Eagles First-Time Pro Bowler Puts Questions To Rest

Philadelphia Eagles second-round pick in 2022 has forged hiw own path.

Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland (left) gives center Cam Jurgens direction during a drill at Eagles training camp. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Cam Jurgens wasn’t oblivious to the expectations for stepping into Jason Kelce’s triple-wide shoes. How could he be, after reporters never tired of asking him about doing just that?

“I feel like before the season started, it was like every day, I was getting questioned, ‘What it was like to take over for Kelce, this and that?’ It was like every single day, the same question, over and over, over and over, from you guys.

“And then the season started, and I feel like I was playing good, and I didn’t get a single question about that until just now (on Wednesday of Week 18). So, yeah, I think I did good in my first year. There’s still room to improve and get better. But I’m happy.”

Jurgens should be happy. A second-round pick in 2022, he made his first Pro Bowl in his first year as the Eagles center, a job held by Kelce for 156 straight starts and since 2011. He said he told Kelce personally in the team's training facility, and the Eagles' former center said he was happy for him.

“I don’t know how the voting process goes, but it’s always tough to get in, especially your first one,” he said. “I’m pretty excited about it. …I feel like my own standard is just be better today than I was yesterday. It’s hard to really put measurements up for O-linemen. It’s tough. If you ask someone, they’ll say he’s doing great. If you ask someone else, they’ll say he sucks.

“But I feel like, watching just game film of other centers around the league, I’m right up there with everybody, or better than everybody, and I feel like my play shows it.”

The goal, of course, is to not participate in Pro Bowl festivities on Feb. 2 in Orlando, because teams that qualify for the Super Bowl have a much bigger game to prepare to play the following weekend.

Cam Jurgens meets with reporters after Day 2 of Eagles training camp practice. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

Jurgens’ approach from Day 1, after learning he would be the center when Kelce retired on March 4, was to be himself.

“I’m not trying to prove anything, or show anything,” he said. “Just be myself and play up to my standard, and get better every day, and I feel like I did a good job this year of doing that and getting better each and every day. It’s what I set out to do.”

How was he able to do that, and to do at a consistently high level to earn recognition across the league and from fans that landed him on the NFC’s Pro Bowl team?

“Just try to listen to my coaches, players, and everyone around me in this building, and not listen to outside noise,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’m just trying to step into my own shoes and do everything I can in my own power and not try to replace somebody or do what somebody else did. Just try to do what I’m doing.”

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