“I didn’t know that, my grandpa just told me,” Jaylen said in the clip. “I don’t think [A.J.] knows that, either.”
But if A.J. didn’t know before, he does now. He responded on Instagram by posting a clip from the movie Poetic Justice on his story with the caption “Big Cuz hit me!”
#Patriots WR A.J. Brown posts on Instagram after finding out he and #76ers Jaylen Brown are cousins:
— New England Sports Fellow (@_JosephManning) July 8, 2026
While Jaylen grew up in Marietta, Ga., A.J. grew up in Starkville, Miss., about 300 miles away. But despite their different upbringings, there are still a few things that clearly run in the family, starting with their elite athleticism.
They also went back-to-back in winning their championships, with Jaylen winning an NBA championship in the 2023-24 season with the Celtics and A.J. following with a Super Bowl win in the 2024-25 season.
Fans also pointed out that the colors surrounding the teams involved in each trade is similar with both Jaylen and A.J. originally wearing green and white before going to a team with a red, white, and blue colorway.
Jaylen Brown and AJ Brown:
– Disgruntled Star players – Won a title in the city that traded them – Centerpiece of a Boston-Philly trade pic.twitter.com/FkR6p8tax4
Jaylen shared the details of the Brown family tree during an event at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his 7uice Foundation, which focuses on bridging the gap for opportunities for underserved youth.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey proclaimed that July 7 will now be known as 7uice Foundation day in the state going forward.
During the same event, Jaylen met with a young Celtics fan who went viral for his reaction following his trade to Philly.
Known on social media as “Gio the Tiger,” the young fan went viral after video showed him crying over the trade with his Celtics jersey on and what read “Filla” written over the Boston team’s name. The text on the video said that the 6-year-old was experiencing his “first heartbreak” after learning the news of his favorite player’s trade.
After Jaylen commented on the original post reminding Gio they’d “always be friends,” the duo connected in person where he was also able to deliver a hand-written note to Jaylen and interview him as well.
This is what Boston will be missing. A true community leader.
With Eagles training camp drawing nearer, The Inquirer is taking a closer look at the more than three dozen new faces who are expected to report along with the rest of the team on July 28.
Player: Johnny Mundt
Position: Tight end
Age: 31
Previous experience: Mundt is a journeyman veteran tight end. The Eagles are his fourth team in nine seasons. He played college ball at the University of Oregon and signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2017. He quickly became a UDFA success story, not only making the roster but spending five seasons in Los Angeles as a reliable blocking tight end. He’s also had stints with the Minnesota Vikings and, most recently, the Jacksonville Jaguars. He signed a one-year deal with the Eagles in March.
Path to a roster spot: Mundt projects to make the final roster for two reasons: His rock-solid blocking abilities and his familiarity with new Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, with whom he was teammates in Los Angeles and Minnesota. The 31-year-old will slide into the third tight end blocking role, which would be crucial in Mannion’s wide zone scheme. He’s not a stat padder — Mundt’s best year came in 2023, when he logged just 172 receiving yards — but he’ll be a major key in rejuvenating the Eagles’ run game.
Fun fact: The back story behind Mundt’s blue collar, block-first approach to football is, well, nuts. In 1999, his parents started Alpine Pacific Nut Company, a plant that produces more than 75 million pounds of walnuts each year. Growing up, Mundt would wake up at dawn and work on the farm alongside his two brothers to help his parents run the successful business.
Quotable: “When I know I make a good block in the first one and a half seconds of the play, I know I won my rep and then I see the running back down the sideline, I mean, there’s no better feeling. It’s really special,” Mundt said via Eagles.com.
Ta’Quon Graham (pressuring Matthew Stafford) gives the Eagles another potential veteran presence in the front seven.
Player: Ta’Quon Graham
Position: Defensive end
Age: 27
Previous experience: Graham spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons, the team that selected him in the fifth round (148th overall) of the 2021 NFL draft. Prior to that, he spent four years playing for the University of Texas. He signed to the Eagles practice squad last November and re-signed with them in March.
Path to a roster spot: While you can never have too much depth off the edges, it will be an uphill battle for Graham to make the final roster. The Eagles already had Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith under contract entering the offseason. They then traded for (and subsequently extended) Johnathan Greenard. That means Graham will have to battle with Arnold Ebiketie, A.J. Epenesa, Uar Bernard, Jose Ramirez, Keyshawn James-Newby and Joshua Weru for rotational snaps. Let’s see if he can separate himself.
Fun fact: Graham’s mother worked night shifts as a correctional officer in Texas, so his brother, Broderick Thompson, was a father figure to him. Thompson taught Graham how to watch film, even during his peewee football days. That guidance helped him carve out a successful college career and hang around in the NFL.
Quotable: “I’m kind of a little foodie, just from trying different restaurants and things like that. Honestly, I’m pretty laid back; I don’t have many hobbies, but I do like to try new food places. I do like to try different things with my teammates, my friends, and all of them,” Graham said of his off-field life via USA Today.
The former 94.1 WIP sideline reporter and Fox 29 sports anchor is leaving Philadelphia to cover the Chicago Bears for Fox 32, she announced on social media.
Kaney is taking over the role vacated by Cassie Carlson, who was promoted as the station’s lead sports anchor. Kaney will also do some sports anchoring work for the station, much like her role at Fox 29, which she left last month.
“I’m so grateful for the support all of my colleagues at Fox 29 have given me during my time there, but especially in the last few months,” Kaney told The Inquirer.
Those last few months included being laid off at WIP as part of company-wide cutbacks by parent company Audacy.
Devan Kaney (right) with 94.1 WIP’s morning show: (from left) Rhea Hughes, Jon Ritchie, Jason Kelce, and Joe DeCamara.
She also served as an on-air host, worked with the station’s popular morning crew, and hosted shows alongside Phillies announcer and former general manager Rubén Amaro Jr.
WIP hasn’t announced who will replace her, and the clock’s ticking. The Eagles’ first preseason game is five weeks away, with the Birds taking on the Baltimore Ravens on Aug. 15.
“It’s a tough job,” WIP program director Rod Lakin told The Inquirer in 2025. “You have to be someone that’s a really good communicator. You also need to be able to change quickly — circumstances change all the time in the NFL, and you’ve got to deliver that information quickly and in a collaborative way, because the game doesn’t stop.”
Over at Fox 29, Kaney’s role was partly taken over by former 6abc sportscaster Jamie Apody, who among other things is anchoring the station’s 10 p.m. newscast.
While Kaney is leaving the city, she’ll continue to host Werth Talking About, a PHLY podcast she’s co-hosting with former All-Star Jayson Werth. And Eagles fans might get a glimpse of her Sept. 28, when the Birds travel to Soldier Field to take on the Bears on Monday Night Football in Week 3.
A few months after Nike paid homage to Kobe Bryant’s Lower Merion roots with a full collection for the 30th anniversary of his state championship run, it appears more locally inspired shoes are on the way next year.
Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, gave fans a sneak preview of new Kobe releases on the horizon, and among them are Eagles-inspired Kobe 5s in Protro form.
Nike is dropping a Kobe 5 Protro "Philadelphia Eagles” color-way. They will release in January 2027 and retail at $200. pic.twitter.com/o7mZKtWh9C
The shoes — which appear to have a green suede base color — have a black Nike check, a white color lining the midsole and tongue, which features the signature green Mamba logo. According to multiple sneaker outlets, the shoe will drop next January and will retail for $200.
The “Eagles” Nike Kobe 5 is one of seven styles of shoes that Vanessa Bryant posted on her Instagram stories on Tuesday evening. The six other shoes coming in the next year are: the Nike Kobe 6 “Polka Dot White,” Nike Kobe 6 “Polka Dot Red,” Nike Kobe 6 “Bellisima,” Nike Kobe 9 Elite High “Ironman,” Nike Kobe 9 Elite Low “Dusty Pink,” and Nike Kobe 9 Elite Low “CA Mountain Snake.”
With Eagles training camp drawing nearer, The Inquirer is taking a closer look at the more than three dozen new faces who are expected to report along with the rest of the team on July 28.
Player: Stone Smartt
Position: Tight end
Age: 27
Previous experience: Rookie second-round pick Eli Stowers isn’t the only former quarterback playing tight end for the Eagles in training camp. Smartt, too, was a quarterback even into his college days. He played quarterback at Northern Arizona and Riverside City College before transferring to Old Dominion, where he eventually became a wide receiver.
Smartt went undrafted in 2022. He signed with the Chargers and made seven appearances as a rookie. His highest usage came in 2023, when he was on the field for 28% of the offensive snaps and was targeted 21 times (11 catches). Smartt, who is 6-foot-4 and 226 pounds, signed with the Jets last season and played 15 games, mostly appearing on special teams.
Path to a roster spot: The Eagles have eight tight ends on their current roster. If you’re building a depth chart heading into camp, it’s hard to get Smartt any higher than fifth, and since the Eagles won’t be keeping that many tight ends, Smartt’s odds of making the team out of camp are long. Dallas Goedert and Stowers are locks to make the team. Free agent addition Johnny Mundt figures to have a leg up for a spot due to his blocking ability. Grant Calcaterra is back but has plenty of competition — including from Smartt — to make the team. Smartt should have plenty of chances in camp and in preseason games to show he belongs, but it won’t be easy … or likely.
Fun fact: Smartt has plans for life after football. He has a finance degree and has continued his financial education after college.
Quotable: “One thing that constantly comes back to my mind is helping people and families have money and make that money work for them, and also being able to leave a legacy for their next of kin,” Smartt said recently on a financial podcast.
Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Deontae Lawson (0) reacts during the second half against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Player: Deontae Lawson
Position: Linebacker
Age: 23
Previous experience: Draft experts had Lawson pegged as a Day 3 pick for good reason. He was a standout at Alabama who left Tuscaloosa ranked 10th all-time in tackles (283). An ACL tear near the end of his junior season certainly may have impacted his draft stock. He initially planned to leave for the NFL after that 2024 season but returned to college and had 89 combined tackles in 15 games.
Path to a roster spot: Lawson is long and relatively lanky at 6-3 and 226 pounds.He faces a difficult path to go from undrafted free agent to the roster, but he should, at the very least, be an intriguing player the Eagles try to keep on the practice squad. Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell are the off-ball linebacker starters, and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is right behind them. Four seems like the likely number for linebackers on the initial 53-man roster. Smael Mondon Jr., a fifth-round pick last year, is slotted in at that No. 4 spot right now, but Lawson and Chance Campbell are knocking on the door. There could be a fun competition for that fourth spot.
Fun fact: Lawson became one of just 16 players in Alabama football history to twice be named a team captain.
Quotable: “Lawson might not have elite speed or strength, but NFL teams love him as a football player because he plays fast and fiery, and his processing can be a differentiating factor,” The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote of Lawson in this year’s Beast draft preview. “He has the talent to compete for starting reps, but questions about durability cloud his future.”
According to NFL Network analyst Lance Zierlein, Lawson is “much better at slipping blocks than he is at taking them on. … He projects as a run-and-chase Will linebacker with three-down potential but a limited ceiling.”
In a world full of blowhard self-promoters who lack expertise in anything outside hat-backward bro-chat, it’s refreshing to hear smart guys talk about interesting stuff in plain words.
That’s what you’ll get when you find Episode 12 of the Negotiation Warriors podcast on YouTube. On the podcast, former Chicago Bears executive Cliff Stein spends 75 minutes discussing the evolution of NFL front-office practices with a certain former Eagles and Cleveland Browns executive.
The episode is titled “The Salary Cap Godfather with Joe Banner.”
This is not hyperbole.
Banner entered the NFL in 1994 as the salary cap and free agency became the league’s most important drivers of roster construction. Banner was, simply, smarter and braver than almost everybody else making those decisions. It was he who designed the template for salary-cap management, free-agent pursuit, and, to a degree, the maximization of early- and late-round draft pick evaluation.
Banner (with an assist from his then-administrative assistant, Lee Ann Hartley, who gets name-dropped in the episode), also invented Howie Roseman, who since has led the Eagles to three Super Bowls, two championships, and today generally is considered the NFL’s top executive.
But everybody has a godfather.
Banner served a similar role to Stein, a North Philly kid who played receiver for Ron Cohen at George Washington High School and rose from fringe-player agent to the role of senior vice president for 22 years with the Bears, until regime change in 2023 ended his tenure.
Stein, 59, then became a consultant for college programs dealing with NIL challenges, helped develop software called Front Office 360 to help schools manage their salary caps, and, of course, started the pod. He’s already hosted super-agents Drew Rosenhaus and Peter Schaffer, and he has about 30 more in the bank. None, he said, was as rewarding as the Banner pod.
“He’s not known as a very tall man, but he is a giant when it comes to negotiations,” Stein says, introducing Banner in anatomically and metaphorically appropriate terms.
Why Banner? Why now?
Because the business of the NFL was uncharted territory in the mid-’90s. Banner was Magellan. Now semiretired and semiforgotten by a generation that uses his methods but has no appreciation of their origins, it is important to Stein to shine light on Banner’s massive contribution, from negotiating stadium deals to navigating the cap to assigning values to players on the front and back ends of their careers.
“My biggest takeaway was the value of a negotiator in the role of a GM, and to show that’s what he was doing,” Stein said.
Banner’s one of the most respected sports executives, one of the most brilliant minds and canniest negotiators the NFL has ever seen. Some would even call him the Godfather.
From North Philly to the South Side
Stein got his business and law degrees at Temple, then began work as a union lawyer in 1994 when he also got his NFL agent’s license. Three years later he partnered with Jerrold Colton, continued his law practice, and acted as agent for a few low-level players such as former Eagles offensive lineman Jerry Crafts and kick returner Michael “Beer Man” Lewis, the 29-year-old Arena Football League speedster who delivered Budweiser but did not play college football. The Eagles cut Lewis in 2000, but he eventually reached the Pro Bowl with the Saints.
In 2002, the Bears solicited Stein’s application to be their contract negotiator. He spent much of the next 22 years in that role and several others as senior vice president and general counsel, a vital adviser for Bears executives and ownership, until Kevin Warren was hired as president in 2023 and dismissed him.
Banner was instrumental in nurturing Stein’s development.
The podcast is 75 minutes of two of the deepest sorts of sports insiders discussing not only the inner workings of the NFL’s well-cloaked business models and practices but also the origins of those practices in the salary-cap, free-agency world, the very creation of which they played a crucial role.
Detail-oriented pod
That’s the word that keeps popping up: detail. Banner’s philosophy in preparing to negotiate: be detailed. The key trait in every hire Banner makes or recommends: obsession with detail.
Stein learned from Banner, and the stories in the podcast episode are clinically detailed.
They discuss how, under Banner, the Eagles used principals of analytics years before the Moneyball revolution coalesced in the later 2000s.
The most poignant anecdote involves Roseman’s biggest hit. In 2004, as a low-level assistant — director of football administration — Roseman, in his fifth year with the organization, was eager to add a kid named Jason Peters. At that time, Peters not only was a rookie tight end, but he was on the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad. It would have cost the Eagles nothing to acquire him except a minimum salary. Coach Andy Reid didn’t want to use the roster spot for Peters.
Four years later, again at the insistence of Roseman, who now was vice president of player personnel, Banner traded three picks for Peters, gave him a six-year, $60 million contract, and watched him go to seven of the next eight Pro Bowls.
Joe Banner (center) and Jeffrey Lurie (left) came to the Eagles in 1994.
Banner had more stories Sunday afternoon, stories that didn’t make the pod. Such as:
Lurie bought the Birds in 1994, the same year Stein got into the agent game. As newcomers, Banner thought it would be wise to introduce himself and Lurie by entertaining the adversaries.
In October 1994, at the owners’ meetings in Chicago, Banner and Lurie hosted a cocktail hour for the Eagles’ agents at the time. This was tantamount to Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, inviting Jefferson Davis and his generals to Thanksgiving dinner. The other owners and league office were furious.
Banner claimed ignorance.
“We were flagrantly breaking the ‘rules,’” Banner said, “But we honestly didn’t realize how bad a line we were crossing.”
When Stein was with the Bears, they regularly crossed that line.
Later in the podcast, in addressing the number of front-office executives who began their careers under Banner, Stein recalled his introduction to Roseman.
For months, Hartley had received and rebuffed Roseman’s daily letters pleading to join the Eagles — a plea he sent to virtually every other team, too — in any capacity. Roseman’s persistence impressed her, which, Stein said, was key: “I knew that if someone like Lee Ann likes you, you’re going to get the respect of Joe Banner and Jeffrey Lurie.”
In 2000, after Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum met and vetted Roseman — a Fordham Law graduate, just like Stein — Banner finally relented and gave Howie an interview.
“I think I saw a little of me in him,” Banner said.
Banner then fired his current numbers guy and hired Roseman, who took up residency on the corner of Hartley’s desk outside of Banner’s office on the fourth floor of Veterans Stadium. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Fast forward
Stein says he’s content to continue his life in Chicago to be near his two grown children, unless some team comes at him with an offer he can’t refuse. For now, he’s eager to plumb the podcast depths. He says he’s gotten a commitment from an executive who said he’d never do a podcast but changed his mind after seeing the Rosenhaus pod.
Until then, Stein is positively giddy at the chance that the Eagles might make Hartley available for an episode. She now is the vice president and senior adviser to Lurie; essentially, the job she used to do for the president she now does for the owner.
Imagine the stories she could tell.
“I’m going to do a behind-the-scenes on someone who knows everything about the business, part of the NFL population that never gets credit,” Stein said. “To have her as a potential guest? I mean, she’s half the reason Howie got hired!”
As for Banner, he left the Eagles in 2012 to become Cleveland’s CEO, but he was out by 2014. He’s been an adjunct professor at Villanova, a role in which Stein, still in Illinois, now serves at Northwestern. Banner has acted as a consultant on dozens of NFL coach and executive searches; cofounded the 33rd Team group of football consultants with Tannenbaum; acted as an adviser during the 2021 NFL CBA negotiations; and has sat on the board of Patricof Co, a venture capital firm that caters to pro athletes.
In his dotage, Banner, like so many, splits time between Maine and Florida, enjoys his grandchildren, and hopes to stay relevant and appreciated.
The pod, and maybe this column, will serve that end.
“I gotta say, I feel like that 45-year-old golfer who’s leading the Masters after the first round,” Banner said with a chuckle.
Well, Jack Nicklaus won it at the age of 46. Banner might not be the Nicklaus of the NFL, but he’s at least the Fred Couples of the boardrooms.
With Eagles training camp drawing nearer, The Inquirer is taking a closer look at the more than three dozen new faces who are expected to report along with the rest of the team on July 28.
Player: Jonathan Greenard
Position: LB
Age: 29
Previous experience: The veteran outside linebacker has 38 sacks and 60 tackles for loss in 77 games across six seasons. The Houston Texans selected him in the third round (90th overall) of the 2020 draft after he dominated at Louisville and Florida. He most recently played for the Minnesota Vikings, where he spent two seasons and was named a captain.
Greenard’s sack total was down last year — three in 12 games — but he still had a high pressure rate (47, according to Pro Football Focus). The Eagles traded third-round picks in 2026 and 2027 for Greenard on April 24. He subsequently signed a four-year, $100 million contract with $50 million guaranteed.
Path to a roster spot: Greenard was arguably the Eagles’ splashiest offseason acquisition. They obtained him in the hopes that he’ll replace the production of Jaelan Phillips, who signed with the Carolina Panthers. Not only is he a lock to make the roster, he’ll be a starter and a key cog for one of the NFL’s top defenses. General manager Howie Roseman wanted a premium pass rusher to work alongside Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. He’ll certainly get that with Greenard if the veteran can stay healthy.
Fun fact: Greenard could have found fame off the gridiron, too. The Georgia-born linebacker sang gospel music in the church choir with his sister, Victoria, and mother, Carmen, who was the choir director. When he was 14, he was invited to perform at “The Gift,” a singing competition sponsored by McDonald’s for young talent in Atlanta and was recruited by the music industry. “Producers wanted him badly,” Carmen said. He also made an appearance on the 26th season of ABC’s The Bachelor in 2022.
Jonathan Greenard (58) was a feared pass rusher in Minnesota and Houston.
Quotable: “I respect the hell out of the guys that have come before me, and all I can do is continue to just carry that light and make sure the things they’ve done in the past don’t go in vain,” Greenard said in his introductory press conference with the Eagles. “So I love everything about it. I love the historic franchise. I’m wanting to be a part of that. I want to be a part of having some hardware on my finger.”
Player: John Ojukwu
Position: OT
Age: 27
Previous experience: Ojukwu joined the league in 2023 as an undrafted free agent. He signed with the Tennessee Titans after an impressive career at his hometown college, Boise State. In his senior season, he was the only player to start all 14 games. He allowed zero sacks and committed just two penalties but still went undrafted, despite some pundits projecting him as a Day 3 pick. Ojukwu played in 16 games in three seasons with the Titans, starting nine. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles on Jan. 13.
Path to a roster spot: Ojukwu is a long shot to make the Birds’ final roster. Ahead of him on the depth chart are line stalwarts Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson and solid depth pieces like Markel Bell, Fred Johnson, Myles Hinton and Cameron Williams. You can never have too much offensive line depth, but Ojukwu will have to turn heads at camp in order to make the team.
Fun fact: As a junior in high school, Ojukwu weighed just 185 pounds. He had talent but knew he needed to add serious weight if he wanted to succeed in college. According to the Idaho Statesman, he gained nearly 100 pounds in nine months — working out multiple times a day, then gorging on gallons of milk and whole pizzas in order to meet his caloric goals.
Quotable: “He was always the one around watching film or outside hitting the sled by himself. He’s always working, and it’s paid off,” former Boise State offensive coordinator Zak Hill said of Ojukwu, via the Idaho Statesman.
With Eagles training camp drawing nearer, The Inquirer is taking a closer look at the more than three dozen new faces who are expected to report along with the rest of the team on July 28.
Player: Eli Stowers
Position: Tight end
Age: 23
Previous experience: Stowers, a second-round pick in this year’s draft, has been a tight end for only a few years. He entered college in 2021 as a quarterback, a top 20 recruit nationally at his position. But shoulder injuries forced him to find a new spot on the field. He was 6-foot-4, 215 pounds when he entered college; he’s now 240 pounds and scouts rave about his blend of size and speed. At Vanderbilt last season, Stowers, who won the 2025 William V. Campbell Trophy, otherwise known as the “Academic Heisman,” caught 62 passes for 769 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games.
He was named the nation’s top tight end after leading all FBS tight ends in receiving yards per game (64.1). A year earlier, Stowers, a two-year starter at tight end, had 49 catches for 638 yards in 13 games with the Commodores.
Path to a roster spot: Stowers’ spot on the team is secure. His role, however, is up in the air right now. It’s not worth overanalyzing organized team activities and mandatory minicamp workouts in May and June, but Stowers didn’t stand out during practices open to reporters.
Nick Sirianni seems excited about the possibility of lining Stowers up in the slot and creating mismatches, but the tight end’s path to significant playing time in his rookie season includes becoming a better blocker. Dallas Goedert is the unquestioned No. 1 on the depth chart, and the Eagles brought in a blocking tight end, Johnny Mundt, to help fill in an area of weakness from last year. If Stowers proves to be an efficient route-runner who can get open and make plays, he’ll find himself on the field plenty.
Fun fact: Stowers is a son of coaches. His father, Donald, played defensive back at New Mexico State and had a short professional football career before becoming a coach. His mother, Tina, played volleyball at Baylor and later became a coach. While recovering from shoulder surgery in 2021, Stowers learned how to play guitar.
Eli Stowers has drawn comparisons to Travis Kelce.
Quotable: “I’m going to throw a name out here and people may be [like], ‘Are you serious?’ I’m just speaking from a standpoint of his approach to the game, and when I watch him — Travis Kelce was a former quarterback,” former Eagles receiver Jordan Matthews, now a coach at Vanderbilt, said in April when asked for Stowers’ NFL comparison. “You can tell Travis Kelce runs routes like he understands the defensive structure.
“He knows what the defense has given him, and so he knows how to find voids in zone. But then he’s also athletic enough to win vs. man.”
Maximus Pulley (left) signed with the Eagles as a UDFA after three standout seasons at FCS school Wofford.
Player: Maximus Pulley
Position: Safety
Age: 23
Previous experience: Pulley’s rise has been remarkable. He had no scholarship offers out of high school, and Western Kentucky, where he began his college journey, didn’t even have a preferred walk-on spot for him. Pulley tried out for the team in the middle of the season in 2021 and joined the scout team. By the next year, he was a full-time special teamer. He hit the transfer portal after 2022 and landed at Wofford, a FCS program. He started every game with Wofford the next three seasons. Last year, Pulley led the team with five interceptions and returned two of them for touchdowns. He was a first-team All-American.
At his pro day, Pulley ran a 4.45 40-yard dash and registered a vertical jump of 41½ inches.
Path to a roster spot: Pulley is a long shot. The Eagles have at least some uncertainty at safety, but Pulley will be starting pretty low on the totem pole. Drew Mukuba is a lock to start, and the Eagles plan to use All-Pro nickel Cooper DeJean at safety in base. Right now, Marcus Epps is next in line to get on the field, with Michael Carter II also in the mix. The Eagles also used a seventh-round draft pick on a safety, Cole Wisniewski, and signed veteran special teams ace J.T. Gray. There’s room for an undrafted free agent like Pulley to make a push, but he’ll also be competing with fellow UDFA Kapena Gushiken — whom Vic Fangio has already name-dropped — for opportunities.
Fun fact: Pulley, a sociology and anthropology major with a 3.64 GPA at Wofford, was named an academic All-American last season.
Quotable: “Coming out high school, I wasn’t really good, but I was always the hardest worker,” Pulley said earlier this year on the Sam Acho podcast. “I feel like I’ve passed over so many people in the football world due to my work alone and my delusion. My mom loves the faith that I’ve always had, but the faith has come more recently. The delusion … I thought I was so much better than I was but I always trusted the work that I did.”
With Eagles training camp drawing nearer, The Inquirer is taking a closer look at the more than three dozen new faces who are expected to report along with the rest of the team on July 28.
Player: Michael Jordan
Position: G
Age: 28
Previous experience: Despite suiting up for four different teams (plus two practice squad stints with the Packers), Jordan actually has a decent NFL resume. A journeyman guard, Jordan has 49 starts in 78 games in his six seasons.
He most recently played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he started nine games and played in 11 last season. He played in his home state of Ohio in college and NFL, playing two years for Ohio State before being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft (136th overall).
Path to a roster spot: Jordan’s chances of making the Eagles roster are fairly high. Beyond Landon Dickerson and Tyler Steen, who are virtual locks to start, Philadelphia has a fairly inexperienced guard group — made up of names like Micah Morris, Willie Lampkin, Drew Kendall, Jaeden Roberts, and Jake Majors. On paper, Jordan should shine vs. an inexperienced bunch.
Fun fact: So, let’s talk about that name. Yes, Jordan is well aware that he shares a name with arguably the most famous basketball player ever. In fact, according to a story on Panthers.com, he once got “cursed out” when trying to order a pizza on Super Bowl Sunday, since the restaurant thought it was a prank call. “And he starts cussing me out,” Jordan said with a laugh. “He said ‘This is Super Bowl Sunday; you can’t be playing around with fake names like that.’”
Quotable: “I’m actually pretty terrible at basketball,” Jordan said. “You can ask the guys in the locker room; they already know that. I’ve been terrible since I was a kid. I have to look at the ball when I dribble.” — Jordan said in an interview with Panthers.com
Player: Rocco Underwood
Position: LS
Age: 23
Previous experience: The Eagles snagged one of the best long snappers in college football in their undrafted free agent group. Underwood, who played in 50 games over five years at Florida, won the 2024 Patrick Mannelly Award as the top long snapper in college football.
Path to a roster spot: Underwood is a virtual lock to make the team. The Eagles are still trying to find their long-term replacement for long snapper Rick Lovato, who was with the team from 2016 to 2024. The tandem of Charley Hughlett and Cal Adomitis didn’t quite cut it in 2025, which is why general manager Howie Roseman picked up the highly regarded Underwood.
Rocco Underwood (42) won the Patrick Mannelly Award in 2024 as the top long snapper in college football.
Fun fact: Trainer Chris Rubio is widely recognized as the best long snapper coach in the nation. Rubio’s camp is the longest-running long-snapping camp in the nation. Underwood was the first ever athlete to earn six-star status as a long snapping prospect at the camp.
Quotable: “He’s jelled really well with the veteran guys. [He’s an] athletic individual,” Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “It’s nice [that] he played under [Florida senior special teams analyst] Joe Houston, who had coached in the NFL. He knows the rigors of the NFL probably from talking to Joe, but he’s doing a really good job. Obviously, once the pads come on, he gets an actual real rush, but he’s taking it stride for stride, and he and [special teams assistant] Tyler Brown meet every day. I’m in there poking fun at him still. I’ll rush him a couple times, [but] he’s going to get rushed by a far better athlete in game situations.”
To this day, former University of Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver Nick Basquine still argue over who wooed Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
It was December 2016 and OU, in the midst of a heated Big 12 championship race against rival Oklahoma State, was in an equally heated recruiting battle against West Virginia for Brown, a 5-foot-9 junior college wideout who moonlighted as a Six Flags ride operator in California to make ends meet.
Brown just so happened to have a 40 time in the low 4.3s, too.
Murray gave his pitch. Ditto for Basquine. And while Murray still doesn’t believe this story, when Brown did finally commit to the Sooners, wide receiver coach Dennis Simmons gave Basquine the nod for sealing the deal.
“I remember we had a practice on a Monday and coach Simmons came up to me and was like, ‘Dude, thank you,’” Basquine said. “I’m like, what are you talking about? He’s like, ‘You got us Marquise.’
“And, well, the rest is history. You saw what he did here. You see what he can do in the NFL, too.”
Now 29, Brown will try to have a career resurgence with the Eagles, who signed him to a one-year, $6.5 million contract this offseason.
Hollywood Brown’s 1,000-yard season in Baltimore in 2021 set the bar for what he can accomplish in the NFL.
Brown has bounced around the league since dominating in college and getting off to a strong start to his NFL career. The No. 25 overall pick by Baltimore in the 2019 draft, he still ranks No. 4 in Ravens history for total touchdowns by a wide receiver (21). The former first-round pick peaked in 2021 when he had a 1,008-yard season, but he mostly fizzled out after that.
He was traded to the Arizona Cardinals in April 2022, playing two seasons with Murray but failing to recapture his former 1,000-yard magic. Brown moved on to Kansas City but was injured for most of the 2023 season — he did catch two passes for 15 yards in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss to the Eagles — and had 49 catches as a part-time starter with Kansas City in 2025.
Is there any reason to believe that Brown — who had 587 yards last season — can recapture his Baltimore success in Philadelphia?
Candidly, Basquine doesn’t know if the numbers will reflect that resurgence. But that doesn’t mean Brown can’t impact opposing defenses, especially playing in a modern offense led by Jalen Hurts, Basquine’s quarterback during his senior year at OU.
“The threat that Marquise poses, it’s going to impact the defense,” Basquine said. “Whether they play two-high shell or one high, Marquise’s presence, even though he’s not going to be the first guy people think of, people who know football and understand the threat of speed, you always have to account for it. Marquise is still blazing fast.
“The stats probably won’t show up, but the stress and the game plan the defense has to do because of that is going to be valuable in itself.”
General manager Howie Roseman thought the same thing when he signed Brown in March. It’s obvious why Roseman brought in names like Brown, Dontayvion Wicks, and Elijah Moore, and drafted Makai Lemon this offseason: He wanted to bolster his wide receiver depth in an attempt to recreate A.J. Brown’s production in the aggregate.
Hollywood Brown is trying to emerge amid a new-look wide receiver group.
Barring a 2021-like revival, it’s unlikely that Marquise Brown will get many starts this season. There’s a good chance he’ll fill depth wide receiver Jahan Dotson’s spot since Dotson signed a two-year deal with the Falcons this offseason.
This could be an ideal scenario for Brown, whom Basquine said is more determined to win a ring “than anybody.” As Roseman pointed out after he signed Brown, depth receivers have been critical pieces to Philadelphia’s Super Bowl rosters.
“On Hollywood, there have been times on our offense we’ve had really that vertical skill set, but also a guy can separate at the top of his routes,” Roseman said. “And we had that a little — I was looking at our teams in 2017 — I thought Nelson [Agholor] did a great job of that, bringing that to the team. I think you looked at 2022 and Quez [Watkins] did a good job of that. I think 2024 was constructed a little bit differently, but I think that really fits the skill set of our quarterback.”
If Brown does somehow carve out a starting role due to injury, Basquine, who played with both Brown and Hurts, said they can form an “underrated duo” due to their skill sets.
With the Eagles now running a Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan-esque offense under offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, Simmons took the prediction a step further.
“I actually think his best football is in front of him,” said Simmons, now the wide receivers coach at USC. “We can see the best of Hollywood in Philly.
“He’s been in a variety of offenses … so the playbook will not be an issue for him. I know what his work ethic is like. I know he’s healthy. Philly’s gonna love him.”
