Eagles Rookie Cornerback Turns In Oscar-Worthy Performance Vs. A.J. Brown

There has been plenty of trash talk between the Eagles' first-round pick and the veteran receiver, and during Day of camp, it went to another level.

Quinyon Mitchell (right) with safety Reed Blankenship / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA - Some theater arts spilled over into Eagles training camp on Tuesday, with a Oscar winning performance from rookie Quinyon Mitchell in his redzone matchups against veteran A.J. Brown.

To say Mitchell made things ‘Les Miserables’ for Brown might be an overstatement – slightly - but he won a pair of big-time matchups from the veteran receiver on Day 5 of camp.

"Every day I come out against A.J., I just try and compete,” said the Eagles’ first-round pick last April. “He's one of the best in the game, so I know I'm getting good work. Every chance I get to go against him, I'll just go out and compete and try to raise the bar.”

Oh, Mitchell raises the bar all right, but he doesn’t do it quietly. He likes to talk some trash while lifting it. Remember in the spring when he called one of Brown’s routes trash?

It was even better on Tuesday, a day that featured the team’s first time in full pads since the season ended in January, and the first time the Eagles worked on red-zone offense and defense.

Eagles rookie Quinyon Mitchell meets with the media following Day 5 of training camp. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

On the first rep Mitchell got against Brown, the receiver wanted to run an inside route, but Mitchell cut him off, eliminating Brown from any consideration Jalen Hurts may have had in throwing him the ball. And being in the red zone, there isn’t time to work your way open.

So, Brown banged into Mitchell in the end zone and Hurts had to look elsewhere.

Brown shook his head and Mitchell rose up to his full height of 6-0, but somehow looked bigger in that moment. He started Brown down for several seconds and kept staring at him as Brown trotted off the field.

“I'm gonna just keep it between me and him,” said Mitchell. “We gonna compete and we gonna talk trash all day.”

Yes, the Eagles got themselves a bona fide trash talker, perhaps the first of this high-level ilk since Asante Samuel.

Mitchell wasn’t. On another rep between the two, Brown was able to make a nifty one-hand catch on a perfectly placed ball by Brown, but Mitchell had ridden him toward the out-of-bounds area just past the end zone pylon. There wasn’t much room there, and Brown may have made the reception, but he was out of bounds.

Mitchell waved his arms the way the official on the scene was doing, signifying an incomplete pass. After a few incomplete signals, Mitchell then waved both arms away from his body to signal Brown was out of bounds.

“It's all about competing,” said Mitchell. “I'm going against the best in the game, so I'm giving him all I got.”

Brown doesn't seem to mind it. He looks like he is having fun with it.

As for Mitchell, he has done such a good job of competing that it doesn’t seem possible that he won’t find himself with some sort of a juicy role when the curtain goes up on the season.

That role may even include the slot, a position he had never played before arriving as the 22nd overall pick out of Toledo.

“They've been throwing it at me, but I feel like I've been handling the ropes,” he said. “I didn't know (that he would be doing that), but they threw it at me. I said 'Let's take it on. Let's do it.’”

So far, that’s exactly what Mitchell is doing.

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