Jeremiah Trotter Jr. has managed to do something that might have seemed very difficult a few weeks ago.
Get noticed at training camp not for who his father is but for who he is.
Trotter has quietly enjoyed a very good training camp for the Eagles 26 years after his dad was a rookie in camp at Lehigh.
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He may be a 5th-round pick and the 155th player taken overall, but he’s made plays when he’s gotten opportunities, he’s looked instinctive and physical when he’s gotten reps and lately he’s even gotten some opportunities here and there with the first defense.
He’s no sideshow. He's not here as a favor to his dad, a member of the Eagles Hall of Fame. He’s an intriguing 21-year-old who’s elbowed his way into the mix at a position that’s in flux right now.
“I'm just trying to focus on getting better every single day,” Trotter said after practice Sunday. “There's always stuff I can improve on, but they did rotate me in a little bit with the 1’s, and I'm just trying to focus on making sure I continue to improve, continue to gain their trust and do whatever I can to really help the team and just find my role.
“I feel like I'm doing very well, but I'm one of those players, I'm very critical of myself. And I want to try to get better every single day. The smallest detail, I'm gonna try to get, I'm gonna fix my game so I can become the best player I can probably be.
Philadelphia Eagles
"I want to get better in all areas. I wanna get better at block destruction and blitzing. I want to get better in pass coverage. I just want to try to critique myself very harshly and continue to get better in all areas of my game.”
A couple weeks into camp, Devin White and Zack Baun appear to be the front-runners to start at off-ball linebacker, with Nakobe Dean, Ben VanSumeren and Trotter also in the mix. Oren Burks hasn’t practiced since the first day of camp.
At 6-foot, 225 pounds, Trotter is so different from his dad, who played at 6-foot-1, 260 pounds. But he’s already shown that he shares his father’s intensity and knack for playmaking.
“Coming up through high school and college, I'd like to watch guys like Devin White, one of my teammates now, Lavonte David, one of his teammates (in Tampa), and a lot of guys across the league, Fred Warner, guys that I feel like are three-down linebackers, guys that I want to imitate in my game after being a three-down guy,” he said.
“Having one of those 'backers, you don't have to come off the field. He can cover, he can blitz, he can fit in the run game. Every single day I just try to get better and improve my game.”
If nothing else, Trotter should be a core special teamer for Michael Clay as he continues to learn linebacker. With his athleticism and physicality, he should fit somewhere on just about every unit.
But it’s pretty clear after just two weeks he’s got the team made. Maybe one of the reasons he looks so comfortable is that he practices in a facility and will play in a stadium he used to visit as a kid. And he may be the only NFL rookie who sleeps in his own bed in his childhood home.
“I feel like it's benefited me a lot,” he said. “Sometimes rookies will come into an unfamiliar environment, and they get nervous, they get homesick, stuff like that. But I feel like I haven't had that. I have people that have seen me grow up, basically. I've been around the facility since a young age, and coming back, they're greeting me seeing (a) familiar face.
“And it's basically just like being home. So I can feel very comfortable and just focus on football.”
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