PHILADELPHIA - Two weeks into Eagles training camp, the familiar names have done what familiar names do. Saquon Barkley, Jalen Carter, Jalyx Hunt and Jordan Davis have all had the kind of summer you’d expect from players already on the radar.
The real buzz, though, has come from the guys nobody was talking about in July.
With the preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens set for Saturday night at M&T Bank Stadium, the Eagles have a handful of unexpected camp risers who have turned 10 practices into a showcase. Some are pushing for roster spots.
Others are forcing coaches to take a second look. All of them have made noise.
Start with Willie Lampkin, who has become one of the summer’s most unlikely success stories. At 5-foot-11, the guard/center looks almost cartoonish next to 6-foot-9 tackle Markel Bell, but the size mismatch hasn’t slowed him down one bit.
Drew Kendall pointed to Lampkin’s “natural leverage,” and that trait has shown up in the one-on-one work, where Lampkin has been overwhelming opponents enough to put himself in real 53-man roster territory. For an undrafted, second-year player who entered camp with almost no buzz, that’s a serious turn.
Darius Cooper has taken a different path, but the result has been just as eye-catching. His summer has already been well publicized, yet he’s still managed to exceed expectations.
Cooper has made plays every day and earned Jalen Hurts’ full trust. At this point, he looks much closer to a starter than a player hanging on the edge of the roster.
Elijah Moore has also used the extra chances in front of him. With DeVonta Smith and Makai Lemon out because of hamstring injuries, Moore has had more room to work, and he has taken advantage.
Some initially saw the move as a way to keep A.J. Brown happy, since Moore is one of Brown’s close friends.
But that idea hasn’t held up. Moore, the 2021 second-round pick, has shown enough life in camp to remind people he still has something left after uneven stops with the Jets, Browns, Bills and Broncos.
The surprise extends to the secondary, where Mac McWilliams has emerged from a quiet 2025 fifth-round profile to outplay Kelee Ringo and Jakorian Bennett in the fight for the CB5 job. He spent last season on the practice squad, but defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Tuesday that McWilliams is a “different” player than he was last year and that he has “matured” a lot. That’s exactly the kind of growth the Eagles needed to see.
At linebacker, Chance Campbell has made himself hard to ignore. The Eagles already liked him on the practice squad last season, and now they like him even more.
The 2022 sixth-rounder has shown a real feel for the ball and a knack for showing up in the right place. Fangio even said “don’t sleep” on Campbell, and after the way he’s played, that warning feels deserved.
Then there’s Joshua Weru, one of the most fascinating stories in camp. Signed as an undrafted free agent and new to football after playing rugby in Ghana, Weru came in with almost no reasonable expectations attached.
Still, the 6-foot-4, 244-pound edge rusher has flashed serious speed and bend in one-on-ones. He’s a loose athlete with length and real size, and the athletic tools are obvious.
The Eagles may need to carry him on the roster to keep him from getting exposed to waivers after cutdown day. If he keeps showing up in preseason games, that decision could become easy.
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