‘Comfortable’ Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is fitting right in with the Eagles so far

Training camp can be a trying time for a rookie in the NFL. The days can be long. While there’s less on-field time than most college football camps, there are a lot of meetings and film sessions. There is the added pressure of trying to stand out and make your first NFL team, too. And for most rookies, the day ends and you go back to the hotel to try to get your mind and body ready to do it all again the next day.

Jeremiah Trotter Jr. isn’t like most rookies.

When his day ends, he drives back to his childhood home in Hainesport, N.J., and while other rookies might use FaceTime to see their loved ones, Trotter doesn’t need technology to talk about his first NFL training camp with his father. He sleeps in his own bed, too.

“I feel like it’s benefited me a lot,” Trotter said Sunday after Eagles practice. “Sometimes rookies, they’ll come into an unfamiliar environment. They get nervous, they get homesick, stuff like that. But I feel like I haven’t had that. I have people that have seen me grow up, basically, being around the facility since a young age.

“I can feel very comfortable and just focus on football.”

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There’s no way to quantify how much impact all of that has, but right now Trotter seems to be trending upward. The 21-year-old linebacker, whom the Eagles traded up to draft in the fifth round, had another good day Sunday, again taking some reps with the first-team defense. On one of them, he beat a would-be blocker to stop a run. On Thursday during the Eagles’ public practice at Lincoln Financial Field, Trotter knifed through the “A” gap on a blitz and made his former Clemson teammate Will Shipley miss his block en route to a sack of Kenny Pickett.

The competition at inside linebacker is pretty open. New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said during the first week of camp that everyone seemed to be in the mix. Right now, it’s hard to envision a world where Devin White isn’t one of the starters, and fellow newcomer Zack Baun has taken the most reps next to White. But beyond them things have gotten a little more interesting. Nakobe Dean has still rotated in with the first-team defense, and so has Ben VanSumeren, but on Sunday Dean took multiple reps with the third-stringers. His poor play — running back Kenneth Gainwell beat him badly twice Thursday night — has coincided with Trotter flashing.

“I’m just trying to focus on making sure I continue to improve, continue to gain their trust, and do whatever I can to really help the team and just find my role,” Trotter said.

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Trotter, who starred at St. Joseph’s Prep, said he was happy with his performance so far in camp but said he’s “very critical” of himself. “The smallest detail, I want to try to get and fix in my game so I can become the best player I can possibly be,” he said.

Asked whom he models his game after, Trotter said White, his new teammate, was one of the players he liked watching before he got to the NFL. He also mentioned Lavonte David and Fred Warner.

“Guys I want to imitate my game after, being a three-down guy and one of those backers you don’t have to take off the field,” Trotter said. “He can cover. He can blitz. He can fit in the run game.”

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Trotter isn’t any of those guys yet, and he’s still a long way from matching his father’s four Pro Bowl appearances with the Eagles. But one of the most important things for a late-round pick like Trotter in camp is to not look lost.

While the NovaCare Complex has always felt like home, and this training camp is different for him, Trotter said he was just like any other rookie at Thursday’s practice at Lincoln Financial Field.

“It’s definitely a big deal for me because it’s from a different perspective,” Trotter said. “When I was there before, it was going there to watch the great players that were playing there and to watch the game and be a fan, and now I’m on the team and I’m playing out there on the field.

“It’s definitely a different vibe and a different feeling that you get.”