The Clear Favorite For Eagles At RG

Second-year player Tyler Steen is being given every opportunity to seize the right guard position.

John McMullen/SI Eagles

PHILADELPHIA - All signs point to Tyler Steen at right guard for the Eagles in the 2024 season.

The second-year player out of Alabama via Vanderbilt got the first bit of good news when offseason work started and the rearranged Philadelphia locker room got the traditional ight guard stall in the back of the Eagles’ locker room.

Then came Wednesday’s first OTA practice open to reporters and there was Steen working next to center Cam Jurgens on combination blocks during individual work.

Starting with Steen, however, doesn’t mean offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland will end there Sept, 6 in Sao Paulo, Brazil when the Eagles face the Green Bay Packers in their season opener.

"I know I gotta earn it every day,” Steen said after Wednesday’s practice. “I'm not gonna be given anything. I gotta prove that I should be able to play. That's just how I'm kinda looking at it and I'll continue to look at it.”

The retirement of likely future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce opened the door for Cam Jurgens, the starter at RG last season, to slide over into his natural position. Steen, meanwhile, was selected No. 65 overall in the 2023 draft to ultimately seize the RG role once Kelce finally called it a career.

Projection is a summer away from reality if Steen holds up his end of the bargain, which is easier said than done because he spent his entire college career at tackle, four years on the right side at Vandy and his final season at LT for the Crimson Tide.

The Eagles and many other NFL teams felt Steen would be better inside at OG because he doesn’t have the desired arm length to play on an island.

"I think at guard you gotta be a little bit bigger, just wider,” Steen said of the difference between playing inside and outside. “Just a wider dude because you're going against guys with bigger bodies and stuff like that, but I just think in general being able to be here, be in like an NFL program and not have to worry about the draft training part of it, you just get to focus on like training. I think that helps you out a lot.”

Steen got one start at RG as a rookie, a 28-23 Week 9 win over Dallas in which he struggled in pass protection.

"I mean [I] probably didn't play as well as I wanted to play, and I mean we won the game so that was great but as far as individually I was kind of disappointed,” Steen admitted. “Really just want to prove I'm a better player than that so that's kind of what I'm focused on."

The adversity helped Steen and now the Miami native feels ready to take up his residency on one of the league’s best offensive lines.

"I think spending that year at guard has given me a lot of experience there and has allowed me to adapt,” he said.

Steen’s competition is oft-injured veteran Matt Hennessy, who did take the second-team reps at RG during Wednesday’s OTA practice, and perhaps rookie fifth-round pick Trevor Keegan.

Keegan, a team captain for the national champion Michigan Wolverines, took his first pro reps as the third-team left guard, his college position.

Hennessy is the one potential fly in the ointment for Steen as a proven interior player from his time in Atlanta before knee injuries in consecutive seasons pressed pause on the veteran's career.

The fact that Hennessy got second-team reps at RG while Brett Toth handled the backup center reps is an indicator Stoutland wants Steen to keep a sense of urgency.

"Really just take it day by day," Steen said of working with the tough-minded Stoutland. "Really try to get a better understanding of where he's coming from, like listen to the message. Then really just the amount of time it takes, just understand he's going to take a little more time just put in work, understand the schemes, and try to understand what type of angles he wants you to take and things like that."

The final step for Steen is finishing, both his blocks and his projection as the Eagles' future at right guard.

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