Two First-Time Staters At New Positions Draw Praise from Eagles Nick Sirianni

The Eagles head coach liked what he saw from two players making their first starts at new positions on the offensive line.

Philadelphia Eagles interior linemen prepare for a drill under O-line coach Jeff Stoutland (left). From left to right: Mekhi Becton, Cam Jurgens, and Tyler Steen. / Ed Kracz

Three of the five Eagles offensive lineman were old hands, the been there, done that blockers for several years now, and it showed.

Pro Football Focus graded right tackle Lane Johnson No. 1 among the Eagles’ top five offensive players coming out of Friday night’s 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers. Left tackle Jordan Mailata was fourth and Landon Dickerson fifth.

It was the other two guys on the line that brought question marks heading into the opener.

Mekhi Becton had never play inside in his life, but here was the New York Jets castoff in charge of manning right guard to help open holes for New York Giants castoff Saquon Barkley.

New York, New York…

In the middle of it all was the heartland, Cam Jurgens, from Beatrice, Nebraska, a town of about 12,000 people on the Big Blue River and 25 miles south of where he would play football at the University of Nebraska.

He had started every game he played for the Cornhuskers at center, after a quick transition away from tight end.

He had never done it with the Eagles, though, because, well you know…that Jason Kelce guy was an iron man before retiring last March after making 156 straight starts at center.

“I thought they did a nice job,” said head coach Nick Sirianni on Monday afternoon, of the first NFL start for two players at new positions

Mekhi Becton and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland leave the field together with Stoutland giving Becton coaching pointers. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

They had to be doing something right to allow the offense to put up 34 points, churn out 410 yards of total offense, and 25 first downs.

Becton allowed just two quarterback pressures to the Packers.

“I think Mekhi is so big and what you saw there with Mekhi on Friday night was, he was controlling the guy, and he’s going against good players,” said Sirianni. “That’s a good front, and he was controlling them at the line of scrimmage and there wasn’t much pushback into Jalen’s face because he’s so big and so long that he was able to control there.

"I thought Mekhi did a really nice job particularly in the pass game of keeping the pocket firm inside.”

Jurgens had the added responsibility of snapping the ball to quarterback Jalen Hurts. That operation needs work, with the center snapping the ball back prematurely in the second quarter that led to a fumble and turnover that was charged to Hurts’ turnover account.

Then there was a botched exchange on a third-and-goal tush-push try in the final minute when a clean snap and touchdown would have put the game out of reach right then and there.

“Any time you put the ball on the ground two times there’s a miscommunication there and we can’t put the ball on the ground two times,” said Sirianni. “Cam and Jalen touch the ball on every down so we have to make sure we’re taking care of that football.”

Other than that, though, and that is a big issue that needs ironed out, Sirianni was pleased with what he saw from Jurgens.

“Cam had some really nice plays,” he said. “There were a couple plays where Cam’s getting that initial hit, whether he’s working with Landon or whether he’s working with Mekhi, and then getting off to that second level.”

Sirianni noted the combo block Jurgens and Becton teamed up on to help blast open a hole that allowed Barkley to race into the end zone from 11 yards away to give the Eagles a 14-12 lead at the time.

“As far as those two guys playing their first game at those positions – now Cam’s played that position his entire life, but playing a new position last year, so center for Cam is very natural,” said the coach. “But I thought Mekhi did a really nice job his first game starting at guard.”

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