We're one week away from the Eagles lining up against a different team, but through two weeks of training camp, players are already starting to separate themselves from the competition at their respective positions. And despite coaches insisting on players' candidacy being decided on the field during preseason games, practice habits and trends are often good indicators as to who the coaches are high on.
A few weeks ago, we took a look at a few different position battles that would be highlighted over the course of training camp, so it seems appropriate to look at those positions again in order to get ready for next week's preseason opener.
Quarterback
This "battle" was over before it started, but it is still worth talking about since it is the most important position on the field. Through two weeks, things have pretty much gone as expected. Sam Bradford has established himself as the top guy, consistently putting together good, albeit unspectacular, practices. Carson Wentz has looked the part of unpolished rookie, showing off his natural talent, but struggling to make some of the more advanced throws on a consistent basis. And Chase Daniel is still there, I guess.
At this point, everything has played out as it should have. Bradford has taken the reigns and is leading the offense, Wentz is developing slowly behind him and Daniel is playing the role of mentor, teaching the other QBs the nuances of Doug Pederson's offensive scheme.
Wide Receiver
As well as the QBs are doing, the opposite can be said for the wide receivers. Although Jordan Matthews continues to progress and show a tremendous amount of maturity for a third-year player, the other young guys the Eagles are banking on stepping up have yet to put things together this year. However, unlike 2015, the Eagles have some insurance in the forms of Chris Givens and Rueben Randle.
Nelson Agholor and Josh Huff haven't exactly exploded so far, but the latter guy has been the recipient of some praise from Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich and things could obviously change once they line up in the preseason games. Both guys are tremendous athletes and if they can find ways to become more consistent route runners and figure out how to improve their ball security, both guys represent an upgrade over Givens and Randle. But for now, the two vets are outplaying their younger counterparts.
Left Guard
This battle has been put on hold for a bit while right guard Brandon Brooks nurses a hamstring injury, but once he is healthy things should heat up real quick. Allen Barbre has performed well at left guard, but the guy who has been filling in for Brooks is turning heads and has something to prove.
Stefen Wisniewski signed a one-year deal with the Birds in the offseason for the sole purpose of re-entering the free agent market in 2016. He has experience at both guard spots and should challenge Barbre when Brooks gets back. Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice has been especially impressed with Wisniewski so far, and Reich has also had some nice things to say about the former Jaguar, calling him "incredibly smart" and claiming he's "exceeded expectations."
Cornerback
Flipping to the other side of the ball, we'll start with the outside corners where the two veterans are starting to pull away from the pack. Both Leodis McKelvin and Nolan Carroll have performed well with the first-team defense and second-year player Eric Rowe has struggled a bit.
In a perfect world, Rowe would have been able to step up and outperform one of the veterans, giving the Eagles another young building block on defense, but a poor set of spring practices set Rowe behind a bit, but he has come on in recent days, recording multiple interceptions. Once again, it looks like Rowe may start the year on the bench, but if he can continue his upward trend, he'll find himself with the first-team defense by the end of the year.
Nickelback
Moving to the inside now, things are starting to get murky with the nickelback situation, especially for Jalen Mills. The seventh-round pick played well in the spring, but people worried if he would still be successful once the team broke out the pads. It turns out, those fears might have been realized.
Mills's stock has been falling in recent days and Philly Mag's Tim McManus reports that Mills hasn't been performing to the level he was during the spring practices. Luckily veteran Ron Brooks is waiting in the wings, should Mills fall far enough Jim Schwartz doesn't feel comfortable putting him on the field. But Eliot Shorr-Parks reported yesterday that Mills is even ahead of Rowe on the depth chart so maybe the coaching staff isn't down on the rookie quite yet.
Kicker
So far, it seems like Caleb Sturgis is out-kicking Cody Parkey on a daily basis at camp. This battle truly will be won based on who can make more kicks during the preseason games, but the practice numbers are showing that either Parkey's rookie year was a fluke or he is still not fully recovered from his gruesome injury a year ago. Either way, Sturgis being the Eagles kicker in 2016 is starting to look very likely.
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Tucker Bagley is a staff writer for Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @tbagley515.
