Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Eagles Add a CB

Posted August 4th, 2025 | 1 Comment »

Howie Roseman says that he is always looking to improve the Eagles roster. Howie made a trade on Monday night, sending DT Thomas Booker to the Raiders for CB Jakorian Bennett.

DT was a position of strength for the Birds. Even after the trade, the Eagles have good depth.

Jalen Carter
Jordan Davis
Moro Ojomo
Ty Robinson
Gabe Hall
Byron Young

CB is a bit of a mystery position. Quinyon Mitchell is set as one starter. Cooper DeJean will play the slot. The other outside position is a battle between Kelee Ringo and Adoree Jackson. Vic Fangio likes Mac McWilliams, but the rookie is banged up and hasn’t been practicing. You can’t count on him being ready to contribute by the start of the season. Eli Ricks has done some good things in recent practices, but still has too many negative plays for the coaches to fully trust him right now.

Howie went and added another CB. He got someone who is young, but has starting experience. Bennett will turn 25 in three weeks. He’s got 11 career starts and has looked good at times.

That point by EJ Smith feels pretty insightful. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean are both back. Darius Slay is replaced by Adoree Jackson. Avonte Maddox is replaced by Mac McWilliams. Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks are back.

You can now think of Bennett as replacing Isaiah Rodgers. Both had some starting experience, but weren’t completely sure things. If Bennett was a great player, the Raiders wouldn’t be dealing him. My guess is that one of the reasons they are okay moving on from Bennett is that new coach Pete Carroll prefers tall, long corners. Bennett is 5-11. The top four outside corners for Vegas are all at least 6-0.

I think Bennett will be given a chance to compete for the starting job, but I don’t think trading for him is a complete indictment of Jackson and Ringo. I think this is more about depth than anything else. If anything happened to Mitchell, would you want Jackson and Ringo as your starters? That doesn’t seem ideal. Bennett is an outside corner with experience and good tape.

You hate to deal away Booker, who was having his best Training Camp, but the drafting of Robinson and the emergence of Hall made Booker expendable. The Eagles still have interesting DTs in Jacob Sykes and Joe Evans. The Raiders were desperate for DT help.

Smart move by Howie. Deal from a deep position to add quality depth/competition at a spot that needed it.

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Speaking of Quinyon Mitchell, if you want to read good things about him go check out Jimmy Bama’s practice notes. There is also plenty of love for punter Braden Mann.

Q also did well in the Top 100 rankings.

Not too shabby.

*****

Quick Practice Hits

Another good day for WR Eli Cooks. He continues to impress.

Tyler Steen seems to get a bit better each day.

Josh Uche seems to be the #3 rusher as of now. He’s been making plays in recent practices.

Jordan Davis had some good pass rush reps. That is encouraging.

That Hurts guy is still pretty decent.

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Still Early

Posted August 3rd, 2025 | 4 Comments »

The Eagles open the 2025 regular season a month from now. Training Camp has had eight practices, not all of them in full pads. There are still three preseason games to play and a pair of joint practices with the Browns next week.

As much as we obsess on every little moment at Eagles TC, it is still early. A lot can change over the next few weeks. Good and bad.

Tyler Steen has played well enough to win the starting RG job. If he were to struggle in the joint practices and then in camp after that, it could open the door for Matt Pryor to win the RG job. Steen needs to be consistent to keep his job.

Rookie OT Myles Hinton has been impressive at times. He isn’t a lock to win a roster spot, but has a good chance. He could also be the backup LT if he can show enough in the coming weeks. Game action will be crucial for him. He needs to show he can get the job done in a game setting, especially in known passing situations.

The receiver position is wide open after AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith and Jahan Dotson. The coaches would love to see Johnny Wilson and Ainias Smith step up and win jobs. Eli Cooks has impressed in practice. The challenge for him is to keep that up. The coaches want him to keep stacking good practices. Games will be a great opportunity for all three.

Kyle McCord and Dorian Thompson-Robinson are battling for the #3 QB job. McCord got off to the better start, but DTR has been better recently. He got all of the snaps on Sunday. Don’t read that so much as a sign of anything. The coaches do different things for different reasons. Can DTR keep playing well and win the job? Will McCord come alive and steal it away?

Young DTs Gabe Hall, Thomas Booker and Ty Robinson have all impressed this summer. Will all three of them continue playing well? Will one of them stand out? Booker has the most experience. Robinson has the highest upside.

The Eagles have a pair of starting pass rushers they are happy with. The team signed veterans Josh Uche and Azeez Ojulari hoping they would be good backups. Uche has been the better of the two so far, but neither has been overly impressive. Third stringers Ogbo Okoronkwo and Ochaun Mathis have both flashed. The team needs a couple of these backups to do enough to win jobs.

Kelee Ringo and Adoree Jackson are still battling for a starting CB spot. Ringo seems to be playing better of late. He needs to keep that momentum going. The team clearly wants him to win the job, but he does have to earn it. Eli Ricks has been playing well in recent days and is making his case for a roster spot. Mac McWilliams impressed early, but has been hurt since. He needs to get back on the field. Fangio likes him, but McWilliams can’t win a role unless he’s able to show what he can do.

Safety remains an open competition. Sydney Brown hasn’t made a lot of plays, but has been consistently solid. Drew Mukuba hasn’t been able to stay healthy. He is working his way back, which is a good sign. Brown and Mukuba are likely to get preseason action. Vic Fangio has talked about how importance live reps are. I don’t think the coaches can afford to sit either of them. Both are young and still need to show what they can do. McCollum and Sam are trying to show that they should still be in the mix, either for the starting job or key roles.

*****

LS Charley Hughlett suffered a neck injury. It was enough that they made a move.

You know I’m a fan of any move that involves adding an Appalachian State player. But you don’t like changing snappers in the middle of TC.

*****

AJ Brown missed practice with a hamstring injury.

Hamstring injuries can linger so the Eagles are smart to be cautious with this. Let’s hope Garafolo is right about it not being a big deal.

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