It has been the ongoing storyline that has dominated the Eagles’ offseason: Will A.J. Brown be traded, and what team would be an appropriate trading partner?
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But there has been something looming even larger than does not get broached nowhere near as much as it should: The stability of the Eagles’ offensive line.
The Eagles paid a price for winning Super Bowl LIX—a beat up offensive line that opened holes for Saquon Barkley’s NFL-record 2024 season (for most rushing yards in a single season with 2,504). It meant playing more games, taking more punishment, and having less time to recover and rebuild from the previous season. It is the cost the NFL exacts for winning.
Regrettably, the Eagles’ offensive line deteriorated in 2025. Left tackle Jordan Mailata, left guard Landon Dickerson, and center Cam Jurgens had poor seasons—by their standards. According to Pro Football Focus, the Eagles went from the No. 1 offensive line in football in 2024 to No. 7 in 2025. Mailata went from the No. 1 left tackle in the NFL to No. 6 (dropping from a 95.8 grade to 88.1), Dickerson took the most precipitous fall, going from No. 9 to No. 30 (79.2 dropped to 67.5), Jurgens fell from No. 13 to No. 19 (67.1 dropped to 66.0) and future Hall of Famer, right tackle Lane Johnson, went No. 7 to No. 18 (85.4 dropped to 77.4).
A major reason for their demise is that Johnson, who will turn 36 in May, Dickerson and Jurgens all played hurt last year.
Johnson suffered a Lisfranc ligament sprain in his left foot during the November 16, 2025, game against the Detroit Lions, forcing him to miss seven games and taking just 450 snaps, the fewest snaps he took since the 2020 season, when he took 404 snaps in a season derailed by an ankle injury playing in just seven game. At 36, how much longer can Johnson be counted on or expected to play 12 games or more in a season?
Dickerson was contemplating retirement this offseason, after taking a career-low 836 snaps in 2025, down for the second-straight year (2023: 1,046; 2024: 996) after battling a meniscus injury in training camp and with back and ankle problems in 2025. Jurgens went from 1,068 snaps in 2024 to a career-low 801 in 2025 recovering from offseason back surgery. He went public recently on a podcast explaining that he had a herniated disk in the 2024 Super Bowl playoff run and then went further to say the disc broke off and wrapped around his sciatic nerve in his lower back. The pain was so great, Jurgens said, he could barely walk. He says he feels fine now.
But there are issues here. Serious problems that could scuttle the upcoming 2026 season.
“It was not a good group last year, they did not play well,” NFL Network expert Brian Baldinger said. “That had a lot to do with the injuries. The offensive line will be their biggest question in 2026. Let’s see what they do under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. Saquon had problems last year and that was because the offensive line had problems. Repairing the offensive is a bigger issue than trading A.J. Brown. There will be a lot of changes and let’s see how quickly that they can get healthy and adapt.”
Mannion has brought in new offensive line coach Chris Kuper, who is replacing the Eagles’ beloved, legendary offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. Kuper will try to incorporate the zone blocking system he played in Denver under the late Alex Gibbs, who died in 2021 and was known for his innovative schemes with the Denver Broncos under head coach Mike Shanahan. It’s a finesse scheme that requires offensive linemen to be responsible for an area rather than a defender. It’s a scheme that relies on the cohesion of the group.
Stoutland was old-school, beat the man in front of you. The Eagles won the 2024 Super Bowl by basically bullying and running over other teams, blowing them off the ball and creating gaping holes for Barkley. It was a demanding, physical brand of power football. It was also physically taxing on the offensive line.
“For one, I think A.J. Brown will be back, and this past Eagles’ season was about the offensive line playing hurt the whole year,” said Barrett Brooks, one of the stalwarts on NBC Philadelphia’s Eagles Postgame Live show, and who is as locked in to the Eagles as anyone. “That is their bigger problem. Going three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, that influences the whole team. Their inability to score directly impacted the defense. The magic number in the NFL is 17. If you can score more than 17 and can hold your opponents to less than 17 points, you will win most of your games. The Eagles’ offensive line last year was held together by bubble gum and duct tape. They just could not block anyone.
“I believe they will be back. I believe they will be back and are good enough to challenge Seattle. Coach Gibbs is the father of the zone blocking scheme, and that’s how Terrell Davis had his success.”
Brooks stressed that it would take time to absorb Mannion and Kuper’s system.
Stoutland was stubborn and did not like motion. Mannion’s offense cannot be run with Stoutland’s blocking schemes. Kuper’s scheme could keep the offensive line healthier. Also, the Eagles were able to run motion under Jason Kelce, who compensated for Jalen Hurts and knew where the call MIKE linebacker was when defenses switched the number count on motion plays. It is a reason why Kevin Patullo ran basic stuff last season, because Jurgens and Hurts sometimes could not pick that up.
Mannion’s offense will also require Hurts to be under center more and put his back to the field on play-action plays, something Hurts may not be too fond of doing. We’ll see. Hurts also likes to throw in open windows if a receiver is absolutely open, not timing routes hitting receivers in stride, which is something A.J. Brown likes in his quarterbacks.
The Eagles held teams last season to 19.3 points a game, which was No. 6 overall in the NFL behind No. 1 Super Bowl champion Seattle, which gave up an average of 16.9 points a game, the only team in the NFL to allow less than 17 points a game last season.
In the Eagles’ seven losses, including their season-ending defeat at Lincoln Financial Field to the San Francisco 49ers, the Eagles averaged 17.8 points a game. Also, something interesting is in the Eagles’ Super Bowl 2024 season, they led the NFL in time of possession, averaging 32 minutes, 21 seconds a game. Last year, that figure dropped to 12th, averaging 30:16 TOP a game, a drop of 2 minutes, six seconds from 2024. In 2024, the Eagles were No. 11 in third-down conversion rate (40.28%). In 2025, they were No. 24, with a 36.73% third-down conversion rate.
Much of those drops start up front with the offensive line.