Eagles stock up, stock down after preseason game vs. Patriots

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Another week, another exciting preseason game finish.

It’s almost a shame there’s just one more of these things. Almost.

The Eagles rested a bunch of their stars and starters on Thursday night but there were still several Eagles who helped themselves and some who might have hurt themselves in the 14-13 win over the Patriots.

The Eagles will be back at practice on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Their final preseason game will be next Saturday afternoon.

Here’s the latest stock watch after Thursday’s game:

Stock up

OL Mekhi Becton

If you needed any further evidence that Becton is the Eagles’ starting right guard, you got it on Thursday night. Becton was held out of the game with the rest of the offensive starters and Tyler Steen played. Steen began training camp as the right guard but suffered an ankle injury on Day 3 and from the next day on, the Eagles have gone with Becton. While Becton has had some ups and downs learning a new position, he’s clearly the starter.

DB Avonte Maddox

It seems like Maddox is pretty much a full-time safety these days. He got the start on Thursday night and ended the Patriots’ second drive with an interception in the end zone. He jumped a pass to Austin Hooper and then returned it 47 yards to set up an Eagles’ field goal drive. It’s a big play for a guy who could be a valuable and versatile backup if he’s able to stay healthy. Maddox also had 3 tackles and a pass breakup before being pulled from the game.

LB Zack Baun

After a shaky start last week in Baltimore, Baun looked much more comfortable at off-ball ‘backer against the Patriots on Thursday night. He started the game next to Devin White. That wasn’t the case at the joint practice on Tuesday but it got back to that pair in the game.

LB Nakobe Dean

The bad news for Dean is that White and Baun were off the field way before him but Dean made the most of his snaps. The good news is that Dean had a solid night with five combined tackles.

QB Tanner McKee 

By the time McKee came in to start the second half, the Patriots took out their better defensive linemen. So McKee wasn’t running for his life like Kenny Pickett. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that McKee just looks good. He looks comfortable in the offense and the ball just looks good coming out of his hand. He went 15-for-19 for 140 yards and orchestrated a game-winning 70-yard drive with a 2-point conversion to pull out the win.

DT Moro Ojomo

The second-year defensive tackle continues to make a strong push for playing time. He was able to be disruptive a few times on Thursday night. We know Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Milton Williams are the starters but Ojomo has a chance to carve out a real role.

OLB Nolan Smith

Smith picked up his second sack in as many games. This time he fought through a running back chip and then had a straight line to Drake Maye. He took him down with violence. Smith might be a tad undersized but he has shown a strong finish for both of his sacks this preseason.

TE E.J. Jenkins

No one has really been able to take hold of the TE3 job, Jenkins should be in the mix. He’s been good all training camp and kept it going in this game after a rare drop in the preseason opener. His 18-yard leaping catch from Will Grier was impressive. Jenkins did get banged up a bit but said after the game that he’s fine.

RB Will Shipley 

Shipley showed some real explosion on 2nd-and-22, picking up 19 yards on a screen pass. He got a nice block from Dylan McMahon and pulled off a move to get to the second level.

WR Joseph Ngata

The big receiver was targeted 5 times and had 5 catches for 88 yards. After the game, A.J. Brown walked out of the locker room and told a bunch of reporters that Ngata was the star of the game. He definitely had a good night.

Stock down

DB James Bradberry

While he’s looked solid in training camp, Bradberry definitely didn’t look good at safety in this game. He missed a couple tackles in this one and got a defensive lineman out of his gap on a Drake Maye touchdown and didn’t fill his responsibility. It’s definitely an experiment that took a step in the wrong direction against the Patriots.

OL Tyler Steen

While Becton got to rest on Thursday night with the starters, Steen tried to play through his ankle injury and had to leave in the first quarter. Steen went into the blue tent and then needed to be carted inside. I give him credit for trying to fight through injury to save his job but he needs to get healthy and the Eagles need to start preparing him to be a backup.

OL Max Scharping 

The Eagles went to their third-team offensive line in the first half and Scharping gave up a couple of quick sacks at left tackle to Keion White and then Deatrich Wise Jr. The Eagles brought in Scharping presumably to give them another option at guard but he’s been playing tackle. It was a rough start to his night.

John Ross and Johnny Wilson

Two of the players fighting for the opportunity to be the Eagles’ WR3 are now in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Wilson was not able to play on Thursday after suffering a concussion in the joint practice and Ross suffered his during the game.

QB Kenny Pickett 

Yeah, the line in front of him wasn’t good but you’d probably like to see more out of the Eagles’ second-string quarterback. On Thursday, Pickett completed 11 of 13 passes but for just 67 yards and an average yards per attempt of 5.2.

New kickoff coverage

The Eagles are getting used to the new kickoff rules and they have some things to shore up. They gave up a 32-yarder and a 53-yarder in this game to set up Patriots drives from their own 36 and the +47.

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