It is joint practice week for the Philadelphia Eagles and their trip to New England certainly carries more weight and storylines than most preseason joint practices with the team getting a first-hand look at A.J. Brown in his new navy, red and silver digs at a New England Patriot.
While players will brush off most questions pertaining to their former teammate, it’s a big week for the Eagles to clean up the facets of the game that struggled in their 24-7 loss to Baltimore on Saturday. Most of it comes on the offensive side of the football.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Day 12 of training camp leading into the two joint practices on Wednesday and Thursday before the teams take the field on Saturday.
The top wide receiver for the Eagles suited up and practiced Monday at the Jefferson Health Training Center after missing nearly two weeks with a hamstring injury.
Smith, who is going to be the new WR1 this season, was trending in the right direction last week when he was running routes and doing agility drills.
The wideout won’t see any playing time in the final two preseason games more than likely, but it’s a positive sign for the team that they have their top target back in the mix during practice to continue to learn the new offense.
Defensively Quinyon Mitchell (glute) also returned to practice.
Rookie wide receiver Makai Lemon remained limited with his own hamstring injury, marking the eight practice the 20th overall pick had to sit out. The Eagles season opener is less than a month away, but each day that Lemon continues to miss, the more likely he may not be fully ready for the September 13 clash with the Washington Commanders.
Here is a look at the rest of the injury report that includes a handful of new players on it:
First-year playcaller Sean Mannion spoke to the media Monday afternoon to discuss the offense's poor performance in Saturday's loss where they ran just 40 plays and averaged 2.0 yards per play in the game.
“Obviously want to have better performance offensively than we did the other night," Mannion said.
"Things we need to correct. Biggest thing was we didn’t stay on schedule. A lot of first and longs, second and longs. Penalties led to that, some negative runs. If we are able to stay ahead of schedule we can put ourselves in more reasonable third down situations."
The Eagles were 0-for-9 on third downs, an area they struggled with last year under first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
Mannion did mention that he will be in the booth for this week's battle against the Patriots.
"It was smooth and thought it was comfortable.," Mannion said on the experience calling plays on the sideline.
"I thought our staff did a great job. We didn’t have any substitutions issues. We didn’t have any play calls get jacked up where we got caught with them substituting late. Thought the communication was clear. I'm planning to call next game from booth to get a feel for both. That was the plan all along and think it will be an interesting perspective to experience both."
The team announced on Monday it added another cornerback to the depth chart in Bolden, a former seventh-round pick in 2023 by New England.The Florida State and Jackson State product originally signed with the Louisville Kings of the United Football League in January.
At 6-foot-2, 205-pounds, Bolden spent his rookie season on the injured reserve before appearing in 14 games for New England in 2024. He had 10 tackles and one fumble recovery while playing the majority of his snaps on special teams.
Offensive lineman Hollin Pierce, an undrafted rookie out of Rutgers in 2025, was released by the team to make room. Pierce had an uphill battle to crack the 53-man roster this season and will look to get another chance elsewhere.
