The first Eagles training camp practice of the summer is in the books.

Below, we’ll go through some of my biggest notes as a psuedo training-camp diary.

For a comprehensive breakdown of everything that happened at practice, be sure to watch or listen to our Wednesday show, which detailed offensive line depth charts, a snap-by-snap breakdown of what Sean Mannion’s first day looked like, and plenty more.

The Sean Mannion era begins strongly

The first play of Eagles training camp was so on the nose it almost felt like fan service.

Under center, 12 personnel, stretch toss to Saquon Barkley, a call that further cemented what was apparent in the spring:The vision Sean Mannion has for this team in his first year as offensive coordinator is a significant departure in almost every way from what we’ve seen in the past.

I found myself noting when the offense wasn’t lined up under center during team periods by the end of practice, and the volume of bootlegs, nakeds, and passes over the middle of the field also offered a stark contrast. Hurts found Darius Cooper running down the seam with a nice layered throw over Cooper DeJean early in the session, elevating the ball over the first level of the defense but underneath the deep safety, and later hit DeVonta Smith on a dig route with good timing over the middle of the field and Quinyon Mitchell trailing closely in coverage.

And speaking of contrast, those completions made the real difference from the evidence we had already gathered in the spring that the offense would be much different and how things looked now that the group is reconvened.

Most simply put: The Eagles offense had a very encouraging opening day.

Don’t believe me? Ask Lane Johnson and Saquon Barkley

What Lane Johnson and Saquon Barkley had to say after was just as encouraging as well.

From Johnson: “What I like about this is everything looks very complex to the defense, to the offense it’s pretty simplified. So obviously you have to pick up on communication and cadence and stuff, but it’s very O-Line friendly compared to maybe some past years I’ve been involved in. … When we’re under center, it’s so hard for the defense to really tell if it’s a run or play-action, so getting off the ball now, it’s a lot more hesitation and reading from them. So I think this offense does a good job of setting us up for success.”

And from Saquon Barkley: “It gives you a lot of advantages, especially when you’re able to marry it up with everything else. I feel like I have a chance to be really good in this system, too. I’ve seen it from afar, but now I’m actually studying it and working it and trying to put myself in the system, I feel like it’s going to open up some things that I may not have been able to show as much in my career, so I’m excited for that part of it.”

As my colleague Fran Duffy waxed poetically about on our Wednesday show, the early returns from the first practice are especially telling because we are currently witnessing the Eagles’ Day 1 install. These are the foundational pieces of the offense and they are already seemingly stitched together in a way where guys feel three vital things are true:

• The scheme simplifies things for them
• The scheme is more complicated for defenses to diagnose
• The scheme will rely less on individual brilliance and more on the group as a whole understanding the leverage it creates.

Jalen Carter Day

One of the nicer moments of the opening practice actually came after the final whistle blew, when Jalen Carter took the podium with both his literal family and figurative one watching as he discussed the four-year, $152-million contract he signed the day prior.

With Carter’s parents standing alongside Jordan Davis and his mother, Shay Allen, in the media tent, Carter referenced a pre-draft visit he took as a moment that foreshadowed him now becoming the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history.

“Even before the draft, my first visit we had a conversation with them and I knew that there was going to be a lot of trust and love if I was able to get here,” Carter said. “I know we’re here for the contract, I know the contract is a reflection of the trust that the coaches and the players and the organization has in me. I’m very thankful for that.”

In the lead-up to Carter signing his extension when questions lingered about whether he’d hold out or in during camp, I mentioned how rare it has been for the Eagles to have a star player go into training camp with an unsettled contract dispute over the last decade. (Zach Ertz and his platinum hair comes to mind, but other than that … Haason Reddick in the spring of 2024?)

Howie Roseman detailing his philosophy in team building on Wednesday helps outline exactly why that’s the case, and why those who immediately worried about the team finding room in the budget for Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean should rest assured that they’ll be right behind Carter a year from now.

“That’s the first thing that comes to mind with culture: ‘If I do well, I’m going to get rewarded,” Roseman said. “I don’t have to go somewhere else to do that.’ That’s really a huge part of what we’re trying to build. … The way that these drafts go, it also allows you to structure your contracts in a way that you can continue to keep guys. Now, you’re going to have to make sacrifices. You saw it in the offseason. We let players go that we care about, that we think are good players, that we think are really good people, that fit, but we had to move on because we have some game-changing players and people that are part of this organization and we don’t intend to lose.”

“I would say to our fans, if you’re wearing a jersey with some of those guys with those names on the back, we fully intend for those guys to be here on the long term,” Roseman added.

Translation: The Eagles are willing to let the Reed Blankenships and Nakobe Deans leave in free agency and are drafting the Makai Lemons and Eli Stowers of the world so they can afford to keep players like Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean in house long-term.

Jalen Hurts has a new mantra

Listening to Nick Sirianni’s team address at the start of training camp, Jalen Hurts wrote down what will likely be his mantra for 2026:

100% alignment, 0% entitlement.

Whether the phrase originated from Sirianni or if it was Hurts’ interpretation, Hurts opened his first press conference of the season emphasizing “discipline and unity” at the center of everything.

Parse that how you choose, but it’s a message that underscores something Sirianni also harped on during the spring. When everyone is rowing in the same direction, this team has been more successful than just about anyone. Hurts seems to be acknowledging that from the jump this year.

It’s fair to wonder if correlation doesn’t equal causation here. The 2024 Eagles had plenty of tension before going on to win Super Bowl LIX and the 2022 may have had the best “vibes” of any team I’ve covered, but it’s noteworthy nonetheless that Hurts and Sirianni are keying in on this so much at the start of the season in reflection of last year.

And in that vein, Hurts hosting his fellow quarterbacks and members of the Eagles receiving corps seems more intentional, as does his anecdote about an interaction with Jalen Carter before practice on Wednesday …

Hurts’ wife, Bry, slipped a five-dollar bill in his bag before he left for work (an “inside joke” between the two of them, Hurts said), and Hurts slapped the cash on Carter’s chest and said “let me put $5 on top of that.”

Carter told us later, he told Hurts he should sign the bill, because then it would be worth $500.

The $152-million man, already thinking about wise investments.

Quick hits

Jonathan Greenard starts on PUP: This was arguably the biggest news of the day. The Eagles presumptive No. 1 edge rusher suffered a pectoral strain lifting weights before camp and will be sidelined as a result, although the team doesn’t expect him to miss any game time with the injury. Without Greenard on the field, Jalyx Hunt had a really strong day. He got past Jordan Mailata during team and had plenty of juice both before and during practice.

Nick Sirianni is rotating quarterbacks: We saw a sporadic rotation between Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton with the second-team offense on Wednesday, a departure from the daily rotation the team used in the spring that favored Dalton on the practices open the media at the very least. Sirianni said the decision to rotate the two signal callers doesn’t reflect a changed opinion on McKee, but it is surprising to see him split time after spending last season as the No. 2.

Cole Payton, not bad!: It’s one practice and a handful of reps, but Cole Payton passed the all-important test of not looking completely lost out there as a rookie quarterback running an inexperienced third-team offense on Wednesday. That’s a big step toward making the roster, and it also probably reflects quite well on Sean Mannion that even the threes didn’t seem too disorganized on the first day.

Keeping count: Lane Johnson mentioned after practice that the Eagles offense is operating with a completely different cadence and snap count, which contributed to a few false starts and perhaps one or two broken plays as well. It’s interesting but also telling that Mannion even changed the way the offensive cadence works.

Dickerson slimmed down?: During individuals I noticed Landon Dickerson looks noticeably slimmer. He also wasn’t sporting any sleeves or braces, which I took as an encouraging sign that the injuries that plagued his 2025 season are behind him.