The Eagles' Modern-Day Throwback

Linebacker Ben VanSumeren is a core special-teamer for the Eagles and is now opening eyes as a fullback.

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Ben VanSumeren (57) / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - In-house, the public highlight for the Eagles at training camp came on the very last rep.

Head coach Nick Sirianni decided to wrap up the camp portion of the summer with some competitive 1-on-1 reps with the entire team watching. The names Ben VanSumeren and Andre Sam were belted out, something that may have seemed strange to those who didn't understand what they were about to see because BVS is a second-year linebacker and Sam an undrafted rookie safety.

VanSumeren's football history had a significant offensive tint to it, however, and it was time for the Bay City, Michigan roller to unveil that.

Lining up opposite Sam as a receiver, VanSumeren ran a route that would have made Christian McCaffrey blush, dipping his head and shoulder inside on a corner route before exploding out of the break in the opposite direction leaving Sam in the rearview mirror.

Their teammates erupted like it was Allen Iverson crossing over Michael Jordan.

The footnote was that backup quarterback Kenny Pickett was unable to finish the rep and overthrew VanSumeren but the savvy Sirianni adhered to Show Business rules and closed things out on that high note.

At the time the situation seemed like the team was having fun at the end of a long training camp but the Eagles signed VanSumeren coming out of Michigan State as an undrafted free agent in 2023 with athleticism as his calling card. BVS ran a 4.45 at 231 pounds with a 42.5 vertical leap and a broad jump of nearly 11 feet.

"I'm used to it,” VanSumeren smiled when asked about his route-running earlier this season. “I got it in my body but I'm a linebacker."

VanSumeren may want to revise that now because he's a linebacker, Michael Clay's foundational piece on special teams, and a full back for Kellen Moore, doling out impressive lead blocks for Saquon Barkey and Kenny Gainwell on consecutive explosive runs of 41 and 14 yards.

"I felt like there really wasn't much of a learning curve when I got reintroduced to it," VanSumeren told Eagles On SI when asked about his blocks after the 28-3 win. "It felt natural. ... It was just a matter of putting a hat on a hat and getting displacement and letting these guys find the crease and take that rock."

None of this should be surprising because BVS began his college career at Michigan as a fullback after excelling in high school at Garber, Mich. High School as a RB and receiver, leading the county in receiving three times and rushing for over 1,000 yards. He even threw it for 279 yards and four touchdowns as a triple threat.

"Two-back offenses, sometimes there's value to it at various times," offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said on Tuesday. "We just felt like there was an opportunity to utilize it in this game. Ben is a guy, going back to high school days, he's been a ball carrier. And so he's played on the offensive side before.

"So sometimes it starts as more of a fun experimental aspect and it then it might become serious over the course of training camp and the season. We'll see where it plays out. Every week you're trying to find out what gives us best opportunity to be successful and felt like that gave us an opportunity this past week and he did an excellent job. His effort in the run game, he had the juice and energy going, and I think it was a real benefit to us."

While the camp rep opened some eyes, Moore became convinced VanSumeren could help as an offensive player during scout team work in practice.

"Sometimes as you go through training camp, sometimes guys on offense have to help the defense and defensive guys have to help the offense just to show different looks and line ups and presentations," Moore said. "Him just kind of unintentionally lining up on offense to aid the defense gives us the look of, hey, this guy has got some athleticism, and obviously it kind of just kept building as we went.

"So we'll see where it takes us."

What makes VanSumeren particularly intriguing is that his athleticism is enhanced by a high-football IQ and a desire to learn to the point he could continue as a throwback playing on all three phases.

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