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Defensive coordinator Billy Davis has a philosophy when it comes to rookies.

“I believe that when they start they should start at the bottom, and they should earn their way up,” said Davis. “It doesn’t take long for the better players to push their way up. Really, it comes from basically saying, hey the vets have been here and worked at it, someone has to take it from them before you just anoint somebody. But a lot of times when you see the talented young guys come up, they take it pretty quick. And when it’s time and you’ve seen enough and they’ve earned it, then you move them up.”

For the record, Davis hasn’t moved Earl Wolff up just yet. But he did have him working with the first team opposite Patrick Chung for the entirety of Monday’s practice.

Here’s what we saw from the Eagles’ defense after having reviewed Friday night’s game against the Patriots. Notes on Vinny Curry, Fletcher Cox, Jake Knott and others.

Greg Cosell of NFL Films recently joined Doug Farrar’s Shutdown Corner podcast to review the drafts of all four NFC East teams.

Cosell talked about several of the Eagles’ rookies, including fourth-round pick Matt Barkley. During the pre-draft process, he questioned Barkley’s arm strength, but Cosell identified another issue with the Eagles’ rookie.

“A bigger concern I had with Barkley when I watched him on film… I did not think he had really quick feet,” Cosell said. “And that bothered me almost as much, if not more, than the fact that he doesn’t have a great arm. Everybody knows that. But I didn’t think he had really quick feet. And I think that that’s a hindrance because I think in this league, especially if you don’t have a big arm, you need to have explosive lower body movement, and I didn’t see that with Matt Barkley.”

What are fair expectations for Kenny Phillips? And does rookie Earl Wolff have a chance to start right away? Our training camp preview series rolls on with a look at the safeties.

When mini-camp was wrapping up last week, Eagles assistant coaches John Lovett and Todd Lyght had a message for the team’s safeties.

“Everything’s open,” said rookie Earl Wolff. “Things are not going to be solidified until we put the pads on and everybody really shows what they can do.”

A fifth-round pick in April’s draft, that was just what Wolff wanted to hear. Nate Allen and Patrick Chung saw the most action with the first team this spring, but Wolff began to mix in with the starters last week.

This is the first in a series. Throughout the next week or two, we’ll take a position-by-position look at the Eagles’ roster. Today, we start with the safeties.

Howie Roseman was high on this safety class heading in, and admitted afterwards that “there were a lot of safeties that we wanted in this draft.”

Despite the temptations the Eagles stayed disciplined and watched while 12 safeties came off the board (Kenny Vaccaro, Eric Reid, Matt Elam, John Cyprien, D.J. Swearinger, T.J. McDonald, J.J. Wilcox, Shawn Williams, Duron Harmon, Duke Williams, Shamarko Thomas and Phillip Thomas) and were content to walk away with  the 5-11, 209-pound Earl Wolff, whom they selected in the fifth round with the 136th overall pick.

As it turns out, the foundation for the Eagles’ 2013 draft was laid during a meeting at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Jan. 5.

That’s when Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman and Don Smolenski first interviewed Chip Kelly about the Eagles’ head-coaching position.

“During the interview process, he talked about having position specifics, which is not uncommon for coaches,” Roseman said. “Then when he got here, we sat down together, and then as a staff, talked about what we were looking for and what he was looking for and what we had. Then we made a template up, and we gave it to all our scouts and all of our coaches, and we said this is what we’re looking for at this position, and that’s what we’re going to try to get.”

It was a change for the entire personnel staff. Suddenly, they were looking for players who fit Kelly’s mold, not Andy Reid’s. And the new guy had his own vision. He wanted length on defense. He wanted athleticism on the offensive line. He preferred his quarterback to have big hands.