Eagles Day 1 Overreactions: Receiver Will Set Record, Not So Fast At Safety Spot

It was about 15 minutes into what would become a 20-minute press conference to begin the start of training camp when Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, with general manager Howie Roseman sitting to his right inside the media tent, glanced at his watch.

Sirianni then looked up and squinted, focusing on the practice field behind the three rows of reporters and a wall of television cameras, to see what was going on. His head moved slowly from left to right, his eyes scanning. He rubbed his beard then glanced and his watch again.

He was ready to practice, and in just that look, you could tell he was ready for Year 5 to start and he desperately wanted to get on the field with his players. Finally.

In two weeks, the Eagles will play a game when the Cincinnati Bengals visit for an exhibition game, but there will be some overreactions to practices along the way. Here are five overreactions from Day 1 and it starts with Brown and Brown:

-AJ. Brown will break the team record for yards receiving in a season that he set with 1,496 in 2022, his first season in town. The chemistry he and Jalen Hurts is off the charts good already as evidenced by a beautiful back-shoulder throw from the quarterback down the left sideline. Brown pulled up and defender Kelee Ringo ran by, allowing for an easy completion.

“Me and Jalen just said two things to each other, and it was simple,” said Brown after practice. “That comes with experience and time.”

-Sydney Brown isn’t going down without a fight. The third-year safety, healthy again after a season of struggling to overcome a torn ACL in 2023, got plenty of first-team reps, a sure signal that the Eagles aren’t going to just hand rookie Drew Mukuba the starting job. Brown has to make the most of these early opportunities, and he did nothing on Wednesday to make you think he won’t do just that.

-Jihaad Campbell will be ready for the Sept. 4 opener and will play more than 50 percent of the snaps against the Cowboys that night.

It was certainly a good sign to see the first-round pick on the field during seven-on-seven, manning an inside linebacker post. On a day where there were several candidates for best play of the day, Campbell gets the nod for breaking up a pass on a crossing pattern from Danny Gray on a ball thrown by Tanner McKee. It wasn’t a great throw, but Campbell was there to make the PBU.

-Terrace Marshall will be a factor this season as a reserve receiver. The free-agent signing this offseason had a strong minicamp on June 10 and came back ready to build on it. He beat Ringo down the right sideline and McKee hit him in stride for what would have been a long touchdown. Marshall also made a nice sliding catch in front of Ringo on another play.

“He’s coming along quite well, honestly,” said A.J. Brown of Marshall. “Even in the spring he was making a lot of catches. He’s gonna make the room very uncomfortable and that’s a great thing. I’m excited to see the room continue to evolve and not just him, but everybody push each other. I’m excited.”

-It wasn’t a good day for Ringo, and that’s a concern. Still, I’m not ready to overreact to him, yet, and say the Eagles will go with Adoree Jackson as the starting cornerback opposite Quinyon Mitchell or make a trade for somebody else. Not yet, not yet.

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