Alive and Healing, Eagles Rookie Closer To Being Full Participant In Practice

Reed Blankenship delivered a welcome bit of news on Sunday morning. Drew Mukuba is still alive. The rookie safety vanished from practice last week with what was termed a shoulder injury, but Mukuba is working himself back slowly and surely as the Eagles wrapped up Day 8 of training camp on Sunday.

“He’s taking mental reps,” said Blankenship. “He’s still alive in the meetings, still asking the questions, still asking me questions. He’s coming along. I like to see that even though he’s a young guy, I want him to be smart, or older up here in the mind. You can tell that he has some of that. And I feel like once he gets back out there, he’ll be fine.

“He works with me on the side when the special teams are going. He’s always communicating. That’s what you want to see. He’s definitely in there mentally. That’s what you like to see.”

Mukuba was listed as limited for a second straight practice after missing two when he injured a shoulder defending a pass, showing the competitiveness the Eagles loved about him when they made him their second pick of the draft.

“My shoulder is getting better every day,” he said following Sunday’s practice, his first interview of camp. “I like the direction that it’s heading. I’ve been getting treatment and doing a lot of the things that I need to do to get back as fast as possible.”

The Eagles play their first preseason game on Thursday when they host the Cincinnati Bengals. It would probably be good for Mukuba to get some snaps, but his health will dictate that.

The Eagles could keep him on the sideline, let him see the speed of a game up close, then, the following week, the Browns come to Philadelphia for one joint practice leading up to their second exhibition game. By then, Mukuba will certainly be a full participant in practice, so maybe they will save him for that.

“I wouldn’t really look at it as a setback,” said Mukuba. “I feel like everybody is different. This gives me the time to improve my knowledge and improve the mental side of the game, to where when I come back on the field, a lot of things are going to be easier for me. So I wouldn’t say it’s a setback, but another time for me to learn a different way.”

One thing Mukuba said he has already learned, and what has been his biggest adjustment from life as a college player to being a pro is the skill level of the players.

“I feel having to get adjusted to that was one thing that I wanted to focus on coming out of rookie training camp,” he said. “I feel like that was one thing I was struggling with during that time because there are a lot of good athletes around. There’s guys running 4.2 in the slot, tight ends who run like receivers. So just trying to get adjusted to the speed, and everything around me. I challenged myself to that, and I feel like I’ve been handling it well.”