Eagles begin training camp without two promising young defensemen originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles were without two of their promising young defenders when training camp began Wednesday morning at the NovaCare Complex.
Second-year safety Sydney Brown and rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean were placed on the injured reserve list to open the preseason.
For DeJean, missing the first part of his rookie training camp isn’t ideal, and he’ll have to find other ways to stay current so he doesn’t fall too far behind when he returns.
“Yeah, we’re upset, you know, this is our second-round pick, we want to see him here on opening day,” general manager Howie Roseman said before Wednesday’s practice.
“But we also think this guy is going to be with us for a long time and so we have tremendous confidence in his ability to pick things up and come back and keep running and obviously it’s a long season and we’re counting on that.”
As expected, the Eagles on Wednesday placed Brown on the physically unable to perform list as he continued to recover from a torn ACL, placing DeJean on the non-football injury list with a hamstring injury he suffered while practicing. between OTAs and the training camp.
Brown suffered a knee injury in the Eagles’ regular-season finale against the Giants in East Rutherford.
If any of them remain on these rosters after the final roster cuts on Aug. 30, they will have to miss at least the first four games of the regular season.
DeJean was expected to compete for the starting corner position. Coach Nick Sirianni said the Eagles expect DeJean to miss about three weeks.
“Obviously, he won’t be here for the first three weeks,” he said Wednesday. “But we were excited about him when we drafted him, we were excited about the things he did during OTAs and the off-season work, and we’re still excited about him.
“He will have to do a lot of mental reps over the next few weeks to recover from the injury. And he will do it. I am confident in the person that he will do this. He’s going to have to work hard at that and then be able to come back when it’s time to come back, when the injury is healed, and then get those physical reps.”
As for Brown, his timetable is a little less clear.
He was practicing doing solo reps about 15 yards behind the defense during OTAs in the spring and looked quick and healthy running in a straight line.
Brown told Rob Kuestner of NBC Sports at an Eagles Autism Challenge event in April that he felt encouraged to be just three months removed from surgery on Jan. 25.
“I feel amazing,” he said. “I can start working out for you right now if you want. I feel like I’m miles ahead of where I really should be. I’ll be ready when the season comes.”
The Eagles drafted Brown out of Illinois in the third round in 2023. After playing sparingly at the start of the season — he got just 16 snaps in the first three games, then missed the next three with a hamstring — he averaged 32 snaps. per game until he got injured against the Giants. He started six games as a rookie and finished the season with 335 defensive snaps split evenly between slot and safety.
His 99-yard interception return against Kyler Murray in the loss to the Cards was the 2It is-longest in the NFL last year, 6th-longest ever by a rookie and 3third-The longest in Eagles history, behind Lito Sheppard’s 101 and 102 yards against the Cowboys in 2004 and 2006.
Along with 2023 4thPick of the Round Kelee Ringo, 2023 1st– and 2It isRound picks Quinyon Mitchell, as well as Isaiah Rodgers and Eli Ricks, DeJean and Brown are part of what the Eagles believe is a rebuilt young secondary a year after they were ranked 31stst in the NFL in pass defense.
The NFI and PUP lists are identical except that NFI is for players with injuries that occur outside of practice or a game and PUP is for players who suffer practice- or game-related injuries before participating in practice.
The Eagles also placed offensive lineman Gottlieb Ayedze and wide receiver Shaq Davis on PUP with undisclosed injuries. Ayedze is an undrafted rookie from Maryland and Davis is a 1styear professional from the state of South Carolina.
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