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July 18, 2026 Philadelphia Eagles training camp begins at the end of July, so over the next few weeks we'll detail what we need to see from each positional group heading into the 2026 season.
Today we'll finish out the series with the specialists.
Previous training camp previews Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver Tight end | Offensive tackle | Interior OL Edge defender | Interior DL | Linebacker Cornerback | Safety The depth chart: | Specialists | 1 | 2 | | K | Jake Elliott | Braden Mann | | P | Braden Mann | Jake Elliott | | LS | Rocco Underwood | Grant Calcaterra | | H | Braden Mann | Cooper DeJean | | KR | Britain Covey | Will Shipley | | PR | Britain Covey | Cooper DeJean | After a near-automatic season in 2023, Jake Elliott signed a four-year contract extension worth $24 million, making him one of the highest-paid kickers in football.
But that season, concerns started creeping up, as Elliott dropped to a 77.8 field goal percentage and struggled especially on kicks from 50-plus yards out (he was 1-for-7 on them during the regular season).
The Eagles winning the Super Bowl heavily masked that, but 2025 left nowhere to hide.
Elliott's field-goal percentage dropped further to 74.1, going 4-for-8 on kicks from 50-plus yards and 7-for-10 on attempts from 40-49 yards.
| Year | FGA | FGM | FG % | | 2021 | 33 | 30 | 90.9% | | 2022 | 23 | 20 | 87.0% | | 2023 | 32 | 30 | 93.8% | | 2024 | 36 | 28 | 77.8% | | 2025 | 27 | 20 | 74.1% | In several games late in the season all losses to Dallas, Chicago, the L.A.
Chargers, and then in the playoffs to the 49ers Elliott missed kicks that ended up being crucial points left off the board for the Eagles.
Week 12 at Cowboys: Elliott missed a 56 yarder in a game the Eagles lost by 3 points.
Week 13 vs.
Bears: Elliott missed a PAT that led to the Eagles needing to chase a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter that they did not convert.
Week 14 at Chargers: Elliott missed a 48 yarder in a game that went to overtime.
Wild Card Round vs.
49ers: Had Elliott not missed a PAT after the Eagles' first TD of the game, the Eagles would've only needed three points to tie on their final drive instead of a TD to win.
That's a really bad two-month stretch.
This offseason, the Eagles restructured Elliott's contract, reducing his base pay from $6 million down to $5 million, but guaranteeing all of it for 2026.
They probably should have just gotten a new kicker, but are letting past achievements cloud what he is as a player currently.
We'll be charting Elliott's kicks in camp.
If he is not playing well, the Eagles may have to bring in a kicker to compete with him.
On Froday we suggested former Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson as competition for Elliott.
Braden Mann signed a four-year deal worth $14 million this offseason.
The 2025 season was Mann's third as the Eagles' punter.
He averaged 49.9 yards per punt, with a net average of 42.8.
The punting metrics say that Mann was a little below average, in terms of EPA per punt.
Via Puntalytics: Final punter rankings of the 2025 season: Puntalytics (@ThePuntRunts) January 5, 2026 Congrats to everyone on another great year! pic.twitter.com/djcmM4P1lt If you drill down further, Mann was good in open field (distance) punting, but he actually had the lowest EPA per punt in the NFL when punting to pin the Eagles' opponents deep in their own territory.
He did tie for fourth in the NFL with eight touchbacks.
In my opinion, in today's NFL open field punting in more important than pin deep punting, because once you get into pin deep territory you should be going for it on fourth down at a far higher clip anyway.
Mann has been a fine punter for the Eagles.
Like, I can't recall any moments during the season in which the fanbase was mad at the punter, like they were so often during, saaayyyy, the Arryn Siposs era.
The Eagles won't have to worry about replacing their punter for a while.
The lone long snapper on the Eagles' roster is undrafted rookie Rocco Underwood, who appeared in 50 games in college for the Florida Gators.
He was the long snapper for Trey Smack, the lone drafted kicker in the 2026 draft.
Smack finished his career 53 of 64 (82.8%) on field goals and 100 of 101 (99%) on PATs.
Underwood's upside is that he's a great athlete who gets down the field quickly and in on tackles in punt coverage.
Fumble recoveries here and here; big hit here.
The downside is that he air-mailed a couple snaps during his college career, as noted in Bob McGinn's draft primer (h/t BLG): Said one coach: Hes the best-looking athlete but probably the least accurate.
Hes had a couple of unplayable snaps, and in some critical spots.
An unplayable field-goal snap this year and an unplayable punt snap over the guys head the year before.
NFL snappers just dont have that.
You dont ever see that.
But it happened to him a couple times and that really, really bothers me.
I'll watch him closely during camp whenever I can.
Elliott, Mann, and Underwood don't have any camp competition, though Underwood is competing with long snappers in other camps around the league.
The top returner is Britain Covey, who isn't even a lock to make the 53-man roster, though he could start the season on the practice squad and be a gameday elevation early in the season.
The other kick returner will probably still be Will Shipley.
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