Eagles Tap Into 'Bloodline' For Day 3 Offensive Line Prospects

Bring up “The Bloodline” to a professional wrestling fan, and they will immediately default to the Samoan Dynasty of the Anoaʻi family. Drop it to the Netflix and chill crowd, and they might wax poetic on the Rayburns’ impact on Key West.

In pro football, you’ll hear “it’s a genetics league.”

The Eagles tapped into that mindset twice on Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft to find some offensive line help, first selecting Boston College center Drew Kendall at No. 168 overall in the fifth round, the son of Pete Kendall, a 1996 first-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks, who spent 13 seasons in the NFL and as a top-tier guard.

Only 23 spots after that, Philadelphia went with Michigan offensive tackle Myles Hinton, the son of five-time All-Pro Chris Hinton, once the No. 4 overall pick in the 1983 draft by the Indianapolis Colts and a player who turned into one of the best O-Linemen of his generation.

“It's certainly part of the player profile,” Eagles’ GM Howie Roseman told Philadelphia Eagles On SI. "Coach [Nick Sirianni] and I joke a lot of times about that. Certainly, genetics are part of who we all are, and having pro athletes as your parents usually helps. 

“It's hard to play in the National Football League.”

Roseman himself brought up the sentiment when discussing Kendall, an advanced center prospect in what the GM described as a “center-deficient league.”

"You talk about somebody who's just made to play in the NFL, obviously his dad was the first-round pick,” Roseman said of Kendall. “It's hard to find. It is a center-deficient league. There are not a lot of centers on draft boards. It is not a natural trait to snap the ball and so not every offensive lineman can do that.”

The Eagles are loaded at the center position because of their emphasis on it. Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens was drafted in 2022 despite the presence of future Hall of Famer Jason Kelce, and the year prior to that, the Eagles drafted Landon Dickerson at the top of the second round, a player who was an All-American center at Alabama before turning into a Pro Bowl left guard in Philadelphia.

“A lot of times you'll sit there in the fall, and you'll go, we'll move this guy to center and then you'll see them in the all-star games at the combine and snap the ball and go (laughing.), that's not going to work,” Roseman said. “That can't happen. It's not a natural trait, and so we felt very fortunate that [Kendall] was there [in the fifth round]. “

… It wasn't a need. We thought this was the best player on the board and a guy who fits what we're trying to do."

Hinton is more of a developmental prospect at tackle with the kind of awe-inspiring athletic traits that turned his father into a star.

“[It takes a] special kind of talent to play in the National Football League, and we see that every day and how talented our players are,” Roseman said. “So, when they come from that [kind of bloodline], it usually means that the game's not going to be too big for them. 

“They've been around it since they were really little. We see that with our family. They get the opportunity to be around locker rooms and players, and so when they come to this big stage, they've been around it. And so, certainly, that's not why we're drafting players. 

“We’re drafting them on their ability, but it's helpful.”