Offensive Line Woes Need to be Addressed in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Eagles made a litany of new coaching hires in the off-season.

Pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard, senior offensive assistant Jarrod Johnson, run game coordinator Ryan Mahaffey, and offensive coordinator Sean Mannion are all new to the Eagles franchise this year.

Philadelphia also brought in a new offensive line coach in Chris Kuper. He replaced Jeff Stoutland in February. It certainly was a mediocre performance by Kuper’s group in the season open.

In Sunday’s 24-22 win over Washington, the offensive line looked clumsy and discombobulated at times. There were many openings in Philadelphia’s zone-blocking scheme that Washington defenders were able to aggressively attack. It was a key reason why Philadelphia’s offense often stalled and was forced to punt seven times. In pass protection, they surrendered three sacks of quarterback Jalen Hurts. That total could have been even more if not for some nifty footwork by Hurts.

In the running game, the Eagles rushed 25 times for 136 yards. That comes out to 5.6 yards per carry. On the surface, that looks like a good day’s work. However, 42 of those yards came on one play thanks to a Saquon Barkley first half gallop. He finished the day with 15 carries for 83 yards. In other words, Barkley was bottled up for the rest of the evening.

Individually, Eagles center Cam Jurgens picked up two penalties in ballgame and former Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson looked very slow off the ball. Dickerson allowed four pressures and one quarterback hit on Sunday.

Of 138 qualifying lineman, Pro Football Focus ranked Dickerson 136th in the league after Sunday’s contest. Philadelphia’s 36 year-old right tackle Lane Johnson, who missed the last seven regular season games due to injury in 2025, looked very stiff and robotic when operating in space. The Eagles’ zone blocking scheme seemed to reveal Johnson’s weakness at times.

It says a lot about the character of the team that they were able to gut out a win despite some uneven play, but Philadelphia’s offensive line is definitely a work in progress. Coach Kuper has much work to do to get this unit firing on all cylinders.