10 Juicy Storylines Entering Eagles Training Camp
New offensive coordinator? Sirianni using ChatGPT? How long with Jalen Hurts keep his mustache?
A great philosopher once said, “We’re talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We’re talking about practice.” I’m struggling to remember the context, but I’m pretty sure he was talking about NFL Training Camp.
Teams around the league have begun reporting to their training camps, with Eagles’ players reporting today (or if you’re from the future, Tuesday, July 28). For the next several weeks, we’ll talk about dudes practicing in shorts (and sometimes pads) as teams prepare to kick off the season in September. In Philadelphia, the start of this training camp caps off one of the most eventful Eagles off-seasons in recent memory.
Despite returning 9 of 11 starters on offense and 8 of 11 starters on defense, this Eagles team made some monumental changes this past offseason, including overhauling their offensive system, making changes to the coaching staff, bringing in new talent, and trading away their star wide receiver. With all that change, the Eagles have more questions than answers ahead of the 2026 season.
So while you’re watching grainy footage on Twitter of a late-round defensive lineman to determine whether or not they’ll make the final roster or trying to determine how long Jalen Hurts is going to rock the mustache look, here are the 10 juiciest storylines to follow for the next month or so.
1. Can Sean Mannion Get The Most Out of Jalen Hurts?
Hurts will be playing for his 5th offensive coordinator in six seasons. That’s like being married 5 times in 6 years. After a successful 1-year stint as Jordan Love’s quarterback coach in Green Bay, Sean Mannion and this offensive staff hope to get Jalen back on track after a down year.
I broke down Mannion’s experience earlier in the offseason. The hope is that his knowledge of the quarterback position can help Hurts continue to develop while accentuating QB1’s strengths.
As football fans, we’ve never really seen the McVay/LaFleur offense, with a quarterback as mobile as Hurts, over the course of a full season (with the closest comparison being two games of Malik Willis last season). Mannion will look to get Hurts comfortable with a pure progression passing game that asks him to read the entire field and take snaps under center.
Big Sean (nickname pending) will also need to find ways to get Hurts more involved in the run game than he was last year when Hurts rushed for the least amount of yards since becoming a full-time starter in 2021. We’ll see if Mannion is the Prince Who Was Promised or just another Sean in South Philly.
2. How Deep Is The Offensive Line?
It’s hard to think of 5 words less inspiring than Stem Cell Treatment in Colombia. But that’s exactly what Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson did this offseason to fix injuries that limited their effectiveness last year.
Jurgens and Dickerson both missed 2 games last year, left tackle Jordan Mailata missed 1 game, and future Hall-of-Famer Lane Johnson missed the last 8 games of the season and is also 36 (which, as a man in my 30s, I refuse to admit is old out of a sense of pride and delusion).
The Eagles’ line has the potential to be one of the best in the league next year if they can just stay healthy. But if they can’t, the depth behind them is shaky. The Birds re-signed reliable swing tackle Fred Johnson (Fred Again!), who filled in admirably for Johnson last year. They brought in (man whose name breeds unfortunate expectations) Michael Jordan to shore up their depth in the interior line. The 6’ 6” offensive guard started 9 games for Tampa Bay last year and graded highly as a pass blocker (19th among 81 qualified guards according to John McMullen of Sports Illustrated).
The Eagles are hoping anyone from a crop of young players that includes Drew Kendall, Jake Majors, Myles Hinton, Willie Lampkin, and rookies Micah Morris out of Georgia and Markel Bell (a literal giant) out of Miami can step up. Unfortunately, the Eagles no longer have Jeff Stoutland and his magic touch for developing offensive linemen. Hopefully our boy Stout left a little of that magic behind for new offensive line coach Chris Kuper, who has a mixed track record.
3. Wide Receiver #2, Who?
After the departure of A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith is getting a well-deserved opportunity to be the head honcho in this wide receiver room. Behind Smith, the depth chart is very much up for grabs.
Insert Dontayvion Wicks. The 25-year-old is a lethal route runner with a very high ceiling. Unfortunately, he never reached that ceiling in Green Bay due to inconsistent play and a very serious case of the drops (although Wicks lowered his drops from 9 in 2024 to just 3 last year). Wicks does his best work out of the slot and is an excellent blocker, which could pay dividends for a team looking to get back to a dominant run game.
Also insert rookie Makai Lemon. The first-round pick is a tough receiver who also does his best work out of the slot, is a great route runner and blocker, is very tough to bring down, and has a serious case of “that dog in him”. The Birds also brought in field-stretching wide receivers Hollywood Brown (who should change his name to South Philly Brown) and Elijah Moore.
It seems like the Eagles have a few guys with similar profiles. But it also seems like they’ve built a positionless basketball-style receiver room, where Mannion can move players around the field to hunt mismatches. Hopefully the next few weeks will give us a sense of the vision for this post-A.J. Brown receiving group.
4. Big Bets on 2nd Year Defenders
This past offseason, the Eagles let linebacker Nakobe Dean and safety Reed Blankenship sign with other teams (I’m not crying, you’re crying). Allowing both players to walk places big bets on second-year safety Andrew Mukuba and second-year linebacker Jihaad Campbell.
Mukuba started most of the season next to Blankenship last year, and showed real flashes, including a game-tilting interception against Kansas City in Week 2. Just as he started to catch his stride, Mukuba fractured his right ankle in Week 12 against Dallas. The Eagles made no significant moves at safety and are going into the season with Mukuba as the unquestioned starter. But he still has a lot to prove.
Jihaad Campbell looked like one of the league’s most explosive linebackers last year when filling in for an injured Nakobe Dean in Weeks 1 through 6. After Dean came back, Campbell’s playing time diminished, but in Year 2, the Birds are showing faith in Campbell’s ability to become a difference-making linebacker. Unfortunately, Campbell missed most of the offseason programming with a shoulder injury, so it may take a bit for him to get up to speed.
5. Will Jalen Carter Get Paid?
Titans defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons became the highest-paid defensive tackle in the league this offseason, signing a $105.8M deal for 3 years with $100M guaranteed. That’s diving in a pool full of gold coins like DuckTales money. Jalen Carter is hoping for similar pools of money from Howie Roseman.
Carter is potentially the most talented player on a defense full of ridiculously talented players. He is capable of single-handedly shifting the outcome of a game with raw athleticism and intelligence (when he’s not spitting on anyone like that dinosaur from Jurassic Park). Unfortunately, Carter had a down year in 2025.
He was 18th in pass rush win rate (Jeffrey Simmons was 2nd). He was 110th in tackles for loss and 115th in sacks with only 3 (Simmons had 11). Carter’s inconsistency and waning effort don’t do him any favors. Plus the Eagles are looking at top-of-the-market deals coming up for players like Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Jalyx Hunt (if Hunt continues to improve), plus a decision on whether or not to hold onto stud lineman Moro Ojomo.
Odds are that Carter gets the bag from the Birds. But Philly may want to see a step forward from the big man before handing out a new deal.
6. How Will Nick Sirianni Use ChatGPT?
A recent article from The Athletic’s Zach Berman mentioned that Nick Sirianni is using ChatGPT to help with his messaging to players.
Will Nick use ChatGPT to generate a video of Jalen Hurts’ face onto Michael Jordan’s body in footage of Jordan’s legendary flu game? Will he realize that Kevin Patullo was actually using ChatGPT to draw up plays last year? During a heated matchup with the defense this summer, will he prompt ChatGPT, “You are long-time defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Tell me how you would stop yourself?” Will Howie Roseman see how well ChatGPT is doing and hire it as the first robot assistant coach?
7. Can The Running Game Get Back on The Right Track?
The Eagles’ running game last year was as effective as Ben Simmons in the 3-point contest. After a down year for Saquon and an injury-riddled Eagles offensive line, Sirianni and Mannion, along with newly hired run game coordinator Ryan Mahaffey, will look to breathe life into this once potent ground game.
The Eagles are shifting to a wide zone scheme that’s prevalent in Shanahan-McVay offenses. With that change should come more under-center runs for Barkley. But how will the offensive line adjust to a blocking scheme they’ve never run before?
And will Mannion look to get backup running back Tank Bigsby more involved to help spell Barkley? In 2025, Bigsby had only 58 carries, despite rushing for 5.9 yards per attempt (first among running backs with at least 50 carries).
8. How Dominant Can This Defensive Line and Cornerback Room Be?
Could Uncle Vic turn out an all-time defense this year? With the addition of Jonathan Greenard, Arnold Ebiketie, and A.J. Epenesa, the Birds have improved depth and versatility on their defensive line.
Greenard is an absolute stud who has 38 sacks in 6 seasons with the Vikings and Texans, and despite dealing with a shoulder injury last year, still had the 7th-highest pressure rate in the league. Ebiketie is a pass-rush specialist who ranked 10th in the league in quarterback pressure rate last year and led the Falcons with 6 sacks in 2024. Epenesa may have lost a little juice but provides great value as a rotational pass rusher. He had at least 6 sacks in each season between 2022-2024.
This cornerback room is a brick wall. The Birds added uber-talented (yet occasionally penalty-stricken) cornerback Riq Woolen to a group that includes 1st team All-Pros Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
9. Who is QB2?
The Eagles traded a seventh-round pick for Andy Dalton this offseason to beef up their quarterback room. But does the presence of the Red Rifle spell a murky future for Tanner McKee (AKA the Stanford Slingshot)? The Eagles’ quarterback room is better than it was last year. But with McKee being in the last year of his rookie contract and his trade market drier than a saltine, his reps in training camp will tell us a lot about his future with the team.
10. Will Jake Elliott Get His Groove Back?
Last year, “Jake the Make” became “Jake the Kind of Miss From Over 40 Yards”. I literally don’t know what kickers do all day, but hopefully Special Teams Coordinator Michael Clay gets access to Nick Sirianni’s ChatGPT account to find ways to get Jake his confidence back.