Thursday marked the 15th Philadelphia Eagles training camp practice ahead of the 2025 NFL season. The Birds squared off against the Cleveland Browns in the second of two joint training camp sessions between the two teams leading up to a Saturday afternoon preseason game. Here’s what I observed at the NovaCare Complex.
EAGLES PRACTICE NOTES
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
The Eagles got their butts handed to them on Thursday morning.
Does this mean their 2025 season is already over before it even began?!
Yes.
Yes, it does.
OK, no, obviously not.
In the words
of Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice.
But that’s what this article is … a report from today’s practice. I’m not drawing sweeping conclusions. I’m just telling you what I saw. What it means, if anything, is up to interpretation.
That being said, I do think it’s fair to be disappointed the Eagles didn’t look better against the Browns.
The Eagles’ offense had some valid reasons for not looking awesome. No A.J. Brown, no Lane Johnson, no Landon Dickerson, and mostly no Saquon Barkley. Those are clearly key absences. Also, Jim Schwartz is one of the NFL’s best defensive coordinators.
However, none of that is an excuse for the offense looking as sloppy as it did at times. It’s not just that they were ineffective; it’s also that they weren’t very crisp. They didn’t put themselves in a great position to succeed with the mistakes and miscues they made.
The Eagles’ defense shouldn’t have been as bad as it was. Sure, they were missing Zack Baun, but their top linebacker options behind him have played well this summer. Vic Fangio’s unit was largely going up against a 40-year-old Joe Flacco and then a rookie Dillon Gabriel. And yet they allowed the Browns’ offense to run circles around them.
There was a sequence in practice where the Browns were just dominating the Birds:
- The Browns ran a trick play where what originally looked like a bubble screen to turned into the wide receiver taking the lateral and throwing a pass to a running back on the opposite side of the field for a big gain and near touchdown.
- Flacco hit Jerry Jeudy on a slant with Quinyon Mitchell trailing for a catch-and-run touchdown.
- Flacco hit Jamari Thrash on a short throw to beat Cooepr DeJean for a touchdown.
- Flacco hit David Njoku on a fade to the back left corner of the end zone for a touchdown with Reed Blankenship and Jihaad Campbell trailing in the area. Blankenship seemed to put his arms up in confusion or frustration; there may have been a miscommunication.
- Immediately following the Njoku touchdown, the Browns ran a screen where the original recipient pitched the ball to an unmarked Browns player in motion for another score.
- Gabriel lofted a downfield pass to Fannin Jr. for an over-the-shoulder touchdown catch with Andrew Mukuba trailing.
The Browns’ offensive success stood out in stark contrast as the Eagles’ starters were failing to get into the end zone again and again on the next field over.
How much does this matter?
Probably not a ton. I feel pretty confident projecting the Eagles to be a better team than the Browns this season. The Birds have undoubtedly earned the benefit of the doubt.
But I do think these practices against the Browns served as a reminder that 1) by virtue of being Super Bowl champions, no one will be taking the Eagles lightly and 2) what the Eagles’ own players said early in training camp about this season being a different year is entirely true. The 2025 Eagles don’t simply get to pick up where the 2024 Eagles left off. They have to climb the mountain all over again.
JALEN HURTS UPDATE
Hurts was not the only reason the offense struggled. But he wasn’t a big part of the solution, either.
The bad:
- Hurts either threw too early or Grant Calcaterra didn’t out of his break fast enough on a short out pattern into the end zone.
- Hurts overthrew DeVonta Smith with Denzel Ward in coverage.
- Hurts threw a fade pass to DeVonta that got knocked down by Ward.
The good:
- Hurts did have two short completions over the middle to DeVonta Smith. One set them up for a very short goal-to-go situation (though Hurts missed DeVonta on the next rep).
- Hurts completed a pass to Darius Cooper over the middle to put the offense a little short of the goal line.
Hurts and the offense as a whole were undoubtedly hampered by Myles Garrett (who will never not be impressive to behold in person, just such a freakishly big and powerful man) regularly generating disruption.
EAGLES INJURY REPORT
DID NOT PRACTICE
WR A.J. Brown (hamstring)
S Lewis Cine (groin)
OG Landon Dickerson (knee)
OL Kenyon Green (shoulder)
OT Lane Johnson (rest)
Brown missed practice for the second straight day. The Eagles are said to be taking caution with his hamstring injury.
Cine is now missing practice due to a groin injury after previously missing time with a hamstring injury. It’s been a very underwhelming offseason for the 2022 first-round pick.
Dickerson seemed to be moving well after practice as he handed out beers to Eagles and Browns offensive linemen.
Green has missed five straight practices. He’s reportedly expected to miss the rest of the preseason.
Johnson had a planned rest day. The Eagles also eased up on his workload late in Wednesday’s practice.
LIMITED PARTICIPATION
RB Saquon Barkley (rest)
LB Zack Baun (back contusion)
WR Elijah Cooks (shoulder)
A planned rest day for Barkley left his workload very limited.
Unlike yesterday, the two teams didn’t run any 7-on-7 drills today. So, no team drill action for Baun, who’s still not doing 11-on-11s.
Cooks was upgraded to limited participation after missing four straight practices. He did not take part in team drills. Guessing he won’t be able to play in the preseason game on Saturday.
UPGRADED TO FULL PARTICIPATION
Gabe Hall (shoulder), Myles Hinton (ankle), Montrell Johnson Jr. (hamstring), and Byron Young (groin) were removed from the injury report after being listed as limited on Wednesday.
POSITION BATTLE UPDATE — CORNERBACK
Adoree’ Jackson was first up with the first-team defense in 11-on-11 on Thursday. That makes nine days Jackson has been up first and six days for Kelee Ringo.
While I didn’t specifically notice Jackson or Ringo get beat, the Browns’ passing attack was very effective. Flacco was tracked as going 7/10 for two touchdowns (I’d argue it was three) and zero interceptions. He could’ve had another touchdown on a good throw that was dropped by rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. Gabriel threw a pass to an open target that should’ve been caught for a touchdown was bobbled up into the air for an Andrew Mukuba interception. Good on the rookie for staying with the ball but it’s hard to say that the defense played the Browns well in that situation.
MISCELLANEOUS
- Sydney Brown continued to take the first-team safety reps next to Reed Blankenship.
- Matt Pryor was at first-team right tackle with Lane Johnson resting.
- Mac McWilliams continues to take second-team cornerback reps on the outside as opposed to working in the slot where he did earlier this offseason. McWilliams might be a contender to start on the outside. If not by Week 1, perhaps at some point this year.
- For as much as the Eagles’ pass defense struggled, their first-team run defense was better. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. led the way in that regard once again. The Eagles’ backup defensive units struggled to defend the run.
- Josh Uche had a good run stop on a play where he also drew an offensive holding call on Browns massive left tackle Dawand Jones.
- Kylen Granson was unable to effectively lead block on a Hurts screen pass to Darius Cooper.
- Tristin McCollum got flagged for defensive holding.
- Ainias Smith dropped a Hurts pass.
- Darius Cooper seems to be money on crossing routes. Always gets open. Tanner McKee completed a pass to him on such a pattern today. Cooper did fail to make a contested catch on a McKee fade throw to him against Browns depth cornerback Dom Jones.
- Fullback Ben VanSumeren had a short catch in the flat! Can’t remember the last time the Eagles threw to a fullback. This would’ve been a very bad situation in a real game, though, because BVS was primed to get lit up by a Browns defender. Hospital ball by Hurts.
- Had a tough time seeing all the players (the Eagles’ jersey font can be hard to read with certain numbers looking like other numbers and sometimes players wearing their jersey folded up in half) but here are some special teams lineup notes. The first-team kickoff coverage unit included (but was no limited to): Darius Cooper, Josh Uche, Ben VanSumeren, Kylen Granson, Mac McWilliams, Kelee Ringo, Will Shipley, and Patrick Johnson. The first-team kickoff return unit was comprised of these 11 players: Terrace Marshall, Grant Calcaterra, Kylen Granson, Tristin McCollum, Ben VanSumeren, Patrick Johnson, Will Shipley, Kelee Ringo, Johnny Wilson, Will Shipley (returner), and AJ Dillon (returner). Something to keep in mind when it comes to players making the roster for special teams reasons.
UP NEXT
Schedule for the next week and beyond:
- Friday, August 15 — Walkthrough closed to media access
- Saturday, August 16 — Eagles vs. Browns preseason game starting at 1:00 PM Eastern (Lincoln Financial Field)
- Sunday, August 17 — Off day
- Monday, August 18 — Eagles training camp practice at 10:00 AM Eastern (NovaCare Complex)
- Tuesday, August 19 — Eagles training camp practice at 10:00 AM Eastern (NovaCare Complex)
- Wednesday, August 20 — Eagles training camp practice at 10:00 AM Eastern (NovaCare Complex)
- Thursday, August 21 — Walkthrough closed to media access
- Friday, August 22 — Eagles at Jets preseason game starting at 7:30 PM Eastern (MetLife Stadium)
- Saturday, August 23 — Off day
