July 20, 2025
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Jake Elliott #4 of the Philadelphia Eagles kicks during a NFL Divisional Playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on January 19, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Over the last few weeks (basically whenever there wasn't other news to cover), we've been looking at every player on the Philadelphia Eagles' roster, and how they fit with the team heading into training camp. Today we'll finish out the series with the specialists.
Previous training camp previews
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver
Tight end / Fullback | Offensive tackle | Guard | Center
EDGE | Interior DL | Linebacker | Cornerback | Safety
Elliott is pretty safely the best kicker in Eagles franchise history, but after three stellar seasons in 2021, 2022, and 2023, he had a down year in 2024.
| Year | FGA | FGM | FG % |
| 2021 | 33 | 30 | 90.9% |
| 2022 | 23 | 20 | 87.0% |
| 2023 | 32 | 30 | 93.8% |
| 2024 | 36 | 28 | 77.8% |
He missed eight field goal attempts in 2024, the same number of misses the previous three years combined. Leading up to the Super Bowl, Elliott had missed five kicks in his previous four games, but he was a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals and 4-for-4 on PATs in the big game.
Turns out there was maybe a good reason why he struggled. According to Beau Allen on Chris Long's Green Light podcast, Elliott was hampered by an injury during the season. Asked if that was true, Elliott chose not to make excuses.
#Eagles K Jake Elliott on whether he played through an injury during the season: "I know [former #Eagles DT and current podcaster extraordinaire] Beau [Allen] put that out there. Everybody's dealing with soreness throughout the year, little things. I was able to play every…
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) February 13, 2025
The Eagles said repeatedly throughout Elliott's struggles that they believe in him, and, well, they recently gave him a big contract, so he'll run unopposed in training camp. But for the first time in a few years, his training camp performance will be notable.
Mann finished 10th in net punting, at 42.1 net yards per punt, as the Eagles' punt coverage teams were good for the better part of the season. Of course, Mann also had the benefit of playing with two very good gunners in Kelee Ringo and Sydney Brown.
The below chart is a little tough to see if you have old eyes, but the folks at Puntalytics had Mann in the middle of the pack in punter EPA in 2024:
Aside from his punting duties, Mann wasn't so good at kickoffs (see: the Eagles' loss in MD to the Commanders), but he was outstanding as a holder, most notably in the snow against the Rams (video via @Eaglesfans9):
The Eagles got some really crappy punting from Arryn Siposs in 2021 and 2022, but after Mann replaced him early in 2023, he has helped stabilize the position.
Rick Lovato has thrown the ball through his legs full-time for the Eagles since 2017. He is one of just four Eagles with two Super Bowl rings, along with DE Brandon Graham, RT Lane Johnson, and K Jake Elliott.
However, as we noted in our stay or go series, Lovato's job wasn't completely safe, partly because of Elliott's struggles last season.
Lovato is a free agent this offseason. I used to watch every long snap of the season, but I'm less psychotic these days, so I'd be lying if I had a strong opinion of whether Lovato had a good season or not. My guess is that he stays, but I do anecdotally recall a few bad field goal snaps, so maybe the Eagles will at least give him some training camp competition this year, like they did when Lovato beat out Jon Dorenbos for the job in 2017?
Instead of merely giving Lovato competition, they outright replaced him.
Enter Hughlett, who the Eagles signed in free agency, and who has been in the NFL since 2012. He bounced around a bunch of NFL training camps the first three years of his career, before earning a full-time job as the Cleveland Browns' long snapper from 2015 to 2024.
The Eagles don't often replace their long snapper:
• Mike Bartrum: 2000-2006
• Jon Dorenbos: 2006-2016
• Rick Lovato: 2016-2024
• Charley Hughlett: 2025-???
Hughlett is 35 years old, so his tenure very likely won't be as long as the other Eagles long snappers above.
The Eagles could have signed a second young long snapper to give me a long snapper competition to watch in camp, but sometimes they just hate fun.
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