There’s a week left before Eagles training camp gets rolling, and that makes this a good time to take stock of the young talent on the roster. Philadelphia has one of the most gifted groups in the league, but a few of the younger players are at very different crossroads.
Some still deserve patience. Others look like they’ve run out of runway.
Tyler Steen fits the first category. Last season wasn’t spotless, but it was a solid first full year for the guard, who stayed healthy all year and held his own.
Pro Football Focus ranked Steen 17th overall among 81 NFL guards in 2025, and he finished with a 71.6 overall grade. Some Eagles fans may want to move on and bring back Mekhi Becton, but this organization has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to developing offensive linemen.
Steen should get another shot to grow.
Andrew Mukuba also belongs on the keep-and-build side of the ledger. His rookie year in 2025 got off to a rough start, especially in coverage, but he improved as the season moved along.
Mukuba flashed playmaking ability before an injury late in the year slowed everything down. With another season under Vic Fangio, he has a chance to become a reliable starter for a long time.
There’s also a case for giving up on Will Shipley. He lost the backup running back job last year to Tank Bigsby, and Britain Covey had to be brought up from the practice squad to help on punt returns.
Shipley also had a costly fumble on the opening kickoff in their first meeting win over the Washington Commanders. At this point, the outlook isn’t encouraging.
Smael Mondon Jr. is another young player who may be getting squeezed out. It might be early to fully close the book on him, but the linebacker room is crowded.
Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell are starting, and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is finally set for a bigger role after being a special teams ace. That leaves little room for Mondon to keep developing, and he looks like a special teams player at best.
The same kind of pressure applies to the other young lineman mentioned here, though his size gives him a real shot to stick. At 6-foot-8 and 341 pounds, Pierce has the kind of frame that makes teams want to keep investing.
He hasn’t shown enough yet to get Eagles fans fully on board, but as an undrafted free agent last season, he needed time. This could be the year he pushes for a backup job and earns a place on the active roster.
Then there’s Nolan Smith, where the argument is less about patience and more about whether the Eagles should keep waiting. He’s a first-round pick, so the risk is obvious, but he hasn’t developed at the level of the franchise’s other top picks since 2021.
His best season so far came in 2024, when he had 6.5 sacks. Meanwhile, Jalen Carter, DeVonta Smith, and Quinyon Mitchell are already playing elite football, and Jalyx Hunt appears to be ahead of him.
The call here is to put more into Hunt and move on from Nolan Smith.
In Other News...
One Eagles Rookie Could Change A Familiar Training Camp Worry
The Eagles spent the offseason thinning out the guard room, and that has turned a familiar training camp concern into one of the more interesting early roster battles. Micah Morris, a sixth-round pick out of Georgia, enters camp with a real chance to carve out a role behind the starters, especially with the team needing someone who can handle guard work and be ready if the depth chart gets tested.
Michael Jordan, added after minicamp, brings the kind of NFL starting experience that usually makes a veteran the safe answer for a backup job. But Morris has the size and guard background to make this more than a routine camp formality, and with several young linemen also in the mix, the Eagles may find out quickly whether the rookie can push himself into the conversation for meaningful snaps early in his first season. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Suddenly Have A Camp Battle Fans Can't Ignore On Defense
The Eagles head into 2026 training camp with a real opening at safety after Reed Blankenship moved on in free agency, and the picture around him is still taking shape. Drew Mukuba is back to anchor one spot after a rookie year interrupted by a fractured ankle in Dallas, while Cooper DeJean is expected to keep bouncing between safety and nickel cornerback depending on the package, giving Philadelphia a flexible but unfinished back end.
What makes this battle worth watching is the competition for the final safety snaps, where Marcus Epps, Michael Carter II, Andre Sam and Cole Wisniewski are all in the mix. There are other bodies on the roster who could get a look, and Howie Roseman has shown he is willing to keep adjusting if the room does not sort itself out quickly, which leaves this as one of the more unsettled spots on the defense entering camp. [Read more 🡒]