Eagles' Drew Mukuba Didn't Want The Kid Gloves; Ready To Step Up In Year 2

PHILADELPHIA — You won’t find any kid gloves in Vic Fangio’s office.

That’s not the veteran defensive coordinator’s style. Fangio is blunt and direct, but if you have thick skin as a player and don’t mind constructive criticism, the godfather of modern NFL defense is likely going to help you reach your ceiling.

Eagles second-year safety Drew Mukuba is a perfect example of Fangio’s unrelenting style hitting home with a mentally tough young player.

Mukuba has the traits of Fangio covets for the back end of his defense. The Texas product is athletic, comfortable in space and plays much bigger than his 5-foot-11, 186-pound frame would indicate.

As a rookie, Mukuba made noise early, intercepting Patrick Mahomes off a Travis Kelce deflection in the red zone as the Eagles survived against the Chiefs.

By Week 6 – an ugly Thursday Night Football loss to the New York Giants – some of the growing pains emerged, including whiffing on a tackle attempt against Wan’Dale Robinson that resulted in a touchdown, and multiple coverage breakdowns.

And Mukuba heard about it.

“I f@#$ed up that game,” Mukuba told Go Long’s Tyler Dunne earlier this offseasn. “After that game? Vic was on my ass, man, for a whole three weeks straight until I got right. He was on my ass… Vic didn’t like me that game.”

Tough Love

Eagles DC Vic Fangio during an indoor practice leading up to a Week 17 in Buffalo. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

Tough love might be the strongest love in Fangio’s world, though, and that will include an old-school approach to accountability.

If Fangio didn’t believe in Mukuba’s future or the idea that the Nigerian native wants to reach it, the same urgency wouldn’t have been there (see Bryce Huff).

Ultimately, Mukuba’s rookie year was cut short by a fractured fibula suffered from the friendly fire of Sydney Brown in Week 12, but a solid foundation had already been laid.

This spring, Fangio spoke very highly of Mukuba when asked about losing high-IQ veteran Reed Blankenship to Houston in free agency.

“It's been good,” Fangio said of Mukuba’s offseason. “As you guys know, last year, his season-- first off, his training camp was interrupted by a couple injuries that kept him out for two different lumps of time. Started off the season up and down, had some shaky plays. But I felt like the last five or six games prior to him getting hurt, he was coming on and hopefully he'll be able to pick up from there. He's had a rehab-dominated offseason, but he's been out there with us these last couple of weeks. He's not 100% yet, but he will be soon.”

Mukuba was able to practice fully through OTAs and mandatory minicamp and Fangio even mentioned him as a possible leader in the secondary.

“Obviously, Reed did a good job, quarterback in the secondary, especially because he had Andrew with him there as a rookie,” Fangio said. “I think Andrew will be able to step up his game there along those lines.”

Entering 2026, with the Eagles safety room in transition, the expectation inside the building is that Mukuba will take a significant step forward.

“I really like Drew a lot,” defensive pass game coordinator Joe Kasper said. “I’m thrilled that he’s here. I’m thrilled that we took him. I was disappointed to see him get hurt, obviously, but he had taken some major steps, major steps from when he first got here, and he continued to get better and he continues to get better every day.

“I’ve been really pleased with the rehab process and where he’s at right now.”

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