It was a quiet rookie training camp for Eagles’ second-round tight end Eli Stowers, who finished up his summer on the shelf with a hamstring injury. But tight ends coach Ryan Mahaffey has seen growth. “I’m really excited about Eli’s development,” Mahaffey said this week. “For him, we knew coming in, highly intelligent, has very good football character, good athlete, who had transitioned from another position and now is playing tight end. I’m very pleased with the progression that he’s made.” Of course, just because Stowers has been developing, it doesn’t mean he’s ready to contribute. There even seems to be a decent chance that the rookie won’t even be active when the Eagles kick off their season on Sept. 13 against the Commanders. And, even if he is active, he likely won’t have a huge role. Mahaffey explained that there’s a learning curve for any player as they adjust to life in the NFL. But that seems especially true for rookie tight ends. Over the previous five drafts, 11 tight ends were selected in the second round. Even with an outlier rookie season from Sam LaPorta in 2023, those 11 averaged 29 catches, 292.2 yards and 2.7 touchdowns in their rookie seasons. And Stowers, 23, is still a relative newcomer to the position. So patience is going to be key. “I think for every player coming into the NFL,” Mahaffey said, “I’m always extremely mindful of a rookie that they have the proper mindset in terms of, ‘What’s our point of focus each and every single day?’ And the most important thing is that you’re remaining process-driven.  “If your process is sound, you’re applying the coaching, you’re giving great effort, you’re being a good teammate, you’re doing things with physicality, ventually, those types of things are going to come. I think it’s always a matter of your standards vs. your circumstance. Obviously, your standards are always going to be extremely high, set by Coach (Nick) Sirianni and Howie (Roseman) and the rest of the coaching staff. And at the same time, there’s a process to that.  “Usually, growth is not going to be linear. You’re going to have to, for any player, for the whole entire tight end unit, we’re going to face some adversity at some point. But our process has to remain the same. And eventually, I think you just start to stack days, you get a little bit better, you get a little better and hopefully over the duration, you’re stacking those type of days, you’re building the proper habits that eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.” Stowers (6-3, 239) had a quiet training camp and didn’t produce a ton in the first two preseason games either. He had 3 catches for 12 yards on 5 targets against the Ravens and Patriots. He had a couple nice plays over the course of training camp, but didn’t flash the way some might have expected. After all, everyone knew it would take Stowers time to develop as a tight end. But he is an athletic pass catcher, who had 111 receptions for 1,407 yards and 9 touchdowns over his two seasons at Vanderbilt. With the Eagles in 2026, it’s clear that Dallas Goedert is their top tight end and Johnny Mundt is going to fill a role as a blocker. In addition to those two and Stowers, the Eagles also kept E.J. Jenkins because they think he can be contribute on offense. They kept Jenkins over Cam Latu, who was more of a special teams threat. Maybe Stowers does eventually end up contributing in his rookie season. It might just take a while. “I think for any rookie as you’re coming into the NFL, it’s an adjustment, regardless of the position you play,” Mahaffey said. “For him, I think he’s been very diligent about his preparation each and every single day. He’s growing each and every single rep that he has. I’m excited about him and I’m excited about the trajectory he’s on. I think he’s going to continue to get better as he gets more time on task.” ...read more read less