Jason Kelce was far from surprised when the Philadelphia Eagles selected his replacement in Nebraska center Cam Jurgens with their second overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
That's because Kelce played a part in helping the Eagles pick out his future successor, calling Jurgens his "favorite player" to come out of that year's draft class.
Now that Kelce has officially retired, one would automatically think that it's Jurgens's time to take over the starting center job but head coach Nick Sirianni isn't ready to make that call just yet.
“I don't have to make that decision anywhere near for a long, long time,” Sirianni said at the NFL's annual league meetings. “So we'll see. We've got a lot of time. We’ve got walk-throughs to go through, we’ve got training camp, we’ve got OTAs, as far as what that looks like."
While Sirianni refused to name Jurgens the team's new starting center, he did say that he's confident in his abilities to replace Kelce if his number is called.
"Cam's gotten a ton of reps," Sirianni said. "If it is Cam, he's got a ton of reps doing that, too. Jason didn't take every snap at center last year in practice, so I'm really confident that he can do it.
Since being drafted, Jurgens has played 709 snaps at right guard and 43 at center for the Eagles.
Jurgens Will Have to Officially Earn the Starting Job
From what Sirianni said, Jurgens will have to continue to work for the starting job through the offseason before he earns the official title.
The Eagles added offensive line depth in NFL free agency by signing versatile center/guard Matt Hennessey, so he's at least one guy who will be competing with Jurgens this summer.
And then there's a possibility that the Eagles draft another center but from what Sirianni said, it sounds like they will stick to a player they already have on the roster to fill Kelce's void.
“I'm really excited about that group that we have,” Sirianni said. “We've had great offensive line play over the past three years that I've been here. Obviously, we're losing one of the best players in not only Eagle history, but NFL history. One of the best centers of all time. So there's going to be things that we've got to work to replace with that.
"But what's great is these guys have been around Jason for three, four, five, six, seven years. And so we'll see who that is at center, we'll see who that is at right guard, but I know we’ve got a lot of good pieces.”
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