A crowded RB room, Marcus Mariota’s struggles, and more highlights from our Eagles training camp AMA

Nakobe Dean, Jack Stoll, and new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson all came up during our Reddit Q&A.

Boston Scott runs with the football during public training camp practice at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, August 6.Read more Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

by EJ Smith, Josh Tolentino, and Olivia Reiner

Published Aug. 8, 2023, 5:22 p.m. ET

Three of The Inquirer’s Eagles beat writers — E.J. Smith, Josh Tolentino, and Olivia Reiner — took to Reddit on Tuesday to answer some of your burning questions about training camp. You can check out the full thread here. Here are some of the highlights.

Q: Who has been performing better, first-team defense or offense?

Josh Tolentino: Huge slant to the offense. That’s a given considering the defense is dealing with growing pains attached to personnel changes at all three levels in addition to the group learning under new coordinator Sean Desai.

EJ Smith: First-team offense, but that’ll happen when you have Jalen Hurts throwing to A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert.

Q: Any insight on if the offensive game plan has had any major/minor changes with a new OC?

Josh Tolentino: Brian Johnson revealed earlier today that he plans to follow the footsteps of his predecessor, Shane Steichen, and call the offensive plays on game day from the Eagles sideline. While the booth upstairs might offer a unique vantage point, Johnson noted the benefits of being on the sideline including the ability to have face-to-face interaction with the players. While Johnson is stepping into his first permanent play-calling role at the NFL level, the offense is ultimately still under Sirianni’s watchful eye.

He’ll play a key role in game planning with Johnson and quarterback Jalen Hurts throughout game weeks, and that should set up Johnson for success on game days. Barring a drastic drop in performance from some of the aging veterans (Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson), the Eagles offense - which retains nine of 11 starters from a unit that scored the most points by a losing team in the Super Bowl – is still expected to be a high-powered machine.

Q: Are you buying into Nakobe Dean hype or is LB going to be a bigger problem than people want to admit?

EJ Smith: Linebackers are really hard to gauge during training camp for myriad reasons, so I don’t think we have a great read on Dean yet.

I think linebacker will be fine, though. The Eagles defensive front is talented enough where very few teams should be able to exploit them in the run game. In the pass game, I’d be a little worried about the Kyle Shanahans of the world putting Dean or Nicholas Morrow under a microscope, but that would be the case with the majority of starting linebackers in the league.

Q: The RB room is pretty crowded. I know there will be a committee, but do you foresee it being an even split between the four backs, or do you think one guy will get the bulk of the snaps?

Olivia Reiner: My guess is that it will not be an even split among the four backs (D’Andre Swift, Rashaad Penny, Kenny Gainwell, and Boston Scott). Running backs coach Jemal Singleton spoke today about how he’s going to determine when to rotate backs, and he said that a lot of it comes down to the skill sets of the room. There’s a high baseline for all of them in the run game, pass game, and in protection, but from there, if a single player excels in multiple areas, they’re more likely to get on the field more frequently. He doesn’t want to be too predictable for opposing defenses to dissect. I think as the Eagles get into the season, the top backs will start to separate themselves, warranting more touches. We’ll see how it all plays out.

Q: How has the TE battle looked? Have Dan Arnold, Grant Calcaterra or Jack Stoll stood out?

EJ Smith: Jack Stoll has looked the best out of the three guys fighting for the No. 2 tight end spot, but I still think Grant Calcaterra could help himself quite a bit if he does well blocking in the preseason, though.

Q: With as much as Marcus Mariota has been struggling, how seriously do you think that the Birds look at other veteran options as they are cut or as trade options?

EJ Smith: I doubt it. His training camp performance is mildly concerning but he’s got enough track record of being around league-average as a starter in actual games that I wouldn’t put too much weight on it.They really can’t cut him because of the guaranteed money in his deal, either.