Eagles Preseason Week 2 Takeaways
Hunter Martin / Philadelphia Eagles
With the month of August winding down, the Philadelphia Eagles are getting closer and closer to their opening night matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, September 4.
However, they still have the preseason to get through, and in week 2, the Eagles hosted the Cleveland Browns and were defeated 22-13. There were big highs from some key young players who are expected to fill huge holes for the Eagles this season. However, there were a lot of lows, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
1. The top-picked rookies have arrived
The offseason following a Super Bowl win isn’t always sunshine and rainbows for teams, and for the Eagles, things weren’t different. In addition to losing their offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, to a head coaching job with the Saints, the Eagles also lost many valuable defensive players, whether it was to trades, free agency, or retirement. Brandon Graham, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Darius Slay, Isaiah Rogers, and Oren Burks, all huge impact members of last year’s team.
So the Eagles went out and did what they do best: draft their replacements. Howie Roseman and the Eagles front office have continued to build up the team’s young talent over the years, and 2025 was no different, drafting multiple prospects who continued to make an impact in Philadelphia’s loss to Cleveland.
First-round pick Jihaad Campbell got things started on Saturday, picking up a sack on the second play from scrimmage against Browns starter Dillion Gabriel.
He finished Saturday’s game with four total tackles, three being solo, one sack, and one tackle for loss. Campbell will likely be the other starting linebacker next to Zach Baun until Nakober Dean returns from injury, when that conversation becomes who remains the starter.
Andrew Mukuba had probably the best day out of anyone on the team, as he was a part of two different Browns’ turnovers. The first one early on in the second quarter, as Mukuba jumped a route and picked off Gabriel, and took it back 75 yards for a pick six to put the Eagles on the board.
Later in the quarter, Gabriel lost a handoff, and Mukuba was able to scoop it for a fumble recovery.
Mukuba finished his first-ever game in an Eagles uniform with a fumble recovery and a pick-six, and one total tackle. The secondary has been a big topic of conversation this offseason and preseason, and Mukuba may be the answer that the team has been looking for.
2. Kyle McCord may have won the QB3 job
While there is still another preseason game to go before the regular season, Eagles’ sixth-round pick Kyle McCord is officially the leading man for the third-string job on the Eagles quarterback depth chart. Jalen Hurts is obviously the Eagles’ starting quarterback heading into the 2025 season, and after trading former backup quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Browns, Tanner McKee will be Hurts’ backup.
The job up for grabs is the Birds’ emergency/third-string quarterback, and it’s down to McCord and one of the pieces the Eagles received in the Pickett trade, Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Thompson-Robinson got the start in Saturday’s game, but his time at quarterback did not go as well as he had hoped it would.
On the first offensive drive of the game, Thompson-Robinson completed one first-down pass and one pass for -14 yards, eventually leading to a punt. Drive No. 2 went similarly to the first, with Thompson-Robinson completing one pass before taking a sack, then ended the drive after four plays and another punt.
After that, the Eagles decided to give McCord a drive, and he led them on a seven-play, 31-yard drive, which was capped off by a nine-yard touchdown pass to Anias Smith. McCord’s second drive was a three-and-out, so they went back to Thompson-Robinson, but his first pass back into the game went into the hands of K.J. Henry for a 45-yard pick-six.
McCord and Thompson-Robinson split the final five remaining drives, but both struggled to get any long drives going. While McCord wasn’t blowing you away with his performance, finishing just 8/16 with 47 passing yards and one touchdown, compared to Thompson-Robinson’s 5/8, 17 passing yards and one interception, he looked miles better. With one game remaining in the preseason, it’s likely McCord’s job to lose.
3. Struggling offense
Speaking of bad quarterback play, that had a huge effect on the rest of the Eagles’ offense throughout the entire game. The team passed for just 55 total yards, with no receiver having more than 20 receiving yards. The run game wasn’t much better as the Eagles’ backs only mustered up 33 total rushing yards, with Montrell Johnson Jr. leading the way with 20 yards on six carries.
The offensive line looked alright, allowing just one sack, but it felt like all game long, the whole offense just couldn’t get a long drive going. Even their only offensive points came thanks to their defense, as the defense set the team up nearly inside the thirty-yard line as they recovered a fumble from Cleveland.
While none of the Eagles’ starters played today, it’s concerning to see that their backups struggle to even get points on the board. The Eagles travel to East Rutherford to take on the New York Jets in the preseason finale, and it’ll be a huge opportunity to see if the Eagles’ offense can show any signs of life.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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