Eagles Position Battle: Tyler Steen Competing to Start at RG?
PHILADELPHIA - There’s not much notable going around the NFL when it comes to on-field work in the spring.
The first taste of it comes at the various rookie camps, though. And for the Philadelphia Eagles, perhaps the most notable aspect of the first look at the newcomers was third-round pick Tyler Steen starting his professional initiation at right guard.
A tackle by trade in college at both Vanderbilt and Alabama, the development was not surprising because Steen was announced as an OG when the Eagles selected him at No. 65 overall, foreshadowing the potential transition.
While Steen had plenty of success playing outside in college football’s toughest conference and starting 46 games – 12 at right tackle and 34 at left tackle – he could be in the mix to start early in his career inside at right guard with Philadelphia.
The knock against Steen as a tackle at the next level is his sub-33-inch arms, a number that the NFL typically uses as a baseline for offensive tackles.
To that end, many teams wanted to get a look at Steen playing guard at the Senior Bowl and the Miami native looked good doing it.
The Eagles were particularly impressed with his ability to get low in a three-point stance at his impressive size – 6-6 and 321 pounds. From there, Steen showed the bend, balance, and power to be a Day 2 pick.
“You get to see him in the SEC playing tackle, and him going from [Vanderbilt] to Alabama I think was a huge growth, and playing left tackle for the University of Alabama, obviously that's a high-profile position,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. " ... Then he moved at the Senior Bowl, he played guard. You could see him moving people off the ball, you could see his athleticism in space.”
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni isn’t handicapping anything at this stage of the calendar. The coach has had a couple of opportunities to anoint 2022 second-round pick Cam Jurgens the heir-apparent to Issac Seumalo at right guard and has failed to do so.
“You don’t have to get into the leader in the clubhouse at this particular point,” the Eagles' head coach told reporters earlier this spring before Steen even arrived. “We’ll always see what we can do to play the best five that we have right there.”
Jurgens’ big advantage is having one year’s experience learning the Eagles’ blocking schemes under well-regarded offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and All-Pro center Jason Kelce.
“Cam had a really good year of sitting behind one of the best players in franchise history [Jaon Kelce], one of the best centers in the history of this game,” said Sirianni. “... Cam will continue to learn from him. And sure, we’ll see what’s the best situation for Cam and for the team but we have a lot of confidence in Cam.
A natural center Jurgens was drafted as the successor to Kelce but the latter has decided to return in 2023 and the conventional wisdom seems to be that the Eagles don’t want to redshirt a talented player for two consecutive years.
Complicating matters, however, is that Jurgens, like Kelce, is a bit undersized and Philadelphia had typically helped mask Kelce’s size deficiencies by getting big bodies to play at offensive guard. Current LG Landon Dickerson is around 330 and former All-Pro right guard Brandon Brooks was even bigger than that. Seumalo isn’t quite that large but the 2022 starter had at least 10 or 15 pounds on Jurgens.
Enter Steen and perhaps the other notable aspect of his first on-field appearance at the NovaCare Complex, was his wardrobe. The fledgling Stoutland student was issued No. 56, the former number of Seumalo before the veteran exited stage left for a big-money, free-agent deal with Pittsburgh.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a competitor, a high-level competitor,” Steen said. “I’ve always wanted to beat people, whether it’s 1-on-1 or as a team. The only way to do that is to get better. As far as competing and knowing that when I get the opportunity to compete and I want to win, I know that I can start getting better.”
The early feel is there will be an open competition for the spot.
“I’m not sure,” Steen said about playing guard. “I’m really just trying to come in and find ways to contribute, find ways to learn every day, and find ways to get better every day.”
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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
