3 Biggest Eagles Training Camp Battles to Watch

Eagles training camp is just about here, with rookies reporting on the 25th and vets joining them on the 27th. While some players are fighting to simply keep their jobs, many more will be duking it out for playing time and to climb the depth chart.

These position battles are often the most exciting part of training camp. A Super Bowl contender like the Eagles won’t be worried about getting their starters a ton of reps, but it’s these depth spots that can make or break a season down the stretch when injuries start to build up.

The Eagles rank No. 2 in the NFL in odds to win the Super Bowl next season, and no championship run comes without bumps and bruises piling up. Depth and rotational players may not get the spotlight, but they’re almost as important to postseason success as the stars are.

With that in mind, we’re taking a look at the three biggest training camp battles that Eagles fans must have an eye on.

3 Eagles Training Camp Battles to Watch

1. Safety: Sydney Brown vs Reed Blankenship

I know I just mentioned battles for depth chart positioning, but let’s start thing off with a bang at a position where a starting spot is up for grabs.

This “exciting rookie vs. serviceable veteran” battle is a training camp classic, and it’s always a fun one.

Reed Blankenship comes in having earned four starts as an injury replacement in his 2022 rookie campaign, and he showed a ton of promise in those opportunities. Pro Football Focus (PFF) gave him an overall grade of 75.8 for the full season (he also appeared in six games off the bench), and he racked up 34 tackles while limiting opposing passers to an average of 6.4 yards per target when he was thrown at in coverage.

The Eagles drafted Sydney Brown for a reason though. The early third-round pick will immediately be competing at least for rotational playing time, and with a strong enough training camp he could unseat Blankenship as a starter.

A five-year starter in college, Brown comes in as a pretty polished prospect (especially for a third-rounder), and this should really be an iron-sharpens-iron kind of battle for the safety spot across from Terrell Edmunds.