Philadelphia Eagles safety Sydney Brown has been taking a significant amount of first-team reps at training camp over the last week, with rookie second-round pick Andrew Mukuba's shoulder injury keeping him off the field as the two battle for the starting safety job. That doesn't appear to be the case anymore.
During Tuesday's practice, Mukuba was found taking some reps with the first-team defense. Bleeding Green Nation's Brandon Lee Gowton chronicled the current situation with the safety position battle at camp.
"Andrew Mukuba took some first-team safety reps (in nickel, Cooper DeJean is still the top guy in base) for the first time since prior to his shoulder injury that occurred relatively early in training camp. So, this position battle clearly hasn’t been called just yet."
Does this mean Mukuba has a fighting chance to start at safety again?
The shoulder injury prevented Mukuba from making his first appearance in the Eagles' 34-27 preseason win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, so the hope is he will be ready to go for Saturday's matchup against the Cleveland Browns. It's unknown as to what the plan is for the Eagles at safety in the game, but it could most likely be Brown and Mukuba splitting first-team reps in the game.
Brown did make the start at safety against Cincinnati as he finished with three tackles in the win. It looked like a good performance to start the preseason for Brown with some nice tackles made, but he has some work to do to separate himself from Mukuba.
Since the trade of C.J. Gardner-Johnson and the selection of Mukuba in the NFL Draft, the safety position has been a battle between Brown and Mukuba. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had included Tristin McCollum in that conversation during offseason workouts, but McCollum has not been taking first-team reps at safety.
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This is one of those position battles that will take until the last seconds of camp to decide. Mukuba has a chance to leave his mark on the job with a good performance in Week 2.