The Eagles’ 2025 Draft Class was together at the NovaCare Complex last weekend for a two-day rookie camp and their first chance to take the practice field at the facility.
Aside from a brief viewing window open to reporters, the Eagles also held press conferences with all 8 of their Day 3 picks and we got to learn a lot more about the Eagles’ newest players.
Here are some leftover notes after talking to these players:
Teammates again
While one of the headlines on Day 3 was Smael Mondon Jr. becoming the eighth Georgia Bulldog on the Eagles’ roster, fourth-round pick Ty Robinson from Nebraska is joining a former college teammate in Philly too.
Cam Jurgens was pretty happy to hear that the Eagles drafted Robinson in the fourth round.
And Jurgens was a man of his word. He did immediately send a text message to Robinson and even signed it “- Cam Jurgens,” which Robinson found pretty funny.
“I was like, ‘I still have your number saved, dude,’” Robinson said. “He just said he was super pumped, super excited. I obviously asked him everything I needed to know, a rundown really quick of what the city of Philly has to offer. I’m excited to be back with him and be back in the college days.”
With Robinson (6-5, 288) playing defensive tackle and Jurgens playing center, they had some battles during their college days. Even though the Eagles run a lot of first team vs. first team in training camp, the two will likely face off again in training camp.
“Cam’s good,” Robinson said. “I mean, Cam was a really good player in college. Being a younger guy and being able to go against him definitely made me better and made me understand what it’s going to take to play at the college level. Obviously, you see him starting now for you guys. It’s definitely proven that he was pretty good in college as well.”
Making his mark
Fifth-round pick Smael Mondon Jr. ended up being a starting linebacker for three seasons at the University of Georgia but he never lost his love for special teams.
That’s important as he enters the NFL.
“Special teams is the way I got on the field at Georgia and then I would have stayed on there if they would have kept me on there,” Mondon said. “So special teams is, I feel like, a lot of guys’ intro. I grew a big love for special teams at UGA.”
During his time in Athens, Mondon played over 400 special teams snaps and played on every single unit. His favorite was kickoff; he had the most fun on that unit.
Mondon (6-2, 224) seems like he was built to play special teams in the NFL. And because he’ll start off his career a bit buried on the Eagles’ depth chart at linebacker, he figures to find himself as a core special teamer early in his career.
Sliding in the draft
The Eagles drafted Texas offensive tackle Cameron Williams in the sixth round with the 207th overall pick — much later than Williams expected to go.
The 21-year-old entered the draft early and last week said he thought he was going to be selected in the second or third round, “but it didn’t go my way.” At worst, many draft analysts thought Williams would be an early Day 3 pick but he slid all the way to the bottom half of the sixth-round.
Despite the slide, Williams said he isn’t disappointed, just ready to work. What has it been like for him since the draft?
“Me just trying to work and grind, prove every team wrong,” Williams said.
There’s no doubt that Williams is an intriguing project for offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. Williams is still just 21 years old and is 6-foot-5, 317 pounds. But he also started just 16 games at the collegiate level and all of those starts came at right tackles.
Why did he enter the draft early?
“I just felt like I was ready,” Williams said. “And I felt like me going to the league, I can just develop myself more and not have to worry about the school part and just keep developing myself to be the best.”
Like a sponge
The day before rookie camp started last week, former Syracuse QB Kyle McCord was at the NovaCare Complex and got to meet Jalen Hurts for the first time in-person. But McCord said that right after the Eagles drafted him in the sixth round, he got a text from Hurts welcoming him to the team.
“I just want to be a sponge around him and soak up as much as I can,” the rookie quarterback said.
McCord, 22, has some experience learning from a really talented starter ahead of him. Early in his time at Ohio State, McCord sat behind C.J. Stroud, who ended up being the No. 2 overall pick to the Texans and has been their starting QB for the last two seasons.
McCord’s experience with Stroud is informing the way he’ll try to learn from Hurts.
“[Stroud] was just an open book, which was nice,” McCord said. “He let me sit and watch his preparation and there wasn’t a question that I couldn’t ask. And so, just kind of feeling it out for what he wants, honestly, and just being a sponge. Everything I can pick up from him, I’m going to try to do that.”
Learning from a legend
Coming from Virginia Tech, sixth-round edge rusher Antwaun Powell-Ryland, who led the country over the last two years in sacks, is very familiar with the best NFL player the Hokies have ever produced.
“I met Bruce Smith when I was in high school and we didn’t really talk much while I was in high school, but when I came to Virginia Tech, he was probably one of the first guys to welcome me,” Powell-Ryland said. “And we talked a fair amount after that, like a really good amount of time. And it was times where he told me I could text him, record some stuff and ask him advice on whatever it is that I had.
“So I definitely got a good relationship with Bruce. And he also kept in contact with me over this draft process. Just let me know when it’s time to get into the program, just be ready to work.”
Smith isn’t a bad guy to have helping you along the way. The Bills took Smith with the No. 1 overall pick out of Virginia Tech back in 1985 and he went on to have a Hall of Fame career as the NFL’s all-time sack leader with 200 in 19 seasons.
What’s the best piece of advice APR has gotten from Smith?
“I would say as far as pass rushing, he told me when I had first got there, he was like, ‘Don’t ever waste a rep, no matter what,’” Powell-Ryland said. “Not just pass rush, but just don’t ever waste a rep, no matter what. We were talking pass rush because it’s not many chances that you get the rush the passer. Just making sure I keep that mentality I got to go at all times.”
Family tradition
The Eagles drafted two sons of former NFL players on Day 3. Offensive tackle Myles Hinton is the son of former NFL offensive lineman Chris Hinton and center Drew Kendall is the son of former NFL offensive lineman Pete Kendall.
Both Chris Hinson and Pete Kendall played 13 years in the NFL. While Hinson was a seven-time Pro Bowler and a Hall of Fame semifinalist, Kendall’s NFL career was pretty impressive too.
Pete Kendall played 13 years in the NFL and logged 189 games and 188 starts for the Seahawks, Cardinals, Jets and Washington. The big difference between the Hinson family and the Kendall family is that Drew Kendall was born while his dad was still in the NFL so he has those memories.
“It was cool. It was really special,” Kendall said. “I learned from a young age what it was like to play in the NFL. Obviously not my own perspective; I was 7. But learning from my dad and seeing how he was approaching his every day life, what it takes to be a pro. I was able to learn that from a young age.
“Growing up, you always want to be like your dad. So seeing that and seeing that at a young age was really special. That was kind of where my dream started. I still remember a lot of the days when I was 7. Looking back, standing at FedExField on the sideline before a game. It was special. I was very blessed to be at that position from a young age.”
Kendall said the best lesson he got from his dad about being a pro is about taking care of your body. Pete Kendall had a long NFL career. “That doesn’t happen on accident,” Drew Kendall said.
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