Eagles Safety's Final Step: 'Polish On The Operation'

It may come with an asterisk but third-year safety Sydney Brown feels like he's closing in on a Week 1 starting spot on the back end of the Eagles' defense opposite Reed Blankenship.

The Roger Maris treatment comes in the details, namely that emerging star Cooper DeJean will play the position in "base defense," something defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said he was in about 160 times total last season.

The nickel package is on the field from 70 to 85% of the time in the modern NFL per Fangio, and that's the role Brown has a leg up on rookie second-round pick Drew Mukuba, who missed team drills for the sixth consecutive practice on Monday after banging up his shoulder when getting toed up with receiver Danny Gray on July 26,

Fangio responded "probably not" when asked if Mukuba would play in Thursday's preseason opener against Cincinnati, never a good sign for young players competing for playing time early with the veteran DC.

"You need full speed action to really tell," Fangio said when asked about player evaluation. "I mean out in practice, nobody's getting tackled. You don't know if you made the tackle or missed it. We're not finishing on the quarterback. We're trying to stay away from him.

"We need games."

That leaves Brown in a good spot a month away from the season opener against Dallas and the luxury of playing time affords any player the ability to stay on the field by playing well.

Brown has been getting the vast majority of the first-team reps since Mukuba dinged up his shoulder and seems poised to cross the finish line with some solid preseason reps.

Brown's competition now for Week 1 starter might be more Tristin McCollum than Mukuba, although the latter remains the biggest threat from a long-term perspective.

Fangio gave a quick synopsis of the competition to date before practice on Monday:

"Well, Mukuba hadn't been practicing, so can't answer that [with him]," the veteran DC said. "[S Andre] Sam's been doing a good job. I think [S] Sydney [Brown] is making real good progress. [S] Tristin [McCollum]. Tristin, same thing. Making good progress from last year.

"Tristin just has to eliminate his negative plays. He has the ability to play the position; he just needs more consistency."

And the leader in the clubhouse?

"[Brown] just needs to put some polish on his operation and just recognize things a little quicker and I think that will take his game to the next level," Fangio said.