Eagles Want 'Extremely Explosive' Cam Jurgens to Earn RG Spot
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles believe Cam Jurgens is a center.
But that doesn’t mean the Nebraska product, selected No. 51 overall in 2022, can’t detour and spend a little time at right guard while Jason Kelce continues his Hall-of-Fame-level career in the pivot for the Eagles.
The Eagles and the NFL’s best offensive line have one opening for 2023 after Isaac Seumalo got a big-money deal with Pittsburgh. The default to that reality had many pointing to Jurgens making a short-term move by sliding right a step or two while waiting for Kelce to finally stop playing like an All-Pro.
The thought process was a shrewd one because it already happened with both Seumalo and Landon Dickerson, players originally drafted with the intent of taking over for Kelce before excelling elsewhere.
Head coach Nick Sirianni, however, has refused to anoint Jurgens as the starter at right guard, leaving the door open for rookie third-round pick Tyler Steen, a college tackle at Vanderbilt and Alabama who the Eagles are projecting inside.
The hesitancy on Jurgens can be traced to two issues, one tangible and the other intangible.
It is true that Philadelphia typically likes more size in its guards, ironically to help mask Kelce’s undersized frame. Steen has that at 6-6 and 321 pounds while Jurgens is listed at a tad over 300 at 6-3. Having two undersized players next to each other could create some problems when it comes to moving bodies in the ground game or stopping the bull rush.
The intangible part of the pause on Jurgens is the thought that you should make players earn their status and the Nebraska product played only 35 snaps as a rookie, hardly a representative sample size.
So the plan seems to be to let the best man win between two Day 2 picks in Jurgens and Steen with the former having the leg up after a year of learning from Jeff Stoutland.
Kelce seems convinced Jurgens will be fine.
“Cam is really, really talented,” Kelce said last week. “Extremely physically gifted, hard-working. The strength-to-weight ratio that he has is phenomenal. Very, very strong for his size. Extremely explosive, smart, blue-collar, lunch-pail-type kid.”
When it came to cross-training Jurgens an elbow injury that Kelce needed to clean up last summer affected the then-rookie, who was the starting center for most of training camp instead of getting some work at all the interior line positions which was was the original plan.
Because of that Kelce felt Jurgens was ready to go if needed at offensive coordinator.
“I think I speak for everybody in the building, he was ready to play last year,” said Kelce. “He could have gone in there and done an extremely good job playing center last year. I feel very confident in that.”
Right guard is a bit of an unknown, though.
“He’s going to get a chance to compete at right guard and he’s going to get a chance to play center still,” Kelce said of Jurgens. “The future is extremely bright for him. I think he can blossom into one of the best centers in the league, easily, one day. And I think he can play right guard.
“So we’re going to get a chance to watch that.”
Ultimately the decision will be made when the pads go on but Kelce has liked what he’s seen in offseason work from Jurgens.
“So far, [Jurgens] looks great,” Kelce said. “Only in shorts and stuff like that. But sets and everything, you can tell he’s been working. Last year, he played a little bit of guard, scout team and 1-on-1s and stuff. But obviously, as he’s gotten more reps, he’s gotten used to a new stance and using your hands just a little bit different.
“You can see he’s put in some work this offseason.”
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
