Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Camp Notes – Good Depth

Posted August 11th, 2026 | No Comments »

The Eagles know as well as anyone that you need depth if you want to win in the NFL, where the season isa war of attrition. With that said, lets talk about some key backups.

OL depth is critical, as the team saw last year when Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson shouldn’t have been on the field. Drew Kendall was a rookie last season and focused on learning. Now he’s the top backup on the inside and could play if needed. Jeff McLane has some notes on Kendall.

Drew Kendall is getting closer to locking down the top interior O-line spot among the backups. He could be first off the bench at both center and guard. He more than held his own at left guard against defensive tackle Moro Ojomo in one-on-ones. And he had little trouble vs. Zion Wilson during his two repetitions at center.

Defensive tackle Byron Young got the better of Kendall at guard and sacked quarterback Andy Dalton during second unit team drills. Later on, Kendall spelled Dickerson with the starters. Young appeared to win early with his pass rush, but Kendall recovered in time for Hurts to step up and heave a bomb.

Kendall played a ton of center at Boston College. It feels like the Eagles have focused on him learning to play guard this summer. And he seems to have developed nicely.

McLane was also impressed with Willie Lampkin.

Willie Lampkin continued to shine in one-on-ones. Eagles coaches keep upping the ante. Lampkin took his first turns at center against Ojomo and locked him up pretty good. Could Carter and Davis be next? That’ll be the true test for the 5-foot-11, 290-pound Lampkin.

Rookie Micah Morris has flashed at times. It sure looks like the interior OL depth is greatly improved this season. Fred Johnson and Markel Bell give the team arguably the best pair of backup OTs in the league.

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CB depth was an issue last year. The Eagles signed Jonathan Jones to be CB4, but he’s hurt and will miss some time per Vic Fangio. Mac McWilliams has taken a step forward this year.


Quinyon Mitchell missed part of practice with an injury. McWilliams is the guy who replaced him with the starting defense. Fangio liked Mac coming out of the draft and I think we’re starting to see why. Tariq Castro-Fields has been around a while, but seems to  be playing his best football.

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Jimmy Bama has some notes on backup DL.

• A.J. Epenesa had a really nice win on a pass rush against Jordan Mailata in 11-on-11’s. He got around Mailata for a “sack.” He also had a nice “tackle” after a checkdown to Grant Calcaterra. Epenesa was also flagged for a defensive holding call on a pass play. Epenesa is challenging Arnold Ebiketie for the fourth edge defender spot.

• I really like what I have seen so far from iDL Byron Young, who had a quick win sack (and safety) on Andy Dalton today. Young is going to get plenty of snaps this season. He has solidified his spot as the fourth guy in the rotation behind Carter, Davis, and Ojomo.

Even Ty Robinson has gotten good notes in recent days. This is very encouraging. The development of Young is most important because he can play NT or DT.

BLG has a good note on Uar Bernard, who everyone is curious about.

I know our readers like to hear about this guy, so, let’s start with No. 93 today. For the second day in a row, Bernard caught my attention for using his power to drive his blocker back into the quarterback. Today it was John Ojukwu who was pushed back towards Dalton. As expected, Bernard doesn’t have an array of pass rush moves at this point in time. But it’s cool to see how he’s already using his pure strength to his advantage. Really interested to see how he fares in Saturday’s preseason game, assuming he even gets snaps.

That is a great point about whether Bernard will play. He desperately needs the reps, but you also need him to be functional so it doesn’t hurt the other players. We’ll likely see him, the question is just how much.

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We can’t mention BLG without a Darius Cooper note.

Hurts to Darius Cooper beat Kelee Ringo … Darius Cooper beat Woolen on an out … Darius Cooper made a good catch with his hands extended away from his body to pluck the ball in the air and beat Ambry Thomas.

  • DAILY DARIUS COOPER IS AWESOME REMINDER: Well, I already touched on a lot of the catches he made today. But this is your reminder in case you forgot. Also, Hurts was asked about how good Cooper can eventually be … and he said that Cooper is pretty good already.

It is great to see Cooper building on the promise he showed last year.

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Some odds and ends from Dave Zangaro.

The biggest highlight of the day came on a deep ball from Jalen Hurts to Elijah Moore. Moore ran a double move into a deep post and Hurts hit him in stride for a 50-yard touchdown pass. Moore beat Andre’ Sam over the top for the long touchdown and then celebrated by punting the ball on the roof. (Not sure if it got stuck or not.)

Moore has been having a good training camp and it’ll be interesting to see what the Eagles do when they put their roster together. I think he has outplayed Hollywood Brown in camp.

And

• Jake Elliott was 6-for-6 on his field goals in the full-team setting and is now 25/26 in this training camp.

• Jakorian Bennett had a PBU working against Elijah Moore.

• Eli Stowers got an early catch in this practice and is slowly starting to turn a corner.

• Ty Robinson has been more active in recent days. He got a cleanup sack on Tuesday. Robinson got off to a slow start in his second training camp but has been making more plays recently.

Moore is making a strong push for a roster spot. And it does feel like Stowers is finally moving in the right direction.

Jimmy Bama noted that Elliott is 25 of 26 on FGs in camp. That’s huge. The team needs him to bounce back.

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I definitely like the sound of this.

A big year from Carter will mean a big year for the defense.

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