PHILADELPHIA — Welcome, reader, to the practice field sideline. Many have stood here before us. Many will stand here after us. That’s the way things go. The same is true for those wide receivers sprinting on that stretch of turf just ahead.Many Philadelphia Eagles have strode through that space before them. Many will follow them. That’s the way things go.That may feel trite here on the team’s first official day without A.J. Brown. The three-time All-Pro left without explaining what misery made Philadelphia so untenable and what made being traded to the New England Patriots his preferred outcome. Those who fielded the questions Brown left behind focused on moving on.That’s the way things go.Indeed, the Eagles effectively moved on months ago. Brown did not attend last week’s OTAs while still under contract. The offensive players who did were busy adjusting to the biggest schematic overhaul in coach Nick Sirianni’s tenure. See them out there now? Hear that final practice whistle blow? They have places to be, film to watch, questions about the new system they’re all still constructing to pepper first-time offensive coordinator Sean Mannion with.“I think this is more of a — it sounds terrible — but like, thank God it’s over,” left tackle Jordan Mailata says. “It was a slow pain of just, ‘Is he in? Is he out?’ We didn’t really know, and that really wasn’t our focus as a team. Our team — especially the offense — we’ve got to keep these wheels moving. We’ve got new guys coming in. We’ve got rookies coming in again. We’ve got to build that culture.”It’s a cycle that preceded Brown. It’s continuing without him. After a catastrophic 2020 season, after Sirianni’s 2021 arrival, Eagles players have fostered a winning culture that pervades the organization’s golden era. Brown pushed its boundaries. In a conversation with broadcaster Maria Taylor on “7PM in Brooklyn,” a subject-friendly content company founded by Carmelo Anthony, Brown regretted his social media use but said he “handled things correctly” with his teammates by having “face-to-face conversations” in which “we didn’t really care who was comfortable.”“I feel like, as a leader, that can be frowned upon by the media, but there’s always that one guy in that locker room who pushes guys and holds people accountable — and that was me,” Brown told Taylor. “I didn’t mind being viewed as whatever picture was painting me out to be, because I know, like, my teammates know I have their back.”Sirianni lists accountability among the five core values of his coaching philosophy. Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl LIX MVP, often uses “the standard is the standard” in his interviews. Mailata, mentored by Jason Peters, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, enforces the excellence of younger linemen (once making them run after practice). Johnson told reporters in Week 6 the 2025 Eagles’ offense was predictable and wasn’t “efficient in anything” — and he never spoke to reporters again.If there is at all a question about the authenticity and efficacy of a culture of accountability without Brown — especially as it relates to the functionality of the offense and Hurts’ role in it — DeVonta Smith must be mentioned. Smith, the No. 10 pick in 2021, was overshadowed enough that Saquon Barkley remarked in November that “people forget that he won the Heisman” at Alabama. Smith was Hurts’ teammate in Tuscaloosa for two seasons. Smith was Hurts’ top target before Brown’s 2022 arrival. Smith has privately and publicly demanded excellence before (saying “nothing on offense is going good right now” last October) and says he will continue to “have uncomfortable conversations” because “it only makes the team better.”“‘I’ve been knowing Jalen since high school, so it’s only getting better,” Smith says of their relationship, which began during Alabama’s recruitment of Smith. “I think we both fairly know each other well — to know how to approach each other and certain things and things like that. And to be able to just have that understanding that when things (are) not going right, we’re gonna look at each other first.”Smith’s leadership often happens in the background. His frustrations are quieter. Brown, Smith’s former lockermate, once jokingly mentioned late in the 2023 season that Smith was actually the squeakier wheel in games — and Smith did not disagree. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman viewed Smith as a No. 1 receiver when he traded up to draft him in 2021. That valuation did not change when Brown arrived. Smith signed a three-year, $75 million extension on April 15, 2024 — 10 days before Brown signed a three-year, $96 million extension. Smith, who is under contract through 2028, remains the 18th-highest paid receiver in the NFL, according to Over the Cap.“Just because he never wore that captain’s patch in the last two years, didn’t mean that he wasn’t a captain in the locker room,” Mailata says. “He always led from the front, and that’s why — I’m calling it now — when he wears that captain’s patch this year, there’s no surprise. He’s always been a captain in my eyes.”Smith is now the centerpiece of an overhauled wide receiver corps Roseman has called a “basketball team” of depth and versatility. He is the most dynamic target in a passing game with a philosophy that is significantly shifting. With Smith and Brown on the field, the Eagles leveraged their run game to create man-coverage mismatches they exploited with regularity. The Eagles struggled when defenses responded with more zone coverage in 2025. Mannion’s offense is rooted in Shanahan-tree principles that will, in part, deploy receivers (as well as the other offensive positions) in a series of run and pass plays aimed to keep defenses off-kilter because both sets of plays look very similar.It is worth noting that Mannion hesitated to isolate his vision for the wide receivers when he was asked specifically about the group last week. “Our offense is not about any one piece,” he said. Consider that the only assistant coach Mannion brought with him from the Green Bay Packers, Ryan Mahaffey, is now serving as the Eagles’ run game coordinator after coaching wide receivers and offensive linemen in Green Bay. If Mannion’s run and pass concepts must marry, who better, in Mannion’s view, to oversee the run game in Philadelphia than someone who understands why its concepts relate to the passing principles?“He knows how all the pieces fit,” Mannion said last week.Mahaffey’s role as run game coordinator, plus the addition of former Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach Chris Kuper, led to the departure of longtime offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who also served as the team’s run game coordinator for the last eight seasons. The moves streamlined the staff’s well of systemic ideas — an intermittent problem on Sirianni’s collaborative staffs. Last week, Hurts strongly endorsed Mannion by saying, “You can see the vision.” Hurts did not say the same of a Kevin Patullo-led system that Hurts often noted lacked an identity throughout the 2025 season.“Sean is an evil genius,” Mailata says. “That is my first impression. The guy knows ball. If I were to lock the three smartest people in the facility in one room, Sean would be there — and I think Sean would just be in there by himself. It would just be Sean. He’s a wizard. And, man, I’m super excited as the year goes on, we get to display what is in that beautiful mind of his.”Tuesday’s viewing of OTAs displayed the ongoing utilization of the wide receiver corps and the questions that remain. Smith still offers the Eagles inside-outside versatility. Hollywood Brown, a seven-year veteran, showcased his straightaway speed and ability to track down deep passes. Elijah Moore, a five-year veteran, has a slot-oriented history, but he regularly motions outside and made a sliding catch on a third-and-12 deep crosser that suggests he can be effective there. Johnny Wilson, the group’s tallest at 6-foot-6, 228 pounds, spent the majority of his rookie season along the outside, but also practiced at slot on Tuesday.There isn’t yet much certainty that the Eagles have a wideout who can free himself physically like A.J. Brown. Few players in the league can. But there were moments in Tuesday’s practice that suggested his absence could present problems in certain situations. Riq Woolen, an unusually physical cornerback at 6-4, 210 pounds, blanketed Smith while following him across the end zone on a fourth-and-goal situation. Hurts’ target to Smith fell incomplete. Woolen kept pace with Hollywood Brown (5-9, 180) on a deep pass that was obscured by Woolen’s frame.It is plausible that first-round pick Makai Lemon and his running back build (5-11, 192) will prove helpful in such physical situations. Roseman and Sirianni noted Lemon’s toughness on draft day, but Lemon was sidelined Tuesday with a hamstring injury. The injury is not considered serious, according to a league source.Dontayvion Wicks is another candidate for such a role. Wicks, 24, is among the team’s bigger receivers at 6-1, 206 pounds. He spent three seasons with Mannion and the Packers, where he was an underutilized, yet effective target with 108 catches, 1,328 yards and 11 touchdowns across three seasons. Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, who faced the Packers three times with the Eagles, said he thought Wicks “was really underrated” and said “every time we played them, he’d give me some problems.”Dontayvion Wicks (13), a 2023 fifth-round pick, enters his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles with 1,328 yards and 11 touchdowns on 108 catches in his career. (Scott Galvin / Imagn Images)Wicks supplied a highlight of a back-and-forth practice. During a fourth-and-goal situation in team drills, Wicks fought off Woolen in a physical exchange before catching a touchdown pass from Hurts. On the first play of 7-on-7 drills, Hurts threw an interception directly at linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in the right flats. Hurts later lobbed a wide-open touchdown pass to Barkley, who snuck by linebacker Zack Baun, who, like other defenders, was pre-occupied with the developments closer to the line of scrimmage.The Eagles have one more session of OTAs on Thursday before their two-day mandatory minicamp begins June 9. The wide receiver corps now officially knows who will be there when summer breaks. And who will be their No. 1 option — though he brushed such talk away.“I’m just going out there to do my job,” Smith said. “I mean, regardless, however you want to look at it — one, two, three, four, whatever you want to look at it — at the end of the day, we all have jobs, and we gotta go out there and do it.”