A Different Kind Of Summer For Eagles Safety

Last summer, Sydney Brown spent about a week of training camp hanging around with C.J. Gardner-Johnson during training camp practices, usually near the end zone, taking in the view and the mental reps from afar.

They were two safeties on the mend – Gardner-Johnson with a shoulder injury that cost him about a week of camp. Brown with an ACL he had torn months earlier.

Gardner-Johnson returned for the final week of the preseason. Brown couldn’t make it back until mid-October. Even then, his knee wasn’t right. A team source said he needed a second procedure on the knee because it continued to swell.

“When I came back Week 8, I tried to be productive,” he said on Saturday after the Eagles’ third day of camp. “It’s been great so far. I’m excited to be healthy. I’m excited to have my first full training camp since my rookie year.

“…As much as I wanted to be 100 (percent last year), I wasn’t fully 100 percent, yet. Now my knee is feeling perfect. I put a lot of work in this offseason. I feel like I’m right where I need to be.”

Brown is being given the opportunity to earn the starting job, mixing in a lot on the first team, and typically lines up with the first team in the first set of 11-on-11 work. Mukuba is getting his fair share as well.

“I’m just embracing the competition, embracing camp,” said Brown, who added that he and Mukuba sit next to each other in meetings and help one another. “I love this game. Just to be out here is (great). Every day is an opportunity. And it is a different camp. I’m an experienced player now. I’ve made plays on the field. It’s so different.

“Last year, I wanted to be out there so badly, but the only thing I could do is sit in the back of the end zone and try to take mental reps. The difference between doing that and actually being on the field, it’s two different games. I’m a guy that needs to be the game, to learn from my mistakes, and get better each and every day from being inside the scheme. And I feel like I’m doing just that.”

The injury and rehab, probably more than anything, is why Brown didn’t get the first look whenever a third safety was called upon by defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Instead, that role was filled well by Tristin McCollum, who got 250 defensive snaps to Brown’s 79.

“So much of the safety position is just like ILB (inside linebacker) where instincts and play recognition play a major part in how good you are, and he just needs a lot of reps,” said Fangi. “(Brown) didn't start practicing last year until October, and at that point, you're in game weeks where you don't practice a whole lot, you don't have a lot of reps. So, he didn't have a great opportunity last year because of his injury, and hopefully now we'll see exactly what he can do. He had a good off-season … we'll see how he does.”

Theres a perception that Fangio will end up favoring Mukuba because Brown was drafted the year before the DC arrived. Fangio, though, will play the best player regardless.

“It's a competition that is going to take a training camp and a few preseason games to sort out,” he said. “And Tristin is in that, too.”