Nick Sirianni sat down with reporters at the end of OTAs to discuss the state of the team heading into training camp.

Here are five takeaways from the media session in anticipation of Eagles players reporting next week:

On replacing A.J. Brown …

There has been a palpable enthusiasm surrounding DeVonta Smith stepping into a more featured role than he already occupied in the Eagles offense as a result of the departure of A.J. Brown this offseason, and Sirianni suggested as much a few days after Brown was traded to the New England Patriots back in June.

“DeVonta, he’s a special player that can continue to get even more targets than he has,” Sirianni said. “He’s so capable of doing even more. And he’s just such a good football player.”

As I wrote earlier this offseason, there’s internal belief that Smith could be among the league’s most productive receivers if he creeps closer to the 150-target mark that the likes of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Puka Nacua surpassed in their respective offenses last season.

Smith finished last year with 113 targets, 77 catches and 1,008 receiving yards. He had a career-high 136 targets in 2022 and caught 95 of them for 1,196 receiving yards. But his yards per route run in 2025 might be the most instructive when assessing the Eagles’ case for optimism. On the 51 routes he ran with Brown off the field last year (admittedly a small sample size), his 2.67 yards/route run ranked fourth in the NFL among qualifying receivers.

Sirianni also had high praise for Eagles wideout Dontayvion Wicks midway through the 25-year-old’s first offseason with the team, comparing him to the former Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen.

“I’m not saying he’s this guy, but gosh, he reminds me of Keenan Allen,” said Sirianni, who was Allen’s position coach with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers a decade ago. “The way he is in and out of breaks. … The way they are off the line of scrimmage, the way they are at the top of the route, the way they are with the ball in their hands, he really reminds me of him in that aspect.”

On dealing with high expectations …

Sirianni did not mince words when asked about the heightened stakes the Eagles enter this season with.

While 2026 has the potential to be a pivotal year for both him and Hurts after the way last season ended, Sirianni pushed back on the idea that expectations internally or externally are much different now than they have been the last few years.

“Expectations have been high here for a [while.] You come off a ’22 season and we did what we did, I think that standard has been what’s been expected.” Sirianni said. “Not only from the outside, but we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to play to a standard there. I think it’s about the mindset that you have.”

Sirianni also agreed the intense scrutiny from those inside the Jefferson Health Complex matches whatever comes from the outside more often than not.

“Fuck yeah it’s high,” Sirianni said of the internal expectations. “Sometimes we can — and I’ve been guilty of it, too — we can be like, ‘Oh, expectations are high,’ but it’s great expectations are high. Because of that, your standards are higher. … I like that.”

Sirianni’s mindset entering his sixth season with the Eagles is a noteworthy one given the majority of his tenure has been spent alternating between dominant runs to Super Bowls and frustrating late-season collapses the following year.

And while it’s fair to wonder how he handles the criticism that’s come his way for each of the latter examples, Sirianni said he’s not concerned with how much credit he’s gotten for having the highest winning percentage of any full-time head coach in franchise history.

“There’s always going to be noise,” Sirianni said. “What does that help you to focus on that? And it really doesn’t. I’m not saying we’ve been perfect at that, I’m not saying I’ve been perfect at that, because we’re human and we haven’t. But I think there’s this growth in finding yourself through the journey that you’ve went to to get to a point where you’re saying, ‘Should we be appreciated more? Who gives a —.'”

On Sean Mannion’s offseason preparation …

In the four months between the Eagles hiring Sean Mannion and the conclusion of the team’s offseason program, Sirianni had yet to arrive without the first-year offensive coordinator’s car not already in the parking lot.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever beat him into the building,” Sirianni said. “And when you’re the head coach, when you’re the boss you don’t have to try to beat everybody in, they better beat you in. But I’m not sure I’ve ever beat him into the building and I’m not sure I ever left while his car was still there. This guy works his butt off. It’s been fun to watch.”

Mannion’s work already resulted in a tangible difference for the Eagles offense during spring practices with Hurts operating under center significantly more often and working heavily on play-action passing concepts and wide zone runs.

Whether it materializes into a functional system for an offense that lacked one last season is to be determined, but at the very least the stories of Mannion’s work ethic have seemingly been affirmed during his early tenure with the Eagles.

“He got stuck in a snow storm on a weekend when he had gone home. Instead of calling me and being like ‘I don’t know, coach, I might not be able to get a flight out until Monday,’ before I caught wind of it I called him and he was like, ‘I’m 5 hours away. I got in a car and drove from Green Bay to here.’ This dude loves football and loves to work.”

On who stood out during spring practices …

The player who stood out the most to Sirianni during OTAs? Free-agency signing Riq Woolen.

After signing a one-year deal worth up to $12 million with the Eagles, the 27-year-old cornerback was one of the biggest risers of the offseason program. His presence at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds was enough to stand out, but the former Seahawks defensive back made a handful of nice plays in coverage as well.

“Every day, I’m like, ‘Wow. That was an impressive play,'” Sirianni said. “He has a lot of ‘wow’ plays, and he’s consistent. He’s being consistent with that. I’m really, really looking forward to him, Quinyon and Coop roaming back there.”

“Riq works his butt off, and, man, you’re not supposed to look like that when you play corner,” Sirianni added. “He just looks the part. You have those guys throughout the NFL and it’s like, ‘Hey, that dude didn’t look real.’ … I feel that way about Riq.”

On Jalen Hurts’ year of transition …

Sirianni also made an argument for optimism about Hurts as he onboards a system that will ask him to make significant changes to some of his tendencies.

“He can do so much because he’ll work his ass off at it,” he said. “And I’m always so impressed by Jalen in that, a guy that has accomplished so much, done so many good things and played so much winning football. He just has this relentless approach to just continuing to get better and continue to do things however he needs to to help his game and help the team.”

Sirianni made note of how much Hurts may benefit from improved field vision on play-action passes because it will move the pocket for him, which I found particularly notable as well.

“Jalen has been really successful in the play-action we’ve been able to do because I think he sees the field there with the separation between the offensive line and the quarterback off of a fake. I’m excited about how he’s been in the past with it.”