Vic Fangio: Eagles defensive roster battles ‘will probably’ continue into final preseason game

Kelee Ringo was on the field as the Eagles began their first 11-on-11 team drills of Monday’s practice, the third-to-last team workout of training camp. But not for long.

Before the 22 players on the field got to their respective spots, on came Adoree’ Jackson, and Ringo trotted off and over to an adjacent field with other reserves.

A little while earlier, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio replied “not yet” when asked if he was any closer to an answer on who would be the outside cornerback opposite Quinyon Mitchell in the majority of the Eagles’ defensive packages.

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“I think all the guys are pretty even right now,” Fangio said.

But Monday’s practice told a little bit of a different story. It was Jackson who took the bulk of the first-team reps at outside corner while Ringo was relegated to second-team action and even appeared to take a few snaps with the threes. The Eagles also featured Cooper DeJean at outside corner in their rarely used base package and gave some outside looks to rookie Mac McWilliams over Ringo.

Just two more practices and a preseason game Friday night separate the Eagles from needing to make a decision, and Fangio said the roster battle at cornerback, as well as other spots, “will probably go into” the game Friday night vs. the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

While Ringo is seemingly on the outs after a rough week of work last week with the Cleveland Browns in town, it’s far too early to crown Jackson the winner. Fangio said he wants to give Jakorian Bennett — who made his preseason debut Saturday more than a week after the Eagles traded for him — “a full opportunity” and also said McWilliams is in the mix.

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Fangio said normally by this point in camp, after 16 practices and two games, it becomes “pretty obvious to everybody” who is going to win a job during a training camp roster battle.

“That hasn’t happened yet,” he said. “I think they’ve all done a good job in and of their own way. Had good moments, not too good moments. We haven’t reached that conclusion yet.”

Drew Mukuba’s debut, which featured a 75-yard interception return and a recovered fumble, was more than enough to earn him an extended look with the first-team defense next to Reed Blankenship during practice Monday.

The rookie second-round pick was seemingly slipping in the race with Sydney Brown for the second safety job prior to Saturday, but he made it clear with his play that the competition was far from over.

“Each and every play is its own entity,” Fangio said. “The interception was obviously a good play. It wasn’t a great play on their part, but that’s not our problem.

“The fumble recovery obviously was, again, a botch on their part. But some guys have a knack to make you pay for those botches and it’s our ball instead of second-and-11.”

Brown took the first reps of the day Monday next to Blankenship, but Mukuba may have out-snapped Brown throughout the practice with the top unit. Game on.

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Zack Baun returned to team drills for the first time since suffering a back injury early in camp, and it was Jeremiah Trotter Jr. who got the first snaps next to him.

But it didn’t take long for rookie first-rounder Jihaad Campbell to get on the field with the ones next to Baun and immediately make his presence felt with a pass breakup of a Jalen Hurts throw to Dallas Goedert. Campbell, who had a sack off a blitz during Saturday’s game, later stopped Saquon Barkley on a completion out in space.

Like Mukuba, who may benefit by playing next to an experienced veteran leader like Blankenship, Campbell will have a good player next to him as he adjusts to life in the NFL.

“Some players, especially when you’re a young player, that ILB, and safety is the same thing. If there’s a veteran that can run the show and help you out a little bit, that helps,” Fangio said.

Asked prior to practice why the Eagles hadn’t given DeJean many snaps at outside corner this summer, Fangio replied: “Watch today’s practice.”

Sure enough, DeJean was on the outside during a few base snaps with Mukuba at safety. DeJean has, of course, been taking some safety reps throughout the summer in the base package.

What does that mean? It’s fair to assess DeJean taking those snaps as an indictment on the lack of confidence the Eagles have in their options on the outside. Fangio will typically prefer having the best players on the field, and the Eagles may be at a point right now where they trust Mukuba and Brown at safety more than they do their other outside corners.

Fangio said he doesn’t see a world right now where DeJean is taking any outside corner reps when the Eagles are in nickel or dime.

What would that take?

“Someone to develop at the nickel position, and someone not to develop at the corner position,” Fangio said. “We haven’t seen Cooper play any [outside] corner either other than NCAA ball. There’s a lot of unknowns there to be answered yet.”