led the NFL in three-and-out percentage last season, Mann logged 72 punts in 2025. That’s only 26 fewer than he had in the previous two regular seasons combined. Needless to say, the Eagles will hope to not rely on him as much in 2026. But he should be reliable when he’s needed.
HOLDER
1 – Braden Mann
Mann has had some good holds to bail out bad long snaps over the past couple seasons. Cooper DeJean was practicing holding at times last summer, so, he might be the emergency option in this role. Elliott has also taken reps as a holder, which, at first glance, doesn’t really make sense since he can’t hold his own kicks. But in the event that Elliott injures his leg(s) during a game but can still be on the field to hold for Mann filling in as an emergency kicker, well, that’s an option. Britain Covey also has emergency holder experience.
LONG SNAPPER
1 – Rocco Underwood
The Eagles’ sole long snapper on the roster is an undrafted rookie. Underwood will get a chance to win the job but he shouldn’t necessarily be considered a lock to make the team. From Bob McGinn’s pre-draft article on specialists (via Tyler Dunne’s Go Long Substack):
Said one coach: “He’s the best-looking athlete but probably the least accurate. He’s had a couple of unplayable snaps, and in some critical spots. An unplayable field-goal snap this year and an unplayable punt snap over the guy’s head the year before. NFL snappers just don’t have that. You don’t ever see that. But it happened to him a couple times and that really, really bothers me.”
This is just one coach’s opinion and the Eagles clearly saw enough reason to take a chance on him. But the team could opt to go with a more veteran option if Underwood struggles this summer.
KICK RETURNER
1 – Will Shipley
2 – Makai Lemon
3 – Dameon Pierce
4 – Britain Covey
5 – Carson Steele
Shipley led the Eagles in kick returns last season with 29 of the team’s 59. Good chance he’s the top guy again in 2026. Tank Bigsby was second with nine but he was a total disaster in that capacity, so, I’m guessing he’s not going to be utilized there again unless he’s been working on it all offseason. Lemon’s offensive role figures to be too big for him to also be utilized as a kick returner but he has experience from doing it at USC. Pierce, Covey, and Steele are fighting uphill battles just to make the roster. Playing well on special teams could help their cases to stick around. Pierce has 20 career kick returns (small sample size) for a good 32.8 average and one touchdown, though that score and his strongest production happened before the NFL’s new kickoff format. Covey is a better punt returner than a kick returner. Steele has a really small sample size of just five career kick returns but he logged a respectable 27.6 average on them.
PUNT RETURNER
1 – Britain Covey
2 – Makai Lemon
Covey is a better punt returner than anyone else on the Eagles’ roster but there’s no guarantee he even makes the team, which is looking crowded at wide receiver. Lemon returned just six punts in three years of playing college football for an 11.8 average. Guessing the Eagles will give him practice reps at this position but not expecting him to be the top option by the time the season arrives. The Eagles don’t want to have to use Cooper DeJean in this role since he’s so important on defense but he’s more than qualified to fill in if needed.
SPECIAL TEAMS COVERAGE
Some of the Eagles’ best special teams players on coverage units include newcomer J.T. Gray (first-team All-Pro in 2021), Cameron Latu, Darius Cooper, Will Shipley, Kelee Ringo, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., and Smael Mondon Jr. These guys will be competing with other fringe roster players to prove they belong on the team.
