What is the story about?
The
official snap counts from the Philadelphia Eagles’ Week 1 win over the Washington Commanders are in! Let’s take a look and run through some analysis.
OFFENSE
- Excluding garbage time situations, it’s typically a good thing when the starting quarterback and offensive line are able to play the entire game. In this case, unfortunately, Landon Dickerson did not look very playable out there. Cam Jurgens didn’t have a great game, either.
- DeVonta Smith is WR1 and he was only off the field for three snaps. Smitty led the Eagles in targets with six, which produced three receptions for 53 yards. His sole special teams snap came when he logged the game-sealing onside kick recovery. Not an easy play with the ball bouncing at him like it was … but he managed to make the grab!
- Dallas Goedert was also only off the field for three snaps. He finished second in targets with five, making four catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns. This was the most receiving yards Goedert had in a game since the Eagles’ overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last year. Goedert’s 43-yard reception was the longest he’s had since his 61-yard scamper late in the New Orleans Saints game in 2024.
- Dontayvion Wicks (AKA Don Wick AKA Donny Candles, hat tip to The Ringer’s Philly Special) is clearly WR2. He ranked tied for third (with Makai Lemon) in targets with four, which produced two catches for 73 yards and one touchdown.
- Saquon Barkley accounted for 15 of the Eagles’ 18 running back carries.
- Makai Lemon saw a good deal of playing time as WR3. The results sure weren’t great; his five targets produced three receptions for -5 yards. Washington’s defense clearly wasn’t fooled by those designed touches for the rookie first-round pick.
- As expected, Johnny Mundt spent most of his time blocking inline as TE2. Of his 20 snaps, 12 were spent as a run blocker and four came in pass protection. Which means he ran a route on just four snaps.
- Will Shipley played more than Tank Bigsby … and saw three times as many touches (three to one). Don’t love that. The Eagles underutilized Bigsby last year and they did again in Week 1 this year.
- My guy Darius Cooper was a beast on special teams, logging four tackles in one game! He didn’t see a target on offense despite the fact he looks more ready to help right now than Lemon does.
- Cooper DeJean had two offensive snaps as the player lined up behind the offense in victory formation. The offensive safety, if you will.
- TE3 E.J. Jenkins mostly played on special teams.
DEFENSE
- DeJean played eight snaps at safety in his first game as the primary option on the back end next to Andrew Mukuba in base packages. Rough game for Coop in coverage.
- Jihaad Campbell was not the field for three defensive snaps.
- Jalen Carter logging 66 snaps in Week 1 stands out. Would be ideal to see more of a rotation there but we know by now that Vic Fangio likes to lean heavily on his top defensive linemen. Would be nice if the Eagles’ offense could manage to stay on the field more often to give Carter and the rest of the defense more of a break by not having to play so many snaps.
- With Jonathan Greenard out, Jalyx Hunt is the Eagles’ top edge rusher in terms of playing time. No surprise but here’s the confirmation.
- Marcus Epps briefly missed some time after getting banged up early in the game but he returned to be the Eagles’ safety next to Mukuba in non-base packages.
- Moro Ojomo saw the second-most defensive tackles snaps and obviously made a game-winning play by stuffing Washington’s two-point game-tying two-point conversion attempt.
- With Jonathan Greenard out, Nolan Smith is the Eagles’ second edge rusher.
- Jordan Davis ranked third in defensive tackle snaps. Pro Football Focus had him as the Eagles’ third-highest graded defender, only behind Zack Baun and Epps.
- Arnold Ebiketie playing the third-most edge rusher snaps was a bit of a surprise since it seemed like A.J. Epenesa was ahead of him. But Epenesa also seemed to get banged up in this game, so, that may have been a factor.
- Michael Carter II is a role player for the time being.
- Bryon Young saw some snaps in heavier defensive line packages.
SPECIAL TEAMS
- Kelee Ringo continues to see a lot of special teams playing time. Big reason why the Eagles kept him on the roster.
- Braden Mann had an active day with seven punts, already tying his most from any game last year (which he did four times in 2025). Mann was a beast in terms of both booting the ball and pinning the Commanders back deep with good directional punts.
- Jake Elliott made a 35-yard field goal and went 3/3 on extra points.
- Ty Robinson was limited to special teams duty. Zero defensive snaps despite his emergence in the preseason. Fangio clearly doesn’t trust him.
- Britain Covey was temporarily elevated from the practice squad to be the Eagles’ punt returner. His four returns produced 37 yards for a quality 9.7 average.
- Fred Johnson and Markel Bell were limited to special teams duty. It’s unclear how the Eagles will handle replacing Jordan Mailata or Lane Johnson if they go down and it would be nice not find out what the plan is there if it means the starters remain healthy.
- Drew Kendall and Willie Lampkin were also limited to special teams duty. Thought we might see the Eagles use Lampkin in a specialized role … but they did not. Maybe they’re saving that? Or maybe they’re not going to mess around with that knowing they might need him to actually play guard or center for them this season. Though I do believe Kendall is the top interior backup option ahead of Lampkin.
DID NOT PLAY
ACTIVE: Andy Dalton, Hollywood Brown
INACTIVE: Tanner McKee, Cole Payton, Elijah Moore, Jonathan Greenard, Micah Morris
- The Eagles finally revealed their plan at QB2 (gasp!). It’s Dalton, which doesn’t inspire much confidence. Though I guess we’ll see if this is the case again in Week 2. With as weird as this backup quarterback battle has been, maybe there’s a non-zero chance they rotate it to where McKee is QB2 against the Tennessee Titans?! Guessing not but we’ll see.
- No playing time for Hollywood Brown, who did not have a very good summer. Not trusted to play on offense and not a factor on special teams … but the Eagles paid him a good chunk of change so he’s still here.
- Payton is QB4. Redshirt year for him, unless he manages to contribute on special teams at some point.
- The Eagles kept Moore on the roster only to not dress him for Week 1. You wonder why they wouldn’t just release him (he’s a vested veteran who isn’t subject to waivers) and try to get him back on the practice squad. Or, you know, they could actually play him. Based on what we saw in practice, he looks more ready to contribute right now than Lemon does. Could be nice to see more of a rotation behind the top two receivers (DeVonta and Wicks).
- We’ll see if Greenard is able to fully participate in practice this week or not. Week 3 might be more realistic for him. They shouldn’t need him to be able to beat the Titans. Another bonus to waiting for the Chicago Bears game is that it’s played on a Monday night, giving Greenard an extra day to get ready at that point.
- It’s a redshirt year for Morris as the tenth offensive lineman on the roster.
- Note that the Eagles still have one open roster spot after placing Eli Stowers on injured reserve.
