Vic Fangio talks safety, cornerback battles as Eagles near decisions on 53-man roster
Among the Eagles' biggest question marks are who fills out the depth chart in the secondary.
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio effectively offered an update when asked for the latest on the safety battle between Marcus Epps and Michael Carter II — the Eagles’ most contentious position battle in training camp.
“It is close,” Fangio said. “Michael has been doing a good job back there. It’s just all new to him and we need to get him more exposure, which is hard to do, but I do think Michael eventually can do it.”
Translation: Epps has won the job.
It’s been a long time coming for the 30-year-old safety, who worked his way back from ACL surgery last year before getting cut by the Patriots at the end of training camp.
Fangio’s rationale makes sense, too. Epps, who was a key starter during the Eagles’ 2022 Super Bowl run, has a much lengthier resumé than Carter’s. The former has 49 starts in 94 career games with three interceptions and 315 career tackles, while Carter has 26 starts in 73 games with two interceptions and 233 tackles.
Time will tell if general manager Howie Roseman makes an additional move at safety, which is widely considered the thinnest position on the Eagles roster. But for now, the job is Epps’ — which “means everything” to him.
“I worked real hard to get back to where I’m at, man, and there were a lot of dark days,” Epps said Tuesday. “But I still got work to do. I haven’t arrived by any means. It’s a long season, and we’re still here just in camp. That’s where my focus is, on camp, finishing out camp the right way and just continuing to get better.”
Revealing the starting safety wasn’t the only tidbit Fangio dropped before Wednesday’s practice, which was the team’s final session of their 2026 training camp. The veteran defensive coordinator also gave a glimpse into where the cornerback room currently stands. When asked a question about the depth at the position, Fangio tipped his hand on five of the six most likely corners to make the final 53-man roster — Quinyon Mitchell, Riq Woolen, Jonathan Jones, Mac McWilliams and Kelee Ringo.
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“I feel good about Q [Mitchell] and Riq,” Fangio said. “Jonathan Jones has missed a lot of time here, so hopefully we can get him back at some point. I think Mac has made a lot of strides. He’s dinged right now a little bit, [and] wasn’t able to finish the other night. Kelee, I think, is making strides.
“Those are the five main ones, plus the guys that are competing for the sixth spot.”
The “guys competing for the sixth spot” are Jakorian Bennett, Ambry Thomas, Shaun Wade, Tariq Castro-Fields, and Isaiah Bolden, with Friday’s game against the Bengals possibly offering another chance for players to set themselves apart.
What Fangio’s complete group looks like will become more clear when the final roster is due Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.
The Eagles’ first-stringers get little to no action in exhibition games, annual joint practices with other teams become one of the few opportunities for starters to get preseason reps of consequence. This year, the Eagles traveled to New England for two days of live workouts with the Patriots. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Boston Sports Journal’s Greg A. Bedard recap what they saw, and explain why, even after the joint practices, the Eagles still haven’t shown much of an identity. Listen here.
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