Eagles Top 25 For 2025: Versatile Returning Veteran Lands at No. 24

Perhaps the least-heralded member of the famed Eagles’ 2018 draft class returned to the organization on a one-year deal this offseason.

Versatile offensive lineman Matt Pryor, 30, is ostensibly back at the NovaCare Complex to be the sixth man on the NFL’s best offensive line, but he could wind up with a larger role.

After a career-best season in Chicago, Pryor finished in the No. 24 spot on the Eagles On SI’s annual Top 25 players on the roster heading toward training camp in July.

EOSI beat reporters Ed Kracz and John McMullen each compiled their top 25 lists separately, and a point system determined the final list with No. 1 receiving 25 points all the way down to one point for No. 25.

The idea is to determine the best pure football players on perhaps the NFL's most talented roster. Impact (the quarterback would always be No. 1 in any NFL city) is not what the last is about. It’s essentially Bill Belichick rules in trying to determine who does their particular job the best.

The 6-foot-7, 332-pound Pryor, a TCU product, has experience at every position on the O-Line except center, and is coming off his best personal season with the Bears, in which he did the vast majority of his work at right guard. 

Right guard happens to be the lone position on Jeff Stoutland’s unit with some uncertainty after Mekhi Becton’s exit to the Los Angeles Chargers via free agency in the offseason.

For the second consecutive season, Tyler Steen, a third-year pro, is getting the first opportunity to lock down the job, and Pryor was working as the backup during spring work.

Although the Bears struggled last season as a whole, and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was sacked nearly 70 times, Pryor was among the few bright spots for Chicago’s offensive front.

Playing in 1,005 offensive snaps over a career-high 15 starts, Pryor was graded as the 21st-best OG in the NFL last season by Pro Football Focus. Conversely, Steen was ranked No. 75 of 77, and trade acquisition Kenyon Green was 76 of 77.

More so, Stoutland has typically liked bigger bodies inside since Brandon Brooks’ run at RG, and Pryor also fits that bill.

Pryor spent his first two pro seasons in Philadelphia as a member of a small five-man but very successful draft class that also produced Dallas Goedert, Avonte Maddox, Josh Sweat, Pryor and Jordan Mailata. 

During his first stint in Philadelphia, Pryor started 10 of 27 games (six at RG, three at right tackle, and one at left guard), before he and a 2022 seventh-round pick were dealt to Indianapolis for a 2022 sixth-round pick at the initial cutdown to 53 before the 2021 season.

Pryor finished out his rookie deal with the Colts, starting 14 of 33 games over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He signed to be a backup in San Francisco during the 2023 season before taking off with the Bears in his seventh pro campaign in 2024.

Pryor landed at No. 22 on McMullen’s list and didn’t make Kracz’s top 25 demarcation line. The four points landed the veteran at No. 24 overall on the final list.