Makai Lemon says he expects to be ready when the Philadelphia Eagles open training camp on July 28, putting a fast-moving summer injury question back into focus just as rookies and veterans are set to report. The No. 20 overall pick missed mandatory minicamp in June with a hamstring injury, but he said on Friday he is feeling great and should be 100 percent for the first practice.
That matters now because Philadelphia is trying to sort out its passing game after trading A.J. Brown, who had topped 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons with the team. Lemon enters a room that still has DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert, while the Eagles also added Dontayvion Wicks, Marquise Brown and Eli Stowers, giving the offense a veteran-heavy feel as it tries to rebound from a 2025 campaign that ended in the Wild Card Round.
Lemon said the time away from practice was not idle. He said he spent the offseason working on his craft and trying to get the playbook down, with the goal of being ready to go so that when he gets on the field, it is lights out. He said the veterans around him have already made the transition easier, adding that they had open arms for him and that he is there to learn from them and soak up as much information as he can.
The one thing still standing between Lemon and a full summer ramp-up is the official approval from trainers. He says he is ready; the final call has not yet been made. For a rookie receiver expected to play a real role in Philadelphia, that is the difference between arriving at camp as a participant and arriving as a question.
The Eagles have built the offense around established names such as Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and Lane Johnson, and the club’s next step is less about introducing Lemon than making sure he is available when the work begins. If the training staff clears him in time, the team gets a healthy first look at a rookie who finished his final year at USC with 1,156 yards and 11 scores on 79 receptions. If not, the adjustment that started with Brown’s departure gets a little harder before camp even opens.
