Eagles-Bengals Preseason Rookie Watch

In that time, third-year veteran Sydney Brown has inched ahead in the competition to play opposite Reed Blankenship on the back end. Second-year defensive back Cooper DeJean remains on track to play safety in the base defense before moving to the slot in nickel.

Fangio wasn’t expecting Mukuba to play against the Bengals on Monday so keep that in mind.

DT Ty Robinson - Robinson has started slowly, but the Eagles felt comfortable enough to trade Thomas Booker for cornerback Jakorian Bennett, understanding that one of the trio of Robinson, Gabe Hall, and Byron Young should be good enough to handle the limited reps the fourth man on the interior D-Line rotation will get.

Robinson should win the job with a strong preseason.

“I think he's picking things up at a good rookie's pace,” said Fangio. “I don't think that will be an issue for him in the long run. Just kind of see him be a little bit more active and a little bit more decisive in his play, which with the more reps that he gets, I think that will come.”

CB Mac McWilliams - McWilliams had been the most impressive Day 3 pick early in camp, showing a high football IQ and consistent stickiness in coverage before a quad injury slowed him down.

McWilliams was back by Tuesday in a limited fashion, so he may be able to play against the Bengals and potentially start as the slot CB if deemed healthy. 

“Mac's got some good football instincts,” Fangio said. “He's got to learn the finer points of what we're doing all the time. He's a little hit and miss with that right now, but that's to be expected. But I do like the player. I think he's got good skill and he's got a little football savvy to him, which if you don't have that, it's hard to coach that.”

LB Smael Mondon - Like Campbell, Mondon has taken advantage of extra reps at the LB position with Baun nursing his back and Nakobe Dean still rehabbing from his torn patellar tendon. Mondon has been particularly impressive in coverage and has gotten some high-leverage reps in situational drills ahead of Campbell thanks to his ability to mirror running backs and time blitzes well in the red zone.

“Good stuff,” Fangio said of Mondon’s work. “He is having a good camp. He is progressing well. The ILB position has a lot on their plate and he's sorting through that, but I think he's making good natural progress at all that.”

OC Drew Kendall - Kendall has still not been elevated to the backup center position officially, but he’s starting to get second-team reps, and recent snapping issues by Trevor Keegan make that path even more likely because Brett Toth is not a natural center.

QB Kyle McCord - The Eagles are making McCord earn the QB3 job even though it seems a fait accompli that it’s his. Dorian Thompson-Robinson will enter first on Thursday night, and McCord will finish. Pay attention to McCord's processing skills, which are rare for a rookie.

OL Myles Hinton - The Eagles really like Hinton’s natural skill set, but the technique has to catch up. For now, the rookie is behind Jordan Mailata and Kendall Lamm at left tackle but has mixed in for a few second-team reps here and there.

“Myles is really talented,” offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland said. “I call them critical factors, and he’s got lots of them. The technique that we’re teaching and why we’re teaching it, that’s the thing that he has to break through and master. He needs to push that wall. When Jordan [Mailata] got it all down, it’s like all of a sudden the light comes on and everything starts clicking. He’s not there yet. He’s in the process.”

OL Cameron Williams - Williams is behind Hinton and has struggled a bit to gain a foothold behind Lane Johnson, Matt Pryor, and Darian Kinnard on the right side. The only path to the initial 53 is likely a strong preseason, after which Howie Roseman might decide that he can’t risk putting the raw Texas rookie on waivers.

“Cameron Williams, again, like Myles, when you find tackles that are very athletic and smooth, they can slide their feet in protection, they’re long, they’re very valuable in this league,” Stoutland said. “They’re hard to find. So, developing those two players for me is very exciting because they can become anybody they want, they really can.”

Edge rusher Antwaun Powell-Ryland - APR is similar to Williams in that he will need to splash in the preseason to earn a spot on the official 53.

In practice, Powell-Ryand has been stationed as the third team right end with Jalyx Hunt, Azeez Ojulari, Josh Uche, and Patrick Johnson getting the first- and second-team reps depending on the day. Add in Nolan Smith and Ogbo Okoronkwo, who mainly line up on the left side, and you start to see how tough the numbers game is for the sixth-round pick.