Despite the Philadelphia Eagles starting the season 2-0, a glaring weakness has been the performance of the interior of the offensive line. The poor performance led to fans calling for a reunion of the Eagles and Mekhi Becton, with Becton signaling interest, stating: “Tell Howie to call me.” However, those rumors have officially been put to bed, with Becton signing with the Green Bay Packers, making any potential reinforcements for the Eagles increasingly slim.
Why Becton Made Sense
Becton was viewed as one of the top potential solutions, due to his history in Philadelphia. After a rough couple of seasons with the New York Jets, the Eagles signed Becton to a one-year deal and rehabilitated his career and reputation.
With Becton as a key player on the offensive line, the Eagles hoisted their second Lombardi Trophy. Becton’s ability as a run-blocker shone, with Saquon Barkley becoming just the ninth player in NFL history to have over 2000 rushing yards running behind him.
The Eagles Still Have a Problem to Solve
With Landon Dickerson on the injured reserve list, the Eagles made a major decision to slide Cam Jurgens over to guard, while giving Drew Kendall just his second career start at center against the Titans. While the Eagles emerged with the victory, the new-look offensive line was dreadful, once again allowing interior pressure and creating no holes in the run game. Jurgens in particular was awful, earning the 4th-worst PFF pass-blocking grade out of all offensive linemen in Week 2.
If the Eagles do opt to look outside the building, the remaining options are slowly dwindling. The most experienced free agent is Kevin Zeitler, who would be playing in his 15th NFL season, far from a long-term fix for the position of need. The former Pro Bowler started 16 games for the Tennessee Titans last season and was graded by PFF as the 13th best guard across the league.
A major, splash move would be attempting to acquire Quenton Nelson from the Indianapolis Colts; however, there has been no indication that Nelson is actually on the trade block. It feels unlikely, considering the moves that the Colts have made within the last year, to position themselves as contenders despite a slow start to the 2026 season, but adding a caliber of talent like Nelson would transform the Eagles’ offensive line back into an elite unit fans are used to seeing.
The in-house options remain unproven. I was mildly impressed by Kendall and would love to see what Willie Lampkin can offer after a strong preseason, but both lack experience against legitimate NFL competition. As for the veterans, Jurgens deserves some slack for his Week 2 performance given it was his first career start at left guard, but it continues a drop-off in play that traces back to Super Bowl LIX, and perhaps even earlier. Dickerson, despite his Pro Bowl resume, has followed a similar decline, and lingering health concerns cast doubt on his long-term availability.
It is certainly possible that the unit turns things around over the next few weeks, but if there are no signs of improvement, it will be interesting to see what the Eagles do, especially with this being a season with championship aspirations.
