Eagles Top 25 Best Players Countdown: Heir To Greatness Lands at No. 18

Life after Jason Kelce begins for the Eagles with a solid replacement in Cam Jurgens.

Dec 25, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles center Cam Jurgens (51) during warmups against the New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA - Generally when you lose a player who has six consecutive All-Pro berths, is a future Hall of Famer, and a team leader to boot there is at least some consternation.

The transition from Jason Kelce to Cam Jurgens at center for the Eagles will not be seamless because few things in the NFL are. Still, there is an almost stunning lack of concern in turning to the third-year pro from Nebraska.

Jurgens finishes No. 18 on SI.com’s annual list of top 25 Eagles players entering the 2024 season
ranked by Eagles on Sports Illustrated reporters Ed Kracz and John McMullen after proving himself at right guard last season.

The list has become an annual affair as the two reporters submit their top 25 lists at the same time so each would be unaffected by the others. No. 1 on the list is awarded 25 points and so on down the list with No. 25 receiving one point.

Jurgens was a unanimous selection on both lists at No. 17 but finished 18th overall because other players spiked on one list or the other.

To assume the level of Kelce-like production will remain the same or that Jurgens is going to start his own run to Canton is folly but the move from an All-Pro to a potential high-level starter is a nod to the constant churn of the league and the realization that it’s better to replace a great player with one you at least know can carry his own water.

And that’s the way offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland feels about Jurgens, who spent last year playing out of position next to Kelce at right guard.

“When we moved him to guard, a lot of you guys asked me this last year, I wasn’t sure if he would be able to [make the transition]…because we weren’t evaluating him for that spot,” the Eagles offensive line coach admitted this spring.

Turns out Jurgens did just fine at RG and quickly developed into a Pro Bowl alternate while waiting for his forever home to open up as the center drafted to replace Kelce in the second round of the 2022 draft.

For Stoutland, it’s not about replacing Kelce, it’s about Jurgens playing the position with efficacy and that’s not on the top list of concerns for the organization.

“Cam Jurgens was brought here two years ago for the reason of when Kelce does retire, that we have a guy who we really identified as being a top-level center, in our opinion,” Stoutland explained.

Jurgens, who will turn 25 in August, had so many of the traits that scream top-tier center when the Eagles selected him at No. 51 overall in 2022 with Kelce’s blessing.

“Cam just so happened to check a lot of the boxes of foot and body quickness, he’s powerful, he has great core strength, he has the ability to communicate to the core [of the offense],” Stoutland said.

And now, not only does Jurgens have a year under his belt interning under Kelce as a rookie, he’s got a season playing next to him with a front-row seat to see how one of the Eagles’ all-time greats handled things.

“At the end of the day just be myself,” Jurgens said. “I’m not trying to be somebody’s replacement or somebody’s next person. I’m just trying to be myself. Can I be the best football player I can be at wherever position they put me, that’s what I’m going to do. 

“I’m not worried about anything else besides what I can control and I think that’s all I gotta worry about at the end of the day.”

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