25 things I'll be watching at 2025 Eagles training camp

After a long dead period over the last couple of months, Philadelphia Eagles training camp will begin this week, as the team will hold its first practice Wednesday morning.

Here are 25 things I'll be watching this summer.

1) After taking home Super Bowl MVP hardware, Jalen Hurts won't be facing the same pressure he did a year ago when he was coming off an end-season collapse and his leadership qualities were being called into question.

Still, eyes are always on the QB1, and Hurts will continue to work toward improving the flaws in his game as he has consistently done over his still young career.

Hurts had a great spring, at least in the media-attended practices, when he got the ball out quickly, and rarely had any balls hit the ground.

2) The Eagles have had a veteran originally brought in from outside the organization to be the QB2 in each of the four seasons Hurts has been the starter.

This year the setup is a little different, in that a home-grown drafted quarterback in Tanner McKee is being promoted from QB3 to QB2 after developing behind the scenes the last couple seasons.

McKee has played well in camp, in preseason games, and he was excellent in real game action at the end of the 2024 regular season.

As we have seen repeatedly over the years with this Eagles team, the QB2 can be kind of a big deal.

McKee will continue to prepare like a pro just as he has the first two-plus years of his career, but it would be nice to see him also continue to develop.

3) Saquon Barkley got nearly 500 touches last season, so, spoiler, he's going to get plenty of rest during summer.

That means we're likely to see a lot of Will Shipley , who is poised to take over Kenny Gainwell's role as the RB2 / two-minute offense back.

The Eagles are high on Shipley, but he still has something to prove this summer.

Shipley has speed and receiving chops, but it will be interesting to get a look at him in pass protection.

4) The most interesting receiver to watch in camp this summer will be Jahan Dotson , who the team acquired as camp was wrapping up last year.

He had to get ready for the 2024 season with a new team in haste, and was mostly invisible during the regular season.

Dotson did eventually make a few big plays in the playoffs, and it will be interesting to see if Hurts goes out of his way to build rapport with his WR3.

It's worth noting that when A.J.

Brown and DeVonta Smith both play in games, the Eagles are 41-10.

When either Brown or Smith is out, they're 4-4.

If Brown or Smith go down at some point this season as they both did last season Dotson is going to have to step up and take on a bigger role in the offense.

Getting him more involved in the offense this summer will make that transition easier, if needed.

5) Dallas Goedert will be the TE1 and Grant Calcaterra will be the TE2.

Thereafter there are a slew of guys competing to make the roster as the TE3 and (maybe) the TE4.

And really, it's not even a guarantee that they'll keep three on the 53 if nobody stands out.

But certainly, we'll keep an eye on all the other tight ends competing in camp.

6) For the third straight offseason Tyler Steen will be in a battle for the starting RG job.

In 2023 he lost to Cam Jurgens.

In 2024 he lost to Mekhi Becton.

2025 camp represents Steen's best chance of finally nailing down that starting spot, as he exclusively got first-team reps during spring practices.

Steen's primary competition will be Kenyon Green , who was acquired as part of the trade that sent C.J.

Gardner-Johnson to the Texans.

That's the only starting spot up for grabs on offense.

7) The Eagles employ the best offensive tackle tandem in the NFL in Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson , but it will be the young guys who will be fun to watch throughout camp.

Rookies Myles Hinton , Cameron Williams , and Hollin Pierce are all, raw, talented players with some upside, but they all need refinement.

It will be interesting to see how those guys along with rookie C Drew Kendall develop throughout their first NFL camps under Jeff Stoutland .

8) Though the rookie offensive tackles will be fun to watch, they are all unlikely to play important roles in 2025.

An underrated camp battle to watch will be at swing tackle, with the two most likely contenders being free agent acquisitions Kendall Lamm and Matt Pryor .

O-line 1-on-1's will be particularly important to watch this year.

9) Nolan Smith went from the fourth edge defender in the pecking order a season ago, to the top dog in 2025.

He had a breakout season in 2024, and it will be interesting to see if his game to rise to another level in 2025.

Similarly, Jalyx Hunt went from a developmental player unlikely to get many snaps when camp began last year, to a player expected to start this season.

The torch has been passed from guys like Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham to Smith and Hunt.

10) Smith and Hunt were depth guys last season.

The new depth guys are free agent acquisitions Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche , who have both had pockets of success in the NFL, but not consistency.

They're both talented, they're both in town on one-year "prove it" deals, and they should both be motivated to prove they can still be productive players.

11) Will Jordan Davis be in shape this year? His conditioning improved throughout camp last year, but he often looked fatigued early in camp.

That's not good enough.

Davis needs to already be in shape on Day 1, not use camp as the means to get into playing shape.

12) Moro Ojomo is primed to step into the role vacated by Milton Williams , who left in free agency.

Rookie fourth-round selection Ty Robinson will in turn take on Ojomo's role as a rotational interior D-lineman, or at least the Eagles hope he will.

In 2024, Jalen Carter played more snaps than any other interior defensive lineman in the NFL.

The Eagles need Davis, Ojomo, Robinson, and even deeper backups like Thomas Booker to give them quality snaps so Carter doesn't burn out.

13) During a spring press conference, Vic Fangio said that first-round rookie Jihaad Campbell won't practice until August.

To be determined if that also means he'll start camp on the PUP list.

Last year, Cooper DeJean was unexpectedly placed on the NFI list prior to the start of camp, and he missed the first dozen practices.

He did not play much in the first four games of the regular season, but he made a big impact once he got on the field after the bye.

The Eagles will hope that Campbell can eventually make an impact in his rookie season, but it likely won't be right out of the gate.

The trick for Campbell will be to stay engaged and take mental reps while he continues to rehab his shoulder.

We probably won't see Nakobe Dean practice at all during training camp.

14) With Campbell and Dean both out to start camp, Jeremiah Trotter is likely to get first-team reps at off ball linebacker.

An under-the-radar battle could be between him and rookie Smael Mondon for the right to start games early in the season, keeping the seat warm for Dean and Campbell.

15) Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were studs as rookies.

As noted above, DeJean didn't even participate in like the first three weeks of camp.

It will be fun to watch and see if they can evolve from great rookies into legitimate star players, much like Jalen Carter in his second season.

16) The third starting cornerback spot is open, with the two main contenders being Kelee Ringo and Adoree' Jackson .

Ringo wasn't old enough to drink when the Eagles selected him in the 2023 draft, and the plan for him was always to be patient and allow him plenty of time to develop behind the scenes.

But the time for Ringo to step up and take on a major role is now.

The Eagles will give him every opportunity to win the job, and as long as it's close, he'll start.

Jackson is just kind of there as veteran insurance.

I also wouldn't completely sleep on rookie Mac McWilliams , who in my opinion had a strong spring, at least in the practices that were open to the media.

17) The other starting spot in the secondary that is wide open is at safety, opposite Reed Blankenship .

That's a three-man competition between Sydney Brown , Andrew Mukuba , and Tristin McCollum .

Can one of those guys leave no doubt that they should start? 18) And if none of those safeties inspire confidence, could the Eagles look to the outside for reinforcements, saaaayyy, like Justin Simmons , or Julian Blackmon ? 19) In recent years, I haven't paid super close attention to the field goal kicking sessions, because Jake Elliott had cemented himself as one of the league's elite kickers.

But after a down season in 2024, we'll be giving him a closer look.

20) One of the reasons Elliott struggled last season was because he was dealing with an injury.

Another potential reason was because long snapper Rick Lovato had some off-target snaps.

Lovato was replaced this offseason by longtime Browns long snapper Charley Hughlett .

We'll see if the Eagles give Hughlett competition at any point during camp.

If so, that'll be a bad sign.

21) Howie Roseman has made 19 trades in between the start of training camp and the start of the regular season since he stepped back into the GM chair in 2016.

The only year he didn't make any trades at all was the COVID year.

2016: 3 2017: 5 2018: 1 2019: 2 2020 (COVID): 0 2021: 2 2022: 4 2023: 1 2024: 1 You can re-live those here .

Well, you can re-live them up until 2022 anyway.

Albert Okwuegbunam (2023) and Jahan Dotson (2024) aren't in there.

After making only one training camp trade in each of the last two camps, we'll see if Roseman has an itchier trigger finger this year.

If we were to rank the likelihood of positions Roseman could trade for, it'd look like this: 22) Guys likely to get extra rest this summer so they're fresh for the regular season: Saquon Barkley , A.J.

Brown , Dallas Goedert , Jordan Mailata , Lane Johnson , Landon Dickerson , Jalen Carter , Zack Baun .

OK, so that's not necessarily something to watch for throughout camp, but shut up.

23) The Eagles may very well spend less time on the practice field than any other team in the league.

Nick Sirianni has always been confident that the training sessions are intense and they get a lot done in their limited grass time, but priority is on having players healthy and fresh for the regular season.

It's hard to knock them for that philosophy, given that they were missing just one starter for the Super Bowl.

The Eagles always point to the fact that they have won their Week 1 game in each of the four seasons Sirianni has been the head coach, but that doesn't exactly mean they have looked good doing it.

The reality is that they have started slowly each of the last two seasons.

In 2024, they lost at home to the Falcons Week 2 in a game in which they got torn up by Kirk Cousins of all people.

In Week 3 against the Saints they didn't score a point until the fourth quarter.

In Week 4 they got blown out by the Bucs.

Even in 2023, when they actually started 5-0 they needed a drop (or he didn't keep his feet inbounds or whatever) by Kayshon Boutte to beat the crappy Pats Week 1, and they got all kinds of lucky breaks against the Vikings Week 2.

I would be shocked if they change their approach, but if we're playing devil's advocate, it has potential this season to backfire, given that the Eagles play the Cowboys, Chiefs, Rams, Buccaneers, and Broncos to start the season.

24) Hurts is entering his sixth NFL season.

He will have his fifth offensive coordinator in those six years: 25) Can Nick Sirianni and Vic Fangio get the team to keep their edge after winning it all? Sirianni's messaging will continue to be about worrying less about "repeating," and simply trying to get better every day.

General team vibes seemed great in the spring.

Players practiced hard and got their work in, but also joked around and talked some trash.

Sirianni probably doesn't get enough credit for what he is as a head coach, as he puts out fires behind the scenes and has done a great job of maintaining a positive team culture, even after extreme adversity following the disastrous 2023 season.

His challenge in 2025 will be to keep his players hungry and greedy for more.

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