Eagles Mailbag: Who Will Make the Cut at WR?
The Philadelphia Eagles are gearing up for their first preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night. There are still several unanswered questions in the City of Brotherly Love heading into the start of Philadelphia’s preseason slate, including who will make the cut at wide receiver? I’ll answer that and more in my latest Eagles mailbag.
1) In 2025, it felt like many were cautiously optimistic about Philadelphia’s offense. Some were turned off by the idea of another internal promotion at offensive coordinator and rightfully so. Yet it still seemed like there was enough star power to at least have a functioning, middle of the pack offense that could be buoyed by one of the best defenses in the NFL.
In 2026, there is legitimate optimism because of the complete overhaul of the offensive scheme. There are several new voices in the building that are bringing in much-needed changes. While there is still a bit of skepticism about Sean Mannion being a first-time play-caller and Jalen Hurts’ ability to function from under-center, I believe that there’s a significantly different feeling around Philadelphia’s offense this time around.
2) I’ll release my updated 53-man roster projection before Philadelphia’s first preseason game but I’ll have six wide receivers making the cut. The top five are pretty clear, in my opinion: DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon, Darius Cooper and Hollywood Brown. The final spot will come down to Elijah Moore and Johnny Wilson. The fact that Moore wouldn’t be subject to waivers could make it easier for the Eagles to sign him to their practice squad. But the potential of Lemon being placed on injured reserve could free up a roster spot as well.
Eagles third-year wide receiver Johnny Wilson has missed some time during training camp due to a knee injury. Wilson is far from the only wide receiver missing practice during training camp this year but it’s still tough to see given what he dealt with last year. As several other wide receivers, such as Darius Cooper, have taken advantage of the newfound reps in practice, Wilson is watching from the sideline.
When I was at practice on Tuesday, Wilson was on the field but he wasn’t participating at all. Wilson didn’t seem to have a noticeable limp while he was walking on the field or inside to the facility. But it’s also worth noting that he wasn’t jogging anywhere or even working with a trainer on the field before practice like DeVonta Smith was. My guess is that he won’t be playing in Saturday night’s preseason opener.
Ideally, I don’t believe that the Eagles would prioritize targeting a wide receiver in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft. But if you would have asked me this same question at this time last year, I probably would’ve said the same thing. Yet a lot can change in a year and I’ve learned to never say never, especially when it comes to Eagles general manager Howie Roseman.
As of right now, the 2027 NFL Draft is expected to have quite a few wide receiver prospects that are worthy of being selected in the first round. Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, Texas’ Cam Coleman and Indiana’s Charlie Becker all appear to be locks to be selected in the first round next year. If Makai Lemon has an underwhelming rookie year or Dontayvion Wicks isn’t a reliable starter, Philadelphia could opt to invest another first-round pick at the position.
While I only attended one practice, I was pleasantly surprised by how natural Jalen Hurts looked while operating from under-center. Hurts looked smooth and seemed comfortable while either carrying out play-action passes from under center or handing the ball off from under-center and pretending he was going to throw afterwards. It certainly didn’t look like he was doing something for the first time.
During the practice that we attended, the Eagles seemed to focus on the running game and short passes. Yet Hurts was able to get through his reads rather quickly and find his answers in the flat or short over the middle of the field. He also had a really impressive deep throw over the middle to Elijah Moore for a touchdown. Overall, I’d say that Hurts will be just fine while operating from under-center.
The Eagles are going to mix things up and have a far more diverse running game in 2026. That will involve looks from under-center, pistol and shotgun. I don’t think there’s any need to overreact to what I wrote down after attending just one practice. The Eagles utilized a ton of pre-snap motion, fake handoffs and disguise to keep the defense on their toes, which even confused me while watching the plays at times.
1) The Eagles have an incredibly strict media credential policy that is likely one of the toughest in the NFL. My guess is that if I wrote about any other team in the league, I’d likely be able to obtain media credentials. Unfortunately, I’m considered an independent journalist that doesn’t write for a traditional media outlet. I don’t quite understand what qualifies as a traditional media outlet in 2026 and that wasn’t clarified for me but it is what it is.
2) In an ideal world, Markel Bell will be Philadelphia’s long-term answer at right tackle. The Eagles have already shown enough trust in Bell to let him practice at both left tackle and right tackle in training camp. Yet after playing left tackle in college, Philadelphia should focus on having Bell work behind Lane Johnson at right tackle, in my opinion. They should let Fred Johnson be the backup left tackle and Bell be the backup right tackle in 2026.
Absolutely and I believe that it’s a topic that has flown under the radar during training camp. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio clearly values reps in practice and time on the field. That’s exactly why Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean had such a slow start to his rookie season. Fangio needs to have total trust in a player before throwing them out there, regardless of their experience level in the NFL.
Fangio has already seemed a bit pessimistic when talking about Jonathan Greenard’s injury timeline, although Greenard seems to be targeting a return in Week 1 of the regular season. Yet given Philadelphia’s questionable handling of several injuries last season, I’m legitimately concerned about Greenard. Could he play in the regular season opener? Possibly. Yet I’m not sure that he’ll play a significant amount of snaps until the Eagles are a few weeks into the regular season.
The Eagles didn’t officially announce the three games that they would be wearing their kelly green uniforms for until August 28, 2025. Therefore, I wouldn’t be too concerned about the team not making that same announcement just yet. In regard to the other uniform combination, the Eagles didn’t announce the one game that they would be wearing their all-black uniforms until the week of the game during the regular season in 2025.
In my previous 53-man roster projections, I’ve had the Eagles keeping international interior defensive lineman Uar Bernard. Yet as training camp continues, I think that there’s a legitimate chance that international edge rusher Joshua Weru could also make Philadelphia’s final 53-man roster. Weru is far more polished than Bernard at this point and the team may not want to subject either player to waivers by letting them go.
It’s always hard to predict which players will be cut because the Eagles like to use the fact that vested veterans aren’t subject to waivers as a way to manipulate the roster a bit. Therefore, I’ll go with veteran edge rusher A.J. Epenesa. While he seems to be trending upwards and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is a fan of Epenesa’s game, he could be released and signed to the practice squad, which would allow the Eagles to protect Weru.
While I was only able to attend one practice at Eagles training camp, there was one thing that surprised me. Philadelphia rotated their personnel groupings a ton, despite which unit was out there. For example, there were “first-team offense” reps with Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the entire starting offensive line out there. Yet the other skill position players were Britain Covey, Quez Watkins, Cameron Latu and Grant Calcaterra. While this might seem crazy, it’s likely intentional to prepare for injuries and allow Hurts to build trust with different players.
Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about a show as terrible as “Doug” so I wouldn’t be able to answer this horrible question. If you were to possibly ask this question about a far more superior show, such as “Hey Arnold!,” I likely would’ve been able to provide a far more insightful answer given the show’s diverse, outstanding cast of characters throughout the series.