The Eagles pieced together a divisional win over the Washington Commadners on Sunday, showing exciting flashes on both sides of the ball as they shook some rust off. While there is much to be encouraged about, the Eagles’ rookies are not among those reasons for optimism. Here are the big takeaways from Philadelphia’s 2026 NFL Draft class in Week 1.
Makai Lemon: D
It was to be expected that Makai Lemon would have a slow start to the season given his lack of participation in the offseason. He missed a lot of practice
time due to his hamstring injury. But Sunday was still rough. Lemon was targeted four times, catching three passes and finishing the day with negative five yards. That is really tough, but it’s not all on him.
Lemon’s usage was odd to say the least. Sean Mannion and company are still clearly trying to get a handle on what to do with this receiving group after DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks. Two of Lemon’s catches were on doomed screens and one was a short perimeter target. Given what Lemon was good at, I think he should live in the slot and eat up short targets there to get him going.
Sunday was not his day, but it’s obvious the team wants him out there given 29 receiver snaps, which was the third-most at his position. Hopefully, going forward the Eagles find different ways to get Lemon involved as he gets more comfortable with the playbook.
Other Observations
- Eli Stowers was placed on injured reserve as the Eagles put him on the backburner. That’s a bummer and I hope he can figure it out at some point this season. The good news for the Eagles is that Dallas Goedert looks awesome. Throwback to the Eagles drafting Goedert in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft and then Zach Ertz immediately having the best season of his career.
- Rookie blockers Markel Bell and Micah Morris are beginning this season as depth players; the former was active while the latter was a healthy scratch. That being said, Landon Dickerson looked rough yesterday. Hopefully it is just a one-off bad day for the three-time Pro Bowler, but he really didn’t look like himself. That is worth monitoring, and luckily the Eagles have the depth to fill in if Dickerson can’t go.
- Cole Payton was predictably inactive as QB4. No special teams role for him.
