Eagles' Michael Clay on his confidence in Elliott, plan for Lemon and more

Eagles' Michael Clay on his confidence in Elliott, plan for Lemon and more originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Thursday was a busy day down at the Jefferson Health Training Complex because the Eagles made all three of their coordinators available.

It was our first time hearing from new OC Sean Mannion and DC Vic Fangio is always a must-see press conference. So the tidbits from special teams coordinator Michael Clay probably went a bit under the radar.

But we care about special teams here, so here are some notes from Clay:

1. ‘A confident kicker is a dangerous kicker’

Jake Elliott didn’t have a very good 2025 season. The Eagles’ veteran kicker made just 74.1% of his field goals and is at just 76.2% over the last two seasons. But the Eagles re-worked his contract this offseason, basically ensuring that he’ll be their kicker in 2026.

On Thursday, Clay was asked if the plan is for Elliott to be the only kicker in training camp. While Clay didn’t really answer that question, he did talk about his confidence in Elliott.

“With Jake, obviously long career, still confident in him,” Clay said. “You could go game by game, situation by situation, but nobody really wants to hear any of that. Everybody wants to know, what have you done for me last? But for Jake, 10 years in the NFL, 10 years to do it in Philadelphia, big kicks, hard to go against a confidence in that.”

But then Clay said some interesting things that we’ll have to ask Elliott about whenever he speaks to reporters this spring or summer.

“It’s for me as a coach to bring him up and keep the confidence in him because when he’s confident, a confident kicker is a dangerous kicker,” Clay said. “So, for him, it’s just getting back to his basics, getting back to his routine and falling in love with the game again.

“For a lot of these players, whatever bad things happen, they fall into that pit hole of like, ‘Am I good enough?’ Obviously, you’re good enough to play in the NFL. There’s only 32 kickers in the NFL or vice versa. There’s only 64 starting DNs. So for him to fall in love with the game again and keep that energy and keep that confidence up, I think is going to be huge for Jake. That’s where I come in being his caddy and keeping him up in all those situations.”

Was Clay speaking in generalities about kickers or was confidence actually an issue for Elliott in 2026? Only Elliott knows the answer. But for a kicker, confidence is everything.

2. Happy to stay put?

Clay, 34, has been the Eagles’ special teams coordinator since 2021 and is back this season on a new contract. This offseason, Clay interviewed with the Buccaneers before returning to Philly. Clay was asked about that and pointed to the “business” of football, saying he wasn’t close to leaving.

Clay has been a pretty good coach over the last five years but sometimes there’s a lack of upward mobility for special teams coordinators. Clay said that’s OK with him. He enjoys getting a chance to speak to the entire team and thinks it’s the closest thing to actually being a head coach.

“In special teams, you get to talk to everybody,” Clay said. “I tell people this, if I could do this for another quarter century, then hit the deuces like Brad Seely did in Houston, then I’ll be very happy with my life and how it turned out.”

Seely began his NFL coaching career with the Colts in 1989 and also spent time with the Jets, Panthers, Patriots, Browns, 49ers, Raiders and Texans through the 2019 season. He coached special teams the whole time.

3. Rocco’s Modern Life

The Eagles have a new long snapper. After the draft, they signed Rocco Underwood out of Florida. If all goes well, he could be the Eagles’ long-term solution at that position.

“Obviously, I’ve been fortunate enough to have veteran long snappers that have played in the NFL, but it’s always a great challenge to have a younger guy, and hopefully the young guy takes the reins and he’s able to stay here for a long period of time,” Clay said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to coach Rick Lovato and being around Jon Dorenbos, two guys that have been stalwarts here in Philadelphia for so long. 

“We’re going to push Rocco to exceed those expectations, but we’re going to take it day by day. Obviously, you don’t want to pigeonhole anybody on this roster. We’re just trying to get day by day greatness out of Rocco and elevate his game even more than it is.”

4. Is the juice worth the squeeze?

The Eagles moved up from No. 23 to 20 to draft Makai Lemon in the first round last month. They drafted him to be a big-time part of their offense, but will he have a role on special teams?

“Everybody’s part of the kickoff return rotation,” Clay said. “Makai, obviously he had that one year at USC where he was really good. They had Zachariah Branch, obviously hard to pass up that guy. But Makai, I like Makai. He has that California feel, that California confidence. Being from California, you always love it and it may be misunderstood, but he’s out there in the tackling drills, the takeaway circuit, and he’s been able to catch a couple punts as well from Braden and that kickoff return. He’ll definitely be in the mix just like a whole bunch of people will be.”

At USC, Lemon returned 32 kickoffs with an average of 23.5 yards per return. He also returned 6 punts for 11.8 yards per return. Lemon’s best kick return season came in 2024; he had 19 returns for 514 yards (27.1).

5. He’s the Mann

One of the more underrated moves the Eagles made this offseason came when they extended punter Braden Mann with a four-year, $14 million deal. That average annual salary of $3.5 million makes Mann the No. 5 highest-paid punter in the NFL.

“I could talk about Braden for days on end,” Clay said. “First of all, very, very happy that he’s back. He’s earned every right to have that opportunity to be in that contractual obligation. But to have Braden back, a little bit of continuity with him, Jake, and having a new long snapper is always great, but Braden’s earned everything he’s worked for.”

Mann, 28, began his career with the Jets as a sixth-round pick back in 2020. Clay on Thursday brought up the spotlight that’s on a punter when they get drafted because people think the team “wasted” that pick. And Mann didn’t last in New York, eventually getting cut before his fourth season.

The Eagles signed Mann during the 2023 season to finally replace Arryn Siposs and Mann has been much better in this chapter of his NFL career.

2020-22 with Jets: 45.4 yards per punt; 39.3 net yards per punt; 29.1% inside 20

2023-25 with Eagles: 49.5 yards per punt; 42.9 net yards per punt; 32.4 inside 20

While his career is still young, Mann is the Eagles’ all-time leader in gross average and net average and he has already had some of the best punting seasons in franchise history.

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