Five Eagles OTA Winners

PHILADELPHIA - It’s wise to be careful with any assessments of NFL spring work. It’s also a little too cynical to assume that players can’t help themselves during shirts and shorts season.

Here are the five players that stood out to Eagles On SI during the two OTA sessions reporters were allowed to observe over the past few weeks:

QB Jalen Hurts

It was a sharp contrast from a year ago when Hurts often looked uncertain while navigating through the different terminology in Kellen Moore’s offensive system.

Although Moore is now in New Orleans, new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo has been working with Hurts since 2021, and the comfort level was there for the veteran quarterback this spring.

The football rarely hit the ground while Hurts was throwing it in the two open practices, and while there were a lot of checkdowns, a brilliant go route to Dallas Goedert earlier this week, and a crisp comeback route to Jahan Dotson with star cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in coverage the week prior, highlighted the command Hurts was flashing this spring.

WR Danny Gray

With A.J. Brown limited to individual work and DeVonta Smith spending some time working out in Florida, the Eagles’ second tier of receivers got a lot of work.

Gray, a 2022 third-round pick of San Francisco, was the highest volume target and mixed in for some first-team reps, along with Dotson, Terrace Marshall Jr., and Ainias Smith.

Gray dropped a couple of passes in between the plays he was making and needs to clean that up, but the speedster has shown that he belongs on an NFL roster with both his practice-squad work last season and his receiving skills when measured against the others he’s competing against.

LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio estimated that first-round pick Jihaad Campbell will not be able to practice until sometime in August due to March labrum surgery, and things are even more unsettled with Nakobe Dean’s return after a torn patellar tendon suffered against Green Bay in January.

That means the odds-on favorite to start alongside Zack Baun on Sept. 4 is Trotter, an instinctive, second-year player who was steady this spring, something that seems to have bolstered the confidence of the coaching staff.

CB Adoree’ Jackson

The veteran free-agent pickup got the most reps at right cornerback opposite Mitchell. Whether Jackson holds off third-year player Kelee Ringo there or serves in more of an Isaiah Rodgers CB3 role in Fangio’s defense, Jackson is going to have a role.

S Drew Mukuba

It’s evident that the Eagles want to get Mukuba onto the field as quickly as possible. The team is enamored with the Texas product’s comfort in space and his ability to read and react on the football field.

Although undersized at 186 pounds, Mukuba plays with the physicality of a player 20 pounds heavier, a positive indicator that he's not just a coverage player.

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