EAGLES NOTEBOOK: Nate Herbig's First Start and More
PHILADELPHIA – It wasn’t until later in the week, just days before the Eagles’ season opener last Sunday, that Nate Herbig learned he would be making his first NFL start as the team’s right guard.
“When they told me, it was a surprise to me,” said Herbig, a 22-year-old undrafted rookie in 2019 out of Stanford. “I just try to do my best whenever they tell me to do something.”
Herbig said he tried to take things in stride.
“Since I was a little kid, I always dreamed of playing in the NFL,” he said following Thursday’s practice as the team prepares to host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. “Just getting the opportunity is a blessing to me. All I can do is go in and do my job and do it the best I can to try to help the team win.”
Herbig doesn’t have a lock on the job, yet, and LA defensive tackle Aaron Donald won’t make it easy for him to be the Week 3 starter when the Cincinnati Bengals visit Philadelphia.
“Obviously, Aaron Donald, there’s a lot of respect for him,” said Herbig. “He’s one of the best out there. He’s an elite player. I’ll just be locked in and try to do my job and help the team win.”
Head coach Doug Pederson was clear this past Monday that Herbig must “do everything he can to keep (his starting job),” especially after the Eagles signed veteran guard Jamon Brown off the Chicago Bears’ practice squad earlier in the week.
TOP-RANKED DEFENSE
Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was asked Thursday about being ranked No. 1 in defense after only one week. To say he is satisfied with that, well, obviously he wasn’t.
“I think we played a good game against Washington), but at end of the day I think we gave up too many points and we didn’t win the game,” said Cox. “As the leader of this defense, as the leader of this team, that’s one of our things, you always want to finish a game, you always want to win.
“That’s always the goal is to win the game. We didn’t get that done, but that game is behind us. It’s Thursday, a new weekend, and we’re excited to play at home.”
SWEAT’S GROWING ROLE
Josh Sweat played a career-high in snaps last week, some of that was due to in-game injuries to fellow defensive ends Vinny Curry and Brandon Grahm, a lot of it due to his growth as a player since being drafted in the fourth round of the 2018 draft.
Curry is expected to miss about a month with a hamstring injury while Graham (concussion) was a limited participant in Thursday's practice.
Sweat was asked on Thursday about what he expected his role to be in year three and what his expectations were.
“I don’t know how to answer that, I’m not even going to lie to you,” he said. “I just came here prepared, ready for camp, and just playing the best I can and whatever role they put me in that’s what I was going to take care of.
“That was my mindset coming into it. Same expectations. I practice hard every day, I make sure I run to the ball, everything like that and wherever they put me is where I’m going to go to work at.”
Sweat had the team’s first sack of 2020 and forced a fumble in the process against Washington QB Dwayne Haskins last week.
He had four sacks in 2019, a sort of breakout year, but that may only be the tip of the iceberg for him.
Asked if he thought he would have more playing time this year, Sweat laughed and said, “One would think. Yeah, I thought I’d have a bigger role coming up and it’s definitely here.”
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