Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Browns preseason game

The Philadelphia Eagles' backups played an ugly preseason football game on Saturday afternoon against the Cleveland Browns. As always, win, lose, or tie, we hand out 10 awards.

1) The 'Camp Battle Lead Change' Award 🪜: Andrew Mukuba

Mukuba took the ball away from the Browns twice. The first takeaway was a on a weird play in which Browns QB Dillon Gabriel threw a pass in between two Browns receivers who shouldn't have been that close to each other. Mukuba read the play, stepped in between them, made the interception, and returned it 75 yards for a TD.

Mukuba also recovered a fumble on a bad Browns handoff exchange. He was in the right place at the right time, which, sure, has an element of luck to it, but being in the "right place at the right time" is a nice trait for a safety to have.

After Mukuba had missed a significant chunk of camp, it was beginning to feel like Sydney Brown was closing in on the starting safety job opposite Reed Blankenship, but Mukuba's huge game probably puts him in the lead.

2) The 'Gross' Award 🦨: The Eagles' offense

As a team, the Eagles had 88 yards, 8 first downs, 7 punts, and they only ran 44 plays. They couldn't run it, they couldn't pass it, and it all just looked really ugly. One of the lowlights of the sloppiness was a play in which a Dorian Thompson-Robinson pass was batted in the air by the Browns' defensive line, followed by a couple of Eagles' offensive linemen trying to swat the ball to the ground, followed by A.J. Dillon rushing in to catch it for a loss of 14 yards, lol.

3) The 'Welp, That Decision Just Became a Lot Easier' Award 📉: Dorian Thompson-Robinson

"DTR" had outplayed rookie Kyle McCord throughout training camp, and this second preseason game felt like an opportunity for him to either prove that the Eagles should keep him, or at least showcase what he can do for other teams in a potential trade. Welp, I can say with a high level of confidence that nobody is trading for DTR after his performance on Saturday, when he was 5/8 for 17 yards and the following awful pick-6.

In fairness, that was a bad snap from Brett Toth, who has long since proven he can't shotgun snap. I also understand that this is a preseason game and guys are trying to make plays, but you just have to eat that sack and live another day.

McCord wasn't much better. He was 8/16 for 47 yards and a TD, but even some of his completions weren't always precisely on target, but the decision to keep McCord and cut DTR became pretty clear on Saturday.

4) The 'Pray For Health Along the O-Line' Award 🙏: The Eagles' offense in 2025

The Eagles' O-line backups look shaky. Matt Pryor struggled in this game, Toth had the above bad snap, Kendall Lamm has had his share of bad moments all throughout training camp, and none of the rookie offensive tackles look ready to play in a real game yet.

If there was one "sort of" positive — or at least a notable development — it's that rookie C Drew Kendall got some reps at LG, which means the Eagles are possibly viewing him as an active gameday player with C/G versatility.

5) The 'All He Does Is Catch Touchdowns' Award: Ainias Smith

Smith had a touchdown reception in the Eagles' first preseason game against the Bengals, and he had a touchdown catch on a slant against the Browns.

Going back to 2024, Smith also had a TD catch in the Eagles' meaningless Week 18 regular season finale against the Giants. So, that's three touchdowns in three meaningless games in a row for Smith. That's probably enough for him to secure a spot on the 53.

6) The 'He's Alive' Award 📈: Azeez Ojulari

Ojulari had been invisible at times throughout training camp, but he got multiple pressures on Gabriel, and sacked him once.

The Eagles were always likely to give Ojulari every opportunity to show something, since he was the highest-paid outside acquisition this offseason, and now you can put his roster spot in pen.

7) The 'Oh, He's Starting' Award ✅: Jihaad Campbell

Campbell had a sack on a blitz through the A gap. Browns RG Zak Zinter didn't see it until it was too late, and Campbell was just too fast for Zinter to recover.

Campbell still has some work to do in coverage and some of the finer things in Vic Fangio's system, but (a) he's too explosive to keep off the field, and (b) he's going to get better a lot faster if, you know, he plays.

8) The 'Still Waiting' Award ⌛: The CB competition

The corners vying for the starting CB2 job opposite Quinyon Mitchell didn't do anything egregiously bad like they did in preseason game No. 1 against the Bengals, but they were also playing against mostly backups. Jakorian Bennett made a nice pass breakup (video via Victor Williams):

But still, none of the corners really stamped their ticket in this game. So, we continue to wait.

9) The 'Absence Is Gold' Award 🪙: Tyler Steen and Will Shipley

Steen got the day off after playing in preseason game No. 1. There was little question that he had already wrapped up the starting RG job, but there's your confirmation.

Shipley also seems to have locked up the RB2 job, and Dillon didn't help his case with his boneheaded play, noted above.

10) The 'Winding Down' Award: Eagles training camp

There are three more training camp practices — on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday — followed by the Eagles' third and final preseason game on Friday. The Eagles' opening night Week 1 game against the Dallas Cowboys is only 18 days away.

Side note: I had to leave this game in the second quarter with an illness, hence my lateness posting this 10 awards article. I'm considered day-to-day, but trending up to attend practice on Monday.

Oh, and we should also probably note that the Eagles lost, 22-13.

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