FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Quinyon Mitchell understands the benefits of joint practices against the New England Patriots. He welcomes the challenge of going against standout wide receivers like A.J. Brown and appreciates the fact that there is another day of work ahead and many facets of his game to clean up before the regular season opens against Washington on September 13 at Lincoln Financial Field.

All business, for sure.

If you expected a lot of trash-talking and chirping from Mitchell during these practices, think again. Mitchell said, in fact, "We didn't talk at all, actually. We didn't talk until after practice."

The Eagles' first-team All-Pro cornerback lined up on one side of the defense and went against Brown "a good little bit" and said "it was good work. We were just competing. He's a great receiver and it was great to compete against him again."

That's all. Good work. And it was, as two talented players went against each other on several reps as they did for two seasons when Brown was an Eagle. The very first rep of the one-on-one drills featured Mitchell against Brown. The third-year cornerback kept working his hands on a nicely thrown ball from quarterback Drake Maye and the play was ruled an incomplete by the officials.

"The crowd was going crazy," Mitchell said. "Great route by him, great work by me. It was good on good. I got a hand in there. We made some plays and they made some plays. That's the kind of day of practice it was."

High drama? Hardly. It was what it was designed to be – a high-tempo practice against the defending AFC Champions and, truthfully, Mitchell wanted more from an Eagles defense that has very high hopes for the 2026 season.

"It was alright, but we definitely could have made some more plays on defense," he said. "I feel like we could have brought more energy, more juice. We'll just get back in the lab and get back out there tomorrow."