Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke with the media on Thursday, and as always, he was honest and forthcoming. The Eagles’ defense had a lot of turnover this offseason, and there are plenty of questions to be answered this summer on that side of the ball. Here’s what Fangio said:
Cooper DeJean will play in the slot in nickel, but where will he be in the base defense?
Fangio: “The primary motive is we’d like to have him be part of our base package and I do believe he can play safety. It’s new for him so we’re going to give him some work there. Then you’ll see days in the base where he’ll play some [outside] corner, so it’s going to be an evolution and a lot of it will depend upon how well we do at those positions with the other guys. So we’ll make the best decision for the team based upon — it’s not only how he’s doing, it’s going to be determined by how everybody’s doing — that’s safety and corner.”
#JimmySays: Like pretty much every other team in the NFL, the Eagles play way more nickel than they do base defense, so we’re talking about 20 percent or fewer of the defensive snaps here. But it’s an interesting camp battle subplot to watch.
DeJean is the slot corner in nickel, but he isn’t coming off the field in base because he’s a really good player. He’s probably a better outside corner than Kelee Ringo or Adoree’ Jackson, and he’s probably a better safety than Sydney Brown or Andrew Mukuba. So what that means is that it’s not just a battle between Ringo and Jackson for a starting outside corner job, or Brown and Mukuba for a starting safety job. It’s also a battle between whoever wins Ringo/Jackson vs. whoever wins Brown/Mukuba for the right to stay on the field in the base defense.
What about rookie CB Mac McWilliams?
Fangio: “Mac is a young player that we like, we think he can play the nickel position. Think he’s got a chance at corner. He’s an interesting guy here these next four or five weeks to see how much he progresses and see if he finds a role with us.”
#JimmySays: If McWilliams proves to be a good player immediately, there’s also the possibility that he’s just the slot corner, and DeJean fills in full-time at either outside corner or safety. (I would view this outcome as a longshot, but possible.)
But it does feel like McWilliams is likely to be the backup slot, at a minimum.
Why is Quinyon Mitchell playing on the left side this spring and summer?
Fangio: “Well, if we ever get to the point where we want to match him on a particular receiver, he’s got to know how to play both sides if we want to play him at left or versus right, so we’ll figure that out on a weekly basis.”
#JimmySays: Mitchell primarily played on the right side in 2024, with Darius Slay on the left. Because Mitchell is a better player than either Ringo or Jackson, it is indeed wise to make sure he can play both sides in case he needs to travel with an opposing alpha receiver.
As for what Fangio sees from Mitchell this year, coming off a fantastic rookie season:
“He’ll be fine,” Fangio said. “He’s got a really good work ethic. He’s got tremendous pride and always wants to do well. He will be fine.”
Fangio was as surprised as us that Jihaad Campbell is already practicing this early in camp
Fangio: “Yeah, it was good to see him out there. I wasn’t expecting him out there. The trainers had been telling me all spring that it would be at some point in August when he’d be out there. So I’m learning that our trainers like to understate and overachieve so they look good. But it was good to get him out there. Number one, it was just an hour of practice, but no earth shattering news to report yet other than it was good that he was out there and he’s progressing.”
#JimmySays: Now that he’ll have a full camp to learn the defense, Campbell has to be considered the clear favorite to start opposite Zack Baun. Second-year pro Jeremiah Trotter certainly knows the defense better than Campbell right now because he has an extra year under his belt, but Campbell is bigger and so much more athletically gifted. I mean, the guy was one of the Eagles’ top 10 prospects in the 2025 draft.
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As for whether Campbell is picking up the defense:
“I thought he did fine yesterday,” Fangio said. “In the spring I was having him off to the side and we were doing drills and then yesterday is the first time he’s in there against a moving offense and for what he’s been exposed to up to this point, I thought he did fine.”
As long as Campbell can at least narrow the awareness gap between himself and Trotter throughout the summer as he gets acclimated to the defense, he is likely going to start Week 1.
What is Fangio seeing from Sydney Brown, and what do the safeties have to do to distinguish themselves from the pack?
Fangio: “You’ve just got to go out there and play good. I mean so much of the safety position is just like ILB where instincts and play recognition play a major part in how good you are and he just needs a lot of reps. He didn’t start practicing last year until October and at that point you’re in game weeks where you don’t practice a whole lot, you don’t have a lot of reps. So he didn’t have a great opportunity last year because of his injury and hopefully now we’ll see exactly what he can do. He had a good offseason, did well yesterday, and we’ll see how he does.”
#JimmySays: Between Brown and Mukuba, Brown is gifted with better size and athleticism, but he sometimes plays out of control. Coming out of college, Mukuba profiles as a more savvy player on the back end.
Who will pick up Milton Williams’ snaps on the interior of the defensive line?
Fangio: “I think Mo [Moro Ojomo] did a good job last year in the reps he got. His reps will kick up this year. I think Milton’s reps will be divided up between him, Jordan playing more, we’ll see what Ty Robinson can do, see what Byron Young can do, Gabe Hall can do, and [DT Thomas Booker]. So I think it will be more of a committee eating up those reps than just one guy. But back to your question, I’m very happy with Mo, was happy with him last year and I expect him to play good for us.”
#JimmySays: The Eagles were kinda light on depth last season on the interior of their defensive line, but everyone stayed healthy so it didn’t matter. With Williams gone, it will be a committee approach in picking up his slack (they’ll replace him just fine, in my opinion), but the depth could be depleted even further.
As for under-the radar guys like Byron Young and Gabe Hall:
“We had a one-hour practice yesterday without pads on and we need to see the pads on,” Fangio said. “But I do think both of those guys, particularly Gabe, the practice squad is made for a guy like Gabe. He’s got some ability. He was coming off an injury in college. It was really good for him to be here, practice, be a part of it without the stress of having to play in the game and B.Y. we got during the season, did a good job for us and we’re anxious to see — he never got to play for us — but we’re anxious to see what he can and can’t do.
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