Eagles' Jack Of All Trades Helps Build Up Young Defensive Linemen

PHILADELPHIA - Patrick McDowell is not a name that’s familiar to many Eagles fans despite a decade in the organization.

On the football side, however, McDowell is one of the more interesting employees in the organization, a jack of all trades who is an omnipresent part of any practice as part strength coach, part scout, and part developmental guru.

During the 2022 offseason, McDowell transitioned from the strength and conditioning staff to the football operations department, where he now serves as a player development assistant/scout.

On Wednesday, McDowell emerged from the shadows a bit when third-year defensive end Byron Young gave his unique mentor a shoutout when discussing his relationship with good friend and fellow defensive tackle Gabe Hall.

“We were just able to connect because we were doing the scout team stuff, but when everybody else left, he and I would stay back,” Young said. “We were working with a guy we call Pat [McDowell], who is a developmental guy, and he worked with us the entire offseason, every single day.  "

And we've just grown close because of the work that we've put in."

Eagles On SI followed up with Young on the role of McDowell, whose expertise dating back to his college coaching days is with the defensive line.

McDowell was instrumental in helping both Young and Hall make the Eagles' initial 53, a year after the former was stashed on the back end of the roster as a waiver-wire pickup from Las Vegas, and the latter was a practice squad scout-team standout.

Eagles DT Byron Young speaks with reporters on Aug. 28, 2025. | John McMullen/Eagles On SI

“He helped tremendously,” Young said of McDowell. “He was the guy who I did most of my offseason work with. Him, Gabe, Ty Robinson. We came in and we worked every single day.”

Young, the 70th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft of Alabama by the Raiders, pointed to his strength and conditioning as his biggest improvement in the offseason that helped him break through.

“We worked hard every single day, and [McDowell is] the one who really got me into the core stuff, making sure your core is strong enough so when you get bumped, you can brace and you don't move,” Young explained.  ”Everything starts from your core. And so that's what he's really taught me."

Before his time with the Eagles, McDowell spent four years at his alma mater, Fork Union Military Academy, where he was a strength and conditioning coach, defensive line coach, and co-defensive coordinator, foreshadowing his unique role as a utilityman at the professional level.

For Howie Roseman, McDowell's a prominent example of how the GM attempts to win on the margins both on and off the field.

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