Who’s next?
Campbell and Ross appear to have the edge on the depth chart, but others are performing well.
Rookie Johnny Wilson showed off his size (6-foot-6) with a nice catch from Kenny Pickett up high in traffic Wednesday.
While Wilson, a sixth-round pick, has been playing well, fifth-round pick Ainias Smith has not had the strongest start to the early workouts. He sat out a portion of OTAs while recovering from a stress fracture in his shin, and during the first minicamp session Tuesday, he saw a punt go through his outstretched arms. On Wednesday, Smith lined up mostly with the third-team offense.
Covey, meanwhile, still appears to be on the edge of the roster. The Eagles cut him at the end of camp last year and then brought him back to the practice squad and eventually the roster. He took reps with the second team and on special teams on Wednesday.
Don’t forget about these guys
Sirianni alluded to it: The Eagles have the talent to use different personnel groups and don’t need to rely on the fourth and fifth spots on the wide-receiver depth chart.
Goedert has proved to be a reliable pass-catcher, and Grant Calcaterra could work his way into more targets when the Eagles are in 12 personnel.
Then, there are the running backs. Saquon Barkley has pulled in nearly four catches per game during his six-season NFL career. Kenneth Gainwell can catch the ball out of the backfield. So can Will Shipley, who was all over the field Wednesday and even took a few reps with the first team. During one play, Jalen Hurts sent Shipley in motion, and the rookie from Clemson ran a wheel route and was wide-open, but Hurts didn’t see him and instead tried to force a pass to Smith. It was intercepted by Reed Blankenship.
Shipley later made a nice catch along the sideline while falling to the ground.
The list of pass-catchers might be top-heavy, but the Eagles certainly have options.
One of the most intriguing roster battles for the Eagles might be at a position where they arguably have the best tandem in the NFL.
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are going to be the one-two punch in Philadelphia for the foreseeable future, but beyond the duo lies some questions marks. There are a dozen receivers with the Eagles during this week’s mandatory minicamp, and after Brown and Smith, only Britain Covey and Joseph Ngata were with the team before this offseason.
There are a lot of new faces, all in a new system under new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
Among them are Parris Campbell and John Ross. The Eagles signed Campbell in March, the sixth-year receiver hoping to secure a role as a speedy No. 3 receiver in the Eagles’ offense. Ross is among the newest faces, the Eagles having signed the ninth pick in the 2017 draft out of retirement, and he’s already showing off the speed that set an NFL combine record that stood until this year.
Here’s a way-too-early look at where things stand with the receivers:
Who has the edge?
Campbell and Ross were mentioned first because, well, they’re the first guys up.
Campbell has taken reps with the first team and continued to do so Wednesday, but Ross took his fair share of first-team reps, too. There were a few looks with Ross on one side and Brown and Smith on the other, with Dallas Goedert in the slot. Another look had Brown, Smith, and Ross on one side and Goedert on the other.
In Campbell and Ross, the Eagles have speed and experience. It’s the speed that sticks out.
“For me, and I’m sure John as well, every time you’re on the field, you just want to put that speed on tape,” Campbell said. “No matter if you’re the No. 1 read on the play or the last read.
“Looking at the room, looking at the situation, I’m blessed to be with two of the best receivers in the game. From the outside looking in the question is, ‘Why would you go there? They already have these guys.’ I want to be around greatness. I want to be in there and work with these guys and learn with these guys.”
Ross hasn’t played football since December 2021, so he said he doesn’t feel like a normal 28-year-old.
“I’m young. I feel young,” he said. “I haven’t played that much football.”
Campbell and Ross had catches during Wednesday’s practice, though Ross stuck out a little more. Ngata, who was on the practice squad last season, also took a rep with the first team, and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni mentioned him among a group of players he thinks has had a solid few weeks of workouts.
“I like the depth,” Sirianni said. “I really like the depth as far as the third spot. That can look a lot of different ways, right? That can look like 12 personnel; that can look like 21 personnel. You know, we don’t have a fullback, but two halfbacks that can look like 11 personnel, right?”
Parris Campbell on playing with DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown: "I want to be around greatness."
Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
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