Eagles' continuous struggles in secondary spread to team's top defensive backs

There's been a lot of concern as to who is going to start at CB2 for the Philadelphia Eagles during training camp. Those struggles appear to be contagious as the Eagles saw two of their best in the secondary struggle as well.

Thursday's joint practice with the Cleveland Browns was not a memorable one for the Eagles. The offense and defense both struggled to produce much against Cleveland.

NBC Sports' Dave Zangaro recalled the odd performance by the defense, with Quinyon Mitchell and Reed Blankenship allowing big plays in the red zone.

"The Eagles’ first-team defense did have a pretty ugly period against the Browns in the red zone. First, Jerry Jeudy beat Quinyon Mitchell on a slant for a touchdown. It’s just weird to see Mitchell get beat like that. Then, Joe Flacco threw a perfect pass to tight end David Njoku with Reed Blankenship trailing in coverage. Njoku caught the ball over DeJean in stride and celebrated by spiking it. And then the Browns ran a hook-and-ladder that worked against the Eagles’ D."

Is this a cause for concern or just one bad day for the Eagles' secondary?

Everything feels elevated with concerns since Adoree" Jackson and Kelee Ringo gave underwhelming performances against the Cincinnati Bengals in the preseason last week, despite picking up the win. Now, with the starters struggling against a Browns offense that is considered to be one of the bottom teams in the league, there needs to be some eyebrows raised.

It's also training camp, and bad days are going to happen. All the best players have had their struggles. How many times have there been reports this training camp that Jalen Hurts didn't have a good day? It doesn't take away from the fact that he's a Super Bowl MVP and a two-time Pro Bowler.

Eagles fans expect better from Mitchell and Blankenship, who are key parts of the secondary, but even they will have bad days, too. If anything, it's a good learning lesson for the team, as it is better to make the mistakes now than to do it late in the season when the playoffs or Super Bowl are on the line.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio didn't seem overly concerned with Jackson and Ringo when they struggled against the Bengals. It's more of the same from him with Mitchell and Blankenship. This is a classic case of watching the tape, learning from it, and moving on.