Eagles Training Camp Observations: Jalen Hurts Shines In Final Practice Of Camp

Eagles training camp observations: Jalen Hurts shines in final practice of camp originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles held their final training camp practice of 2025 on a rainy Wednesday morning.

This non-padded practice lasted just 1 hour and 21 minutes before the final double-horn.

The Eagles will travel north to face the New York Jets in the third preseason game on Friday night and final cuts to the 53-man roster are due by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Let’s get to the observations from Day 18:

1. As always, we start with some housekeeping:

• The injury report from before practice:

Did not practice: A.J. Brown (hamstring), Landon Dickerson (knee), DeVonta Smith (groin), Jordan Mailata (concussion), Andrew Mukuba (hamstring), Kelee Ringo (quad), Johnny Wilson (knee/ankle), Josh Uche (groin), Tanner McKee (finger), Lewis Cine (groin), Tariq Castro-Fields (hamstring)

• The new injuries on this list are Mukuba, Wilson, Ringo and Uche. Of those three, Wilson’s seems like the most significant. He had to be carted inside during Tuesday’s practice after getting rolled up on.

• While it’s obviously not a good thing to see a laundry list of injured players, most of the injuries to star players aren’t considered very serious and the Eagles are showing caution with guys like Brown and Smith.

2. Some depth chart notes:

• It was notable on Wednesday that Jihaad Campbell got all the first-team reps next to Zack Baun during team drills. Despite a really strong training camp from Jeremiah Trotter Jr., it seems obvious that Campbell is going to start the season next to Baun in Vic Fangio’s defense. Trotter on Wednesday worked exclusively with the second team.

• Adoree’ Jackson was opposite Quinyon Mitchell again on Wednesday. While the competition might not be completely over, it certainly looks like we’re trending toward Jackson being the Week 1 starter. But Week 1 isn’t the finish line, so it seems possible that Jakorian Bennett or Mac McWilliams could eventually earn that role. (Cooper DeJean again got reps at outside cornerback in the base package.)

• With Mukuba (hamstring) watching practice, Sydney Brown was the first-team safety again on Wednesday. Mukuba got hurt early in Tuesday’s practice so we never even got to see him take team reps after a practice on Monday where he got almost all of the first-team reps. It felt like Mukuba was about to lock up that starting spot but this hamstring injury might have thrown a wrench into the plan.

• For the second day, Kyle McCord worked as the second-string QB because of Tanner McKee’s finger injury. It is clear that the Eagles are going to keep McCord over Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

• Without A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Johnny Wilson, the Eagles top receivers were Jahan Dotson, Darius Cooper and Ainias Smith.

• The offensive lines today:

First-team: Matt Pryor, Brett Toth, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson

Second-team: Kendall Lamm, Kenyon Green, Drew Kendall, Trevor Keegan, Darian Kinnard

Third-team: Myles Hinton, Laekin Vakalahi, Keegan, Hollin Pierce, Cameron Williams

3. The Eagles held a brief walkthrough to start practice before they even stretched on Wednesday. It gave a glimpse of who is going to play on Friday. That list includes Brett Toth, John Metchie, Darius Cooper, Kylen Granson, E.J. Jenkins, Darian Kinnard and more. We’ll see what happens but Matt Pryor was wearing a red jersey with the other starters as the scout team.

It was actually pretty cool to watch Lane Johnson help get his younger teammates ready. Johnson wore red scout team jersey No. 91 — that number is worn by Jets DT Derrick Nnadi. It’s just cool to watch a future Hall of Famer in his 13th NFL season spend his morning getting guys like Darian Kinnard and Trevor Keegan ready to play in a game that means a lot to them.

The walkthrough was also fun because the Eagles repped the Tush Push with McCord. They rarely show that in practice.

4. Jalen Hurts had a really strong performance to close out this training camp. His best play of the day came in the red zone. With Nolan Smith barreling down on him, Hurts was able to alter his arm angle and hit Ainias Smith with a touchdown to the right flat with Cooper DeJean in coverage.

5. Darius Cooper makes plays every single day and the final day of training camp was no exception. It started during individual drills when Cooper leaped into the air to pull off an acrobatic one-handed catch on air. But his busy day continued in team drills.

Cooper caught a pass from Jalen Hurts through a ton of traffic. There were three white jerseys around him, but Cooper came back to the football and showed off his strong hands by completing the catch right in front of Quinyon Mitchell. A little later, Hurts hit Cooper for a touchdown catch right in front of Adoree’ Jackson in coverage.

6. Those weren’t the only big-time throws from Hurts on Wednesday. He connected with Grant Calcaterra in front of Sydney Brown for a TD late in practice. And he had a great lofted throw to Jahan Dotson in the end zone over the outstretched arms of Zack Baun in zone coverage. That one got OC Kevin Patullo fired up.

What made Hurts’ day so impressive on Wednesday was his feel. He had the right touch on all of his passes, which was dictated by situation.

7. Working with the twos, Kyle McCord threw an interception right to Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in coverage. While the ball had eyes for Trot, he did a nice job to secure the catch and run the other way.

8. Some days, I really like to watch Lane Johnson closely for a rep or two and it almost always pays off. Johnson is still so, so good. There was a rep on Wednesday against Nolan Smith that really stood out. After shutting down Smith’s initial rush, Smith tried a counter move and Johnson was able to spin and beat Smith to his spot to shut him down again. The play ended up being just a 1-yard scramble for Jalen Hurts but it was a masterclass from the Eagles legend.

9. The Eagles’ linebacker duo of Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell has the potential to be special and we saw that on back-to-back plays during the first team period of practice. First, Campbell came on a blitz to “sack” Jalen Hurts. And then on the next play, Hurts threw a swing pass to Saquon Barkley and Baun was all over it in a flash to stop the play dead in its tracks. It’s just a joy to watch two quick, athletic, long and physical linebackers play. The ground these guys cover is pretty incredible.

10. Some odds and ends:

• Nick Muse had another catch on Wednesday. This one came from Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who rolled right and threw across his body to Muse, who has had an impressive last week of camp.

• Newcomer John Metchie III nearly made a diving catch on the left sideline but couldn’t quite control the ball.

• Adoree’ Jackson was called for a DPI in coverage against Jahan Dotson.

• Smael Mondon got a sack with the second team, peeling off before he got in the grill of Kyle McCord.

• Solid pass breakup for Jakorian Bennett on Terrace Marshall Jr. working with the second teams.

• The last play of training camp was a DTR pass to Ife Adeyi. That’s a wrap.

Stupid Observation of the Day: In these practices where A.J. Brown doesn’t participate, he brings his jersey out to the fields but doesn’t wear it. He tucks it in his sweatpants like a towel. It’s like how you’re required to have a lifejacket on a boat but you don’t actually have to wear it.