The Patriots and Eagles held a two-hour joint practice on the fields behind Gillette Stadium on Wednesday morning and it was a great litmus test in the trenches for New England.
According to O-Line guru Brandon Thorn at Establish the Run, Philly enters the 2026 season with the second-ranked offensive line in the NFL, anchored by stud tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata. The Eagles defensive line led by interior monsters Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis is also one of the league's best, and we all remember the reality check the Eagles defensive line gave the Patriots offensive line in the summer of 2024 (just ask Milton Williams).
"This is a very good football team. It has been for quite some time. They're really good at the line of scrimmage. Big, physical lines of scrimmage. Certainly, an excellent quarterback. They're well-coached, good defensive scheme, so I think this'll be a really good measuring stick just to see where we're at this point in camp," head coach Mike Vrabel said before practice.
Philadelphia has been the NFL's best team on both sides of the line of scrimmage this decade, making them a great barometer for how much progress New England has made in the trenches. This summer, the Patriots pass protection looks improved with a healthier, stouter version of LT Will Campbell, Jared Wilson moving to center, and free-agent addition Alijah Vera-Tucker taking over at left guard. Patriots QB Drake Maye has been able to push the ball downfield from clean pockets, which has been encouraging in training camp.
That said, the run game has had a slower start to camp but some of that might be due to how head coach Mike Vrabel runs his practices. With no live tackling, players are coached to "fit up" runs with good initial technique but they don't finish blocks through the whistle and try to avoid big piles on run plays to protect teammates from injuries. Therefore, it can be difficult to gauge how the running game looks in practice. However, FB Reggie Gilliam says that the intensity to finish blocks ramps up in the joint practices.
"We're not finishing all the way through the whistle, but getting fit up and having square feet and making sure my base is right, just so when it is time to put somebody down, that you're in the right spot," Gilliam said. "Come tomorrow, come Thursday (the joint practices with the Eagles), and for the rest of the season, those guys are coming downhill and you got to meet them."
To put camp practices in context, the other element is who New England's offensive line has faced on the other side of the ball. Although the offensive line has held up well, the Eagles present a step up in competition. Without captain Harold Landry III, the pass-rush juice off the edge is a concern going into the season. Top interior rushers Milton Williams and Christian Barmore are great players but Vrabel noted that he felt like the Patriots didn't apply enough pressure on Colts QB Daniel Jones in last week's joint practice.
"Defensively, we probably expect more. We do expect more from our group, certainly from our front. That's where the ability to affect the quarterback has to come in. We believe in what we have in the secondary. But the front is where you have to be able to impact and affect the quarterback," Vrabel said on 98.5 the Sports Hub's pre-game show.
Joint practices with the Eagles are a great test of whether the Patriots offensive line's progress can hold up against a strong front. Plus, did the Pats defensive front pressure Eagles QB Jalen Hurts and slow down Philly's run game more effectively than it did in last Tuesday's joint session with the Colts? With the Eagles being as good a challenge as any in the trenches, that's where my eyes were during Wednesday's session.
Here are 15 takeaways from the Patriots-Eagles joint practice in the trenches on Wednesday.
(Note: It's impossible to see everything when the two teams go into split-field drills in joint practices. I did my best to bounce back and forth but I may have missed some things.)
- The Patriots pass protection held its own against a really good Eagles front. It wasn't perfect, with some pressure off the left side, especially when the Eagles used line games/schemed rushes. But it appeared like Maye had time to deliver the ball downfield. One play in particular stood out where wideouts A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs both ran vertical routes on the outside. Maye was able to look off the post-safety by staring down Brown and then came back to Doubs vs. single coverage. Doubs then high-pointed the ball over the corner for a deep completion.
- During the early-down run periods, the play-action crossers were working for the Patriots top offense. Maye hit WR DeMario Douglas and Brown on intermediate crossers off vintage McDaniels play-action concepts. Those schemes have been humming all summer long.
- The Patriots run game had its best run of the day, a toss to RB TreVeyon Henderson, called back for a hold on the offensive line (the refs are on hand but they don't announce numbers). Overall, the Pats ground out some dirty yards against Philly's stingy run defense, with RB Rhamondre Stevenson hitting some inside runs for decent gains. You'd still like to see some more explosives in the run game from the top offense.
- New England's run defense started slow with multiple big runs for Eagles star Saquon Barkley and RB Will Shipley. Shipley bounced a few runs off the offense's right edge and Barkley creased the Pats run defense through the middle of the field a few times. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts also kept the ball on a read-option for a chunk gain, similar to Colts QB Anthony Richardson's 22-yard run in last week's preseason game. The run defense did improve in the second run period with stuffs by LB K.J. Britt and S Craig Woodson.
- The Patriots pass rush was also inconsistent against Philly's O-Line. The Pats standard four-man rushes struggled to win 1-on-1 matchups, with a few late pressures pushing the pocket for Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, and Gabe Jacas. That said, the Pats D dialed up the pressure in Philly's 1:05 drill and those blitzes were effective. New England's blitz schemes got home on three consecutive Hurts drop-backs to end practice: Woodson pressure (Byard PBU), Byard pressure (Elliss PBU), Barmore unblocked "sack" – the Eagles offense didn't have many answers when Hurts was blitzed.
- Unfortunately, we didn't get a rematch between LT Will Campbell and Eagles EDGE Jonathan Greenard because Greenard isn't practicing for Philly. Instead, Campbell mostly saw EDGE Jalyx Hunt, who is no slouch, especially as a pass rusher. Hunt seemed to get home twice over the left side, once around Campbell's outside edge and one pressure was on a stunt. Campbell also split his reps with Hunt in 1-on-1s. Campbell and LG Aijah Vera-Tucker are still a work in progress on stunts and Hunt gave the Pats left tackle some trouble, more than what we've seen in previous practices.
- C Jared Wilson had two impressive wins over Eagles stud DT Jordan Davis in 1-on-1s. He got underneath Davis with a firm punch to stop the hulking D-Tackle in his tracks – good stuff. The Pats also hit positive runs through the left side between both the A (Wilson/Vera-Tucker) and B-Gaps (Vera-Tucker/Campbell). Wilson has had some heavy weight bouts against Davis and Colts DT Grover Stewart. He has held his own.
- Rookie OT Caleb Lomu repped at both tackle spots, mostly with the second team. Lomu stoned Epenesa by walling off an inside spin in 1-on-1s and had a great backside reach block on an outside zone scheme to set up a RB Jam Miller cutback. However, Lomu followed that up with a pressure allowed (arm over/swim) and he fell off his frontside zone block on a stuffed run. Lomu continues to have an up-and-down summer.
- Overall, the Pats backup guards struggled against the Eagles twos and threes on the defensive line. Newly signed G Greg Van Roten was in attendance and went through a walkthrough at left guard. We'll see how quickly Van Roten can get brought up to speed. You'd think he'll be inserted right into the mix as a top interior backup.
- Other O-Line 1-on-1 notes: RG Mike Onwenu won both his reps against Eagles star DT Jalen Carter in 1-on-1s, Vera-Tucker lost to DT Usar Bernard around his outside edge, T/G James Hudson over DT Gabe Hall.
- Rookie EDGE Gabe Jacas split his 1-on-1 reps against Eagles OTs Cameron Williams (loss) and Myles Hinton (win). He beat Hinton cleanly with a bull rush, which was good to see, and Jacas flashed a few times in the pass rush during team as well. It's encouraging to see Jacas's physical tools flashing in practice. The rookie just needs to catch on mentally.
- Top edge rushers Dre'Mont Jones and Elijah Ponder had some struggles against Eagles top tackles, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson. Those are two of the best players at their positions in the league but the Pats will need more from the edge group in the pass rush. Needing to blitz to get pressure is a tough way to live. For example, LB Robert Spillane came through the middle of the line unblocked but Hurts hit Shipley on a wheel route for a big play with Ponder dropping into coverage.
- DT Christian Barmore was a limited participant with some situational work in 11-on-11s (third down, two-minute) and he won his 1-on-1 rep with a bull rush on G Tyler Steen. Barmore also logged a pressure (unblocked) in Philly's 1:05 drill. They need Barmore and Milton Williams to dominate this season.
- The Patriots hosted former Bills and Titans DT DaQuan Jones on a free-agent visit on Tuesday, who played some nose tackle for Vrabel in Tennessee. That's one to watch if the Pats feel they need to be stouter on the interior D-Line. Things have been shaky there from a run-defense perspective in joint practices with the Colts and Eagles (no Christian Barmore in run periods).
- Other D-Line 1-on-1 standouts: DT Milton Williams bull rushes G Landon Dickerson, DT Joshua Farmer dusts G Micah Morris, and EDGE Jesse Luketa goes around OT Myles Hinton.
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