Thursday, October 1, 2026
79 ° Clear
79 ° Clear
The Philadelphia Eagles have completed their first of two joint practices against the New England Patriots. Normally, these events are great for coaches, players, and fans alike to get a better gauge of where everyone's at ahead of the new season...but this practice was always going to be a little different.
First up, the Eagles did somewhat limp into this practice. Makai Lemon and DeVonta Smith were both limited, while a slew of names have been hampered by minor injuries that kept them out of the opening day of action. The good news is that the team hasn't suffered a heavy blow, but it's never good to see someone as highly-touted as Lemon missing as much time as he has in his rookie season.
This was always going to be the big one. A.J Brown's first real interaction with the Eagles since being traded to the Patriots earlier this offseason gave us plenty of highlight moments, including a return to 'Quintonomo Bay', along with some big plays he made himself.
From what we've been able to gather, this went as many expected. A.J Brown is still a premier wideout and is going to cause problems against whoever he comes up against. Instead of being overconfident or worried after a few 1-on-1s and team reps, the main thing we should take away from today is that it's never going to hurt the likes of Woolen or Mitchell to go up against a wideout as talented and physical as Brown.
If there's ever a positive to take from today, it's that the Eagles still have plenty of growing room. Cooper DeJean, who's had a great camp, was brought back down to Earth in 1-on-1s, while the next generation of pass-protectors had some growing pains of their own. Myles Hinton's second training camp has gone well, but reps against relentless EDGE rushers are going to highlight key areas of improvement.
And finally, while camp has been fairly tame in terms of what we've seen from Sean Mannion's new-look offense, we got to see a new level unlock in the joint practice against New England. Nothing crazy, but a few fun new wrinkles just to turn some heads and remind everyone we're barely scratching the surface of what this new unit will be able to do.
The Birds will be back at it tomorrow to lock horns with the Pats one more time before they face off at Gillette Stadium on Saturday evening.
