Elijah Cooks is turning heads at camp as he battles for a roster spot: ‘I’m ready to be an Eagle’

Wide receiver Elijah Cooks came up from a red zone catch against Kelee Ringo with blood gushing from a gash on his nose.

“I got a little greedy,” a smiling Cooks said after practice, with a large cut on the bridge of his nose. “I tried to reach into the end zone. Reed [Blankenship] knocked the wind out of me, ball came out.”

“Busted” nose and all, Cooks is making a name for himself in the first weeks of Eagles training camp. Cooks was an undrafted rookie in 2023 who spent the better part of two NFL seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars before he was signed to the practice squad in January.

As the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX, Cooks watched from the sideline, soaking in the championship culture and environment. Now, in his first training camp with the Birds, he’s fighting to get back on an active NFL roster.

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“I can control what I can control,” Cooks said. “Just make a play a day, and people are going to start noticing.”

So, does he feel like he’s been able to do that?

“I’m trying my hardest,” he said. “I left a few out there, so I’ve got to make them.”

With DeVonta Smith sidelined by back tightness and A.J. Brown participating in only part of Friday’s scrimmage, reps have opened up for receivers fighting to make the team, and Cooks is taking advantage. He has gotten significant time with the second team and backup quarterback Tanner McKee going against the first-team defense.

“It’s nice when a guy his size knows how to use his body and has great hands,” McKee said of Cooks. “I think Elijah is having a great camp so far. Really excited to throw with him in the preseason and see what he can do in a game.”

Each day, Cooks seems to make another athletic, contested catch. He has made almost every defensive back on the team look silly at one point or another, including Adoree’ Jackson, whom Cooks cited as a personal inspiration growing up in Southern California while Jackson starred at USC.

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The 6-foot-4 receiver credited his basketball background with helping him learn how to use his large frame and create the separation needed to make those catches.

“I’m used to playing against the bigger guys, trying to create space against bigger guys,” Cooks said. “Bringing it out here, it just helps me create space against guys who are hella fast, like Adoree’.”

There’s a lot to love about Cooks’ catches in camp, but Cooks feels he has most developed his route running, which he said is far more polished than it was in the spring.

“I came into OTAs a little sloppy, if I’m being honest,” Cooks said.

He’s also trying to soak in everything he can from Brown, who’s one of the NFL’s best at using his body to create separation. Brown stood on the sideline during the second part of Friday’s 11-on-11s but was not given an injury designation following practice.

Cooks is competing with Ainias Smith, Ife Adeyi, Terrace Marshall, Avery Williams, and Johnny Wilson for one of the three remaining wide receiver spots behind Brown, Smith, and Jahan Dotson. And he should get plenty of playing time during the Birds’ three preseason games, with the starters expected to sit for most of the drives.

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Cooks knows that stretch is one of his biggest opportunities to set himself apart.

“Right now, I’m at the bottom of the barrel, and I’ve got to look at it like that the whole way through camp because any moment, I could be gone,” he said. “I just want to show these people that — show this team, show the coaches — that I’m ready to be an Eagle.”

The best way to do that? Make a play a day. And so far, Cooks has been delivering.