Eagles Insider: Everything I Saw On Day 5 of Training Camp Including Major WR Concerns

PHILADELPHIA — What a difference 24 hours can make.

A rain-soaked South Philadelphia Monday was replaced by a beautiful Tuesday at the Jefferson Health Training Complex, and an offense that showed some life indoors was turned on its head due to hamstring injuries to both DeVonta Smith and rookie first-round pick Makai Lemon.

Neither wideout participated on Tuesday in an hour-and-46-minute practice in full pads, and perhaps predictably, the passing game struggled in what was a sloppy, penalty-infused session that included two touchdowns called back. Here's why the Eagles shouldn't bank on Lemon come Week 1.

Smith and Lemon were both injured on Monday, with the latter exiting after individual drills. Smith finished Monday’s session, which was a very strong practice for him. However, the Eagles’ WR1 was unable to answer the bell on Tuesday.

Smith did observe Tuesday’s practice on the field, and Lemon did not. My understanding is neither injury is expected to be long-term, although it’s fair to start wondering if Lemon is susceptible to hamstring issues after he missed much of the spring with that same problem.

There is no word yet on if this hamstring problem is related to the one Lemon went through during offseason work.

The practice ended with a competitive period in the red zone where the goal for the defense was to hold for a field-goal attempt, and the offense would get a win for a touchdown.

The defense won 3-0 with the three top quarterbacks in camp – Jalen Hurts. Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee – each receiving an opportunity.

With Hurts, two minimal runs by Saquon Barkley, which included a tackle for loss by Jordan Davis that had Barkley fired up, were followed by a false start, and the offense was sent off by head coach Nick Sirianni.

Dalton’s series was just as ugly, featuring a three-yard run by Tank Bigsby before a flat pass to Grant Calcaterra was sniffed out by Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Ambry Thomas. Dalton then threw outside when Quez Watkins broke inside on a third-and-long play.

McKee was last up and a false start set the tone for a Chance Campbell sack before the whistle blew for the day and the Eagles went to a developmental period to close the practice.

BIRDSEED:

-Former Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce was at practice on Monday.

Jason Kelce is here. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/1YC1xuYIo1
— John McMullen (@JFMcMullen) August 4, 2026

-- Lane Johnson was excused for a third consecutive practice with no explanation from the team other than it’s not injury-related. Nick Sirianni is not scheduled to speak again until Friday, and if Johnson is still out, that will be a hot topic.

Fred Johnson got the majority of reps at RT in place of Lane on Monday, with rookie Markel Bell mixing in. On Tuesday, Bell got the majority of reps.

-- In addition to Smith, Lemon, and Lane Johnson, also not practicing on Tuesday were rookie edge defender Keyshawn James-Newby (right ankle), rookie guards Micah Morris (shoulder), and Jaeden Roberts (calf contusion), and rookie safety Cole Wisniewski (hamstring).

WR Britain Covey did not finish the practice and walked into the complex with trainers.

-- The Eagles wanted to take a look at rookie long snapper Rocco Underwood in pads and kicked off the team portion of the practice with a field goal period. Things went smoothly to the naked eye with Jake Elliott connecting on all his attempts.

If you are looking for roster hints, the wings on FG protection were Johnny Mundt and E.J. Jenkins, followed by Grant Calcaterra and Cam Latu.

-- Later in the practice, the Eagles were working on kickoff coverage, and we were able to get a glimpse of the players they will be looking at for kick returns. The group was led by KR1 Will Shipley. Others getting looks were RB Dameon Pierce, Watkins, RB Tank Bigsby, RB Elijah Mitchell, S J.T. Gray, WR Elijah Moore, and WR Danny Gray.

-With the pads on, the Eagles got some work with combo pass-rushing looks against the offensive line. The backup battles were the most interesting, with veteran guard Michael Jordan stoning International rookie Uar Bernard, who plays too high. Edge rusher Jose Ramirez really showed some juice and tremendous bend while getting around Cameron Williams.

Hollin Pierce got the best of the other international hopeful, Josh Weru, and DT Gabe Hall was split Bell and John Ojukwu.

-- In receiver vs. DBs one-on-ones, Moore was able to give Cooper DeJean fits with his athleticism, and Covey showed off his short-area quickness against Mac McWilliams on a couple of occasions. Both Erik Ezukanma and Samori Touri had nice reps against Shaun Wade and Kapena Gushiken, respectively.

Quinyon Mitchell smothered a go ball to Dontayvion Wicks, while Hollywood Brown was able to snare a comeback against Riq Woolen.

-- The first team period started with red-zone work, and the Eagles again had success spreading the field and using the QB draw with Jalen Hurts.

-- There was an inordinate amount of deep shots today, most of which were unsuccessful. The play of the day for the defense was Michael Carter closing on a go route to Hollywood Brown before making a juggling interception of a Hurts throw. Carter also got the first reps in the nickel at safety next to Drew Mukuba, although Marcus Epps still had more first-team reps overall.

-Watkins had a real shot at hauling in a Hurts deep ball by getting separation against Tariq Castro-Fields and Maximus Pulley but failed to track the football well.

-- Shipley uncharacteristically dropped a wheel route that would have been a huge gain down the left sideline.

-- The Eagles continue to have trouble with rub routes and one of the TDs taken back was when Brown got loose on a pick that was way too obvious. Later, Covey pulled a rub route off to get Wicks loose to the one-yard line in red-zone work.

-- Dalton used a nice play-fake to find Calcaterra on misdirection.

-- The slickest touchdown of the day was Darius Cooper in the corner of the end zone with a nice toe tap.

-- A hard play-action by Hurts in the red zone designed to get Wicks the football on a post route was shut down when Mitchell and Mukuba converged with stifling coverage.

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