Sydney Brown

Early Look At Eagles’ Position Battles

By Ely Allen | at June 3, 2025 12:00 pm

JUNE 3: When speaking to the media on Tuesday, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said (via EJ Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer) Campbell will begin working with off-ball linebackers when he is healthy. That time will likely not come until August, however, as he continues to rehab his shoulder. Once he does take the field, Campbell will face a steep learning curve in advance of a notable role of some kind during his rookie season.

MAY 31: The defending Super Bowl champions experienced what many winners tend to see in the offseason, losing several key pieces like defensive tackle Milton Williams, pass rusher Josh Sweat, offensive guard Mekhi Becton, linebacker Oren Burks, running back Kenneth Gainwell, and cornerbacks Darius Slay, Isaiah Rodgers, and Avonte Maddox.

For some of these positions, the Eagles were well-prepared with recently drafted players or designed trades addressing the new vacancies. Some positions, though, are still up in the air, with camp battles likely on the horizon, as highlighted by Jimmy Kempski of the PhillyVoice.

Replacing Becton is going to be a challenge at the forefront of the team’s position decisions. Tyler Steen, a third-year guard out of Alabama, was in competition with Becton for the starting job at right guard last year. An injury in the preseason knocked him out of the running, but Becton had been running away with the job already at the time of the injury. Steen has three starts in his two years of play. To push Steen, Philadelphia traded for Kenyon Green, sending C.J. Gardner-Johnson to Houston in exchange.

Green has started the majority of games in two of his three seasons — he missed the 2023 campaign with a shoulder injury. In 2022, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him as the worst guard (with enough qualifying snaps) in the NFL, ranking 77th of 77. Last year, Green improved, but only slightly, coming into the rankings at 76th of 77. Luckily for Green, though, Steen did register enough snaps last year to qualify for the rankings and came in just one slot higher at 75th. While a few other players from the field of backups could also be in consideration for the job, the team hopes that they will be able to develop better results out of Steen or Green in a similar fashion to how they helped turn Becton’s career around in 2024.

Philadelphia’s top two cornerbacks are pretty set with Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell solidly in place. DeJean is likely to be the primary option to fill the slot in nickel packages, so the question of who will step up as CB3 has been a point of focus early in the offseason. At the moment, Kelee Ringo is looking like the favorite to land the job. Ringo had a decent rookie campaign but saw a demotion to CB5 or 6 with the arrivals of Mitchell and DeJean. Ringo’s biggest competition for the position is likely veteran Adoree’ Jackson, though rookie fifth-round pick Mac McWilliams and reserve corner Eli Ricks could be longshots for the role.

The team’s first-round pick this year, Jihaad Campbell, will be an interesting name to watch in the preseason. Campbell was drafted as a linebacker but split his time at Alabama between the off-ball position and an edge rushing role. Because of this, Campbell could step in as a starter next to Zack Baun as an off-ball linebacker or compete for a role in a pass rushing group that doesn’t return many sacks from last year. Campbell is still recovering from a March shoulder surgery, but according to Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer, he’s expected to be able to practice “in some form” by training camp.

At linebacker, it’s assumed that Nakobe Dean will have to start the season on the physically unable to perform list as he continues to recover from a torn patellar tendon suffered late last season. If neither Dean nor Campbell are healthy enough to step in, second-year linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. would likely step in until someone is healthy.

Campbell may be needed on the edge, though. Nolan Smith returns as the top sack getter with 6.5, and Bryce Huff (2.5) and Jalyx Hunt (1.5) are the only other two returners at the position with sacks. The team did sign free agent Azeez Ojulari, who had six sacks with the Giants last year, but they’re also in the process of sending Huff to San Francisco, which would thin the position out even more. Kempski doesn’t mention Campbell’s potential impact on the edge, but that situation will evolve more once he can participate at training camp.

At safety and running back, the team is looking to two younger candidates to beat out their older counterparts. Second-round rookie Andrew Mukuba‘s ability to split time between safety and nickel make him uniquely appropriate to fill Gardner-Johnson’s vacancy as the starter next to Reed Blankenship. Kempski sees Sydney Brown as Mukuba’s main competition but believes that the team will sign a veteran that could end up splitting time with Mukuba.

Obviously, nobody is beating out Saquon Barkley for a starting job, but the Eagles feel confident that second-year back Will Shipley can adequately fill the role left vacant by Gainwell’s departure, based on what they saw from him in practice and games as a rookie. The only other experienced back on the roster is veteran AJ Dillon, who’s 40 pounds heavier than Shipley and plays a very different style of ball.

To wrap things up, Kempski mentions that five players — Kendall Lamm, Matt Pryor, Darian Kinnard, and six-round rookies Myles Hinton and Cameron Williams — will all be competing for the swing tackle role that has been heavily utilized by the team in recent years. He also adds that Tanner McKee likely showed enough last year to secure the QB2 role over sixth-round rookie Kyle McCord.

The Eagles finish up their Organized Team Activities with three practices over the next week and will hold mandatory minicamp on June 10, giving players plenty of opportunities to jockey for position before training camp. When training camp does role around, many of these battles will likely start to become clearer.