Eagles training camp: Jonathan Greenard update, why Jalen Carter is 10 pounds lighter

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles held their 10th practice of training camp on Tuesday. It was the penultimate full practice before Saturday’s preseason opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Wednesday’s walkthrough is closed to reporters. Thursday offers the final glimpse of the team before it heads south. Here are the main takeaways from Tuesday’s practice.

1. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Jonathan Greenard will still be sidelined for “another couple weeks — at least.” The update is not great news, considering how available (or effective) Greenard will be in Week 1. The Pro Bowl edge rusher strained his pectoral muscle while lifting over the summer and began training camp on the PUP list.

Greenard attends every practice. He participates in team meetings. Fellow edge rusher Jalyx Hunt said Greenard is “always around in some way, shape or form.” Hunt said Greenard has given him advice on his pass-rush techniques during practice film review sessions. But the Eagles can’t yet know if they will see early returns from their substantial offseason investment in Greenard. Can Hunt, Nolan Smith, and the depth behind them maintain the position group’s standard until Greenard gets up to speed?

“He’s doing everything he can to stay up and be prepared as much as you can without doing anything physically,” Fangio said of Greenard. “He’s been great that way. But when he does come back — whenever that is — the thing you miss by not partaking in training camp, which he probably won’t, you’ve got to get calloused to play in football, NFL football. The banging. The running. The change in direction. The fatigue of it. And he’s going to lose that.”

2. Jalen Carter said he is “probably like” 10 pounds lighter this year. The Eagles and Fangio have an ideal weight for Carter, but Carter has withheld the exact number because of a weight clause in his contract. (Carter is officially listed at 6-foot-3, 314 pounds.) Carter became an every-down defender upon Fangio’s arrival in 2024, totaling 84 percent of the defense’s total snaps in each of the last two seasons. Carter said dropping more weight will help him be “less tired throughout the plays” and “save his energy from some plays throughout the game.”

The Eagles will certainly benefit from a more energized Carter. Their Week 13 loss to the Chicago Bears revealed how opponents could wear them down and push them around with a steady series of cutbacks and misdirection runs. The wide zone scheme the Eagles are shifting to themselves on offense is properly testing the endurance and discipline of Carter and his defensive teammates. So are the post-practice wind sprints. Carter kept his head down as he ran with the defensive linemen — and did not know he finished first.

“I wasn’t even paying attention,” Carter said. “I was just running.”

3. Fangio said he thinks quarterback Jalen Hurts “looks faster” this year.
“Obviously, we can’t touch him during practice,” Fangio said. “So, there’s always that debate whether you had him or not. And I think there’s been a few times where our guys think they had him and they really didn’t. I think he’s moving good. I think he’s doing a nice job with the new offense.”

Hunt and Carter agreed with Fangio’s observation.

“Oh yeah,” Carter said. “I had him coming out of, you know, a little play-action rollout and I chased him down a couple times. He honestly be moving. I don’t know what it is. But when I’m watching him when I’m running, it’s like a movie. Feels like I’m going slow. He be moving, man. He’s been working hard — and he’s ‘The One.’”

Hurts said he didn’t do anything specific over the offseason to get faster and that he doesn’t feel any different now than he has in the past.

But from my perspective, Philadelphia’s new offensive system is giving defenders a different view of Hurts’ speed. The way Carter talked about being in slow motion while chasing Hurts is how defenders have described chasing Hurts since his time at Channelview High in Houston.

This is the most we have seen Hurts run bootlegs from under center, though. This is the most defenders have chased him laterally. That this is creating observations of a “faster” Hurts adds to the pile of favorable evidence that QB is a fit in this new system.

First (unofficial) depth chart of the season.

Eagles list Cooper DeJean as first-team nickel and first-team safety, and then go with Michael Carter/Marcus Epps at safety. It’s Andy Dalton/Tanner McKee at QB2.

Makai Lemon is listed as one of the 3 starting WRs. pic.twitter.com/WxgyV3ntbu

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) August 11, 2026

4. Quinyon Mitchell appeared to injure his right leg while covering Hollywood Brown in one-on-one drills. Brown made a sudden cut back toward the ball, and Mitchell stumbled trying to do the same. Mitchell stayed down for a moment before kneeling along the sideline next to a trainer. The trainer then had Mitchell lie on his back and stretched his leg. Mitchell put his helmet back on and tried to rejoin the defense during team drills, but the coaching staff sent in Mac McWilliams instead. Mitchel remained on the sideline for the rest of practice and did not participate in the post-practice wind sprints.

Mitchell, 25, is one of the core members of a premier secondary. He and Cooper DeJean were named first-team All-Pros in 2025. (DeJean picked off Andy Dalton in Tuesday’s team drills.) Fangio said Mitchell “just keeps improving” and hasn’t rested “on any of the laurels that he’s gotten in his first two years.” Mitchell snagged his second interception of training camp in Monday’s practice — a sign that he’d been taking a step toward coming up with his first career interception in the regular season.

“He’ll quickly remind you that he’s got four in the playoffs,” Fangio said. “But he’s still a virgin in the regular season.”

Quinyon Mitchell did not return to practice. He also did not participate in the sprints the team ran afterward. https://t.co/tkUkgO7IYl

— Brooks Kubena (@BKubena) August 11, 2026

5. Willie Lampkin returned to Tuesday’s practice after leaving Monday’s session early. Lampkin, a rising interior offensive lineman, participated fully in team drills as the third-team center.

Veteran defensive back Jonathan Jones missed his second practice with a shoulder injury. The following also did not practice on Tuesday: DeVonta Smith (hamstring), Makai Lemon (hamstring), Johnny Wilson (knee), Danny Gray (concussion), Dameon Pierce (hamstring), Cole Wisniewski (hamstring), Keyshawn James-Newby (ankle). Chance Campbell (groin) and Britain Covey (hamstring) practiced with limitations.

6. I wrote after the first week of training camp that it has been notably quiet in terms of explosivity from the receiver corps. Well, Hurts finally supplied some fireworks.

In team drills against the second-team defense, Hurts launched a deep touchdown pass that struck Elijah Moore in stride against safety Andre’ Sam. Moore celebrated by punting the football onto the team facility’s roof. Coach Nick Sirianni had compared Moore to Keenan Allen on multiple occasions this offseason, likening Moore to Allen’s ability to separate at the top of his route and get off press coverage. Moore’s explosive score on Tuesday offered the most compelling evidence in support of that comparison.

Big plays by Moore are welcomed in greater measure the longer Lemon is sidelined with his hamstring injury. Lemon, the No. 20 pick in April, debuted atop Moore in the unofficial depth chart on Tuesday. But his lack of on-field reps limits his ability to adjust to an offense that differs significantly from the system he played in at USC. He still attends practices and caught passes from the jugs machine with his helmet on before Tuesday’s practice.

7. Jake Elliott went 6-for-6 on his field goal attempts during 11-on-11 special teams drills. The farthest attempt was from 50 yards, spotted in the middle of the field. There were strong and sudden gusts of wind — which aimed to carry kicks leftward. Elliott is having an accurate training camp after fielding one of the worst seasons in his career in 2025. Elliott missed three kicks between 40-49 yards and was 4-for-8 from 50 yards or more. Kicks of 50-plus yards will supply further evidence of a potential rebound year for Elliott.

The Eagles ardently stood by Elliott, 31, during his slump. Elliott, speaking to reporters for the first time in training camp on Monday, said he has “a lot of experience to pull from.” In March, the Eagles fully guaranteed $5 million of his three-year, $17 million renegotiated contract. Those actions suggest they will similarly stand by Elliott again in 2026. But the renegotiated guarantees are effectively a sunk cost stemming from the four-year, $24 million extension Elliott signed in 2024. In cap terms, it would not be costly for the Eagles to part with Elliott this season. If Elliott slumps again, the cap wouldn’t prevent the Eagles from bringing in competition.

8. Uar Bernard, in Fangio’s words, is “light years away” from a finished product. A Nigerian member of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program, Bernard had never played football before the Eagles drafted him as a defensive tackle in the seventh round. But there was a noteworthy moment in Tuesday’s practice that offered a snapshot of Bernard’s development.

In one-on-one pass rush drills, Bernard got beneath veteran offensive tackle John Ojukwu and shoved his way with favorable leverage into the backfield. Bernard ran back to the sideline and let out a hearty scream.

It was the first time I had seen that kind of energy from Bernard. It was deserved. One of Bernard’s primary challenges was keeping his 6-4, 306-pound frame low. In previous practices, he’d attacked blockers high and stalemated. His Tuesday rep was a small step forward.