Jason Kelce is concerned about a position group he knows intimately on the Eagles' offense, which is the offensive line. The retired center appeared on 94WIP’s morning show and discussed the right guard position, which is expected to be a competition between Tyler Steen and Kenyon Green, and the unit's depth on the final Thursday of March.
The future Hall of Fame center opened with Steen.
“I would like to see him be a little bit more consistent,” said Kelce. “He's very good at times and other times he'll get a little bit out of balance, or he'll get beat. But he's a good player and somebody I certainly am happy with going into a season playing.”
Kelce rightly pointed out that Steen, who was considered the frontrunner to be the starter last year, suffered an ankle injury during training camp that sidelined. That was when the Eagles hatched an experiment to move Mekhi Becton from tackle to guard, and Becton flourished with the opportunity.
“I don’t know that Steen did a lot to necessarily lose that position,” said Kelce. “I think for the most part, Steen played well in the games.”
The Eagles added Green to compete at guard when they acquired him in a trade for safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
“(Green) has played, if I’m being honest, bad in Houston, like, really bad,” said Kelce. “But I do know that he was a hot commodity when he was coming out of the draft. The measurables, and the potential are there, (so) when you look at that stuff, it's exciting.
“You never know. Is there a coaching thing that can make this better, or is this lack of instinct and lack of understanding that he’s not going to be able to grasp?”
Kelce added that he thinks Green could be a good player if he can embrace the technical things and improve on them.
“I say that with the biggest caveat, though,” he said. “It worked last year with Mekhi Becton. Mekhi struggled in New York. He switched positions, and he flourished with Stout. It doesn’t always work like that. You never know how much of this is mental and how much a disconnect with the coaching or the guys around him is causing something to struggle.
“He was an awful offensive line last year in Houston, and it wasn’t just him. (Quarterback) CJ Stroud was under duress all season. A lot of players struggled down there. We’ll see. I will say this - as a guy looking at a guy with potential and measurables and explosion and size, I’m intrigued, and I look forward to what Jeff Stoutland can do with a guy like that.”
Another area of concern for Kelce is the O-line depth. The Eagles lost Becton, who started 15 games, and reserve Fred Johnson, who made six starts and logged 481 snaps (42 percent).
Kelce mentioned the injuries to left guard Landon Dickerson and center Cam Jurgens late in the season. Both players had offseason procedures – Dickerson on a knee, Jurgens on his back.
“I want to see who is going to replace this depth issue because, for the offensive line, the starting five is great and we were very lucky to have all five of those guys pretty much healthy all year,” he said. “It’s not that common in the NFL. Who are we getting that’s going to be those next guys, and who’s gonna be Tyler Steen this year if Tyler Steen is a starter and somebody needs to play? Is this a major drop off that really hurts the unit?”
