The Eagles aren’t installing a brand new offense under Sean Mannion with the goal of helping their defense in 2026.

That’s just an added benefit.

But it’s a real one.

Because as Mannion installs a Shanahan-like scheme in Philadelphia, with all those well-documented staples — like under-center usage, wide-zone blocking, play-action passes, frequent motions and more — the Eagles’ defense gets to face that scheme every single day.

“It’s cool,” Jordan Davis said. “This offensive scheme gave us a few fits last year. The more that we see it, the better we become at defending it.”

Even though Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has historically been very good against this brand of offense, it should help his unit to see it every day in practice.

This is an offense with a lot of moving parts and that can be tricky.

“This offense is really good,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “One that’s kind of taken over the league and we see a lot during the season. And now to have it here at training camp, practicing (against) it, seeing it all the time, it’s going to be really good for this defense and, of course, the offense as well.”

Fangio definitely sees the benefit.

So much of the Shanahan offense is designed to deceive. Lane Johnson after Day 1 of training camp was excited to talk about the design of the scheme because it’s supposed to be simple for offensive players but very complicated for defenses.

Simply put: This offense is designed to trick defenses.

What’s the key to not getting tricked?

“Having good eyes,” linebacker Zack Baun said. “There’s a lot of motions, a lot of condensed formations, a lot of tight end movement, a lot of receiver movement. The run and the play action look the same, boots, there’s a lot of stuff that goes into this offense to make it what it is.”

Fangio said that in recent years, there have been a lot more motions from offenses around the NFL for two reasons: 1. They’re trying to potentially get a tell on the defense; 2. They’re trying to disguise their final formation and their intentions.

The term we always hear about the key to not getting lost in the sauce is eye discipline.

And, according to Fangio, there’s only one way to teach that.

“Repetitions,” he said. “You’ve got to see it in practice and they’ve got to experience it. You’re right. You’ve got to see what’s happening. It all depends upon the call you’re in and what technique you have as a player, where your eyes need to be, and what you need to respect and not respect in certain calls.

“As an edge player, there’s certain calls they could do whatever they want and we’re just going to ignore it. There’s other calls where they got to respect it. And that’s just repetitions, repetitions.”

All those reps should help when the Eagles get into the season and have to face teams that run a variation of this offense. And there are plenty of them from the Rams to the 49ers to the Seahawks to the Panthers and more.

There’s a reason this style of offense has taken over the NFL. There’s a reason the Eagles decided to bring a version of it to Philly.

And as much as that should help the Eagles maximize their talent on offense, it’ll also help their defense to see it every single day. They should be more prepared for it when the season begins.

“I think the motion is a big thing,” DeJean said. “The moving back and forth, the play action, trying to read run-pass based on offensive line and the action in the backfield. If you don’t have your eyes right against this offense, you’re going to be in trouble. They’ve gotten some guys open on us from those actions. 

“It’s challenged us a lot as a defense. It’s a lot of what a bunch of other teams in the league do with motions and deception. It’ll be good for us. It’ll help us prepare for what’s to come this season.”