THE EAGLES, LIKE MOST TEAMS, ARE STILL IN THE PRESEASON STAGE

Brian Baldinger - On the Eagles

I have been saying for the past five years that September is the new August.

Meaning that the games played in September is what preseason used to be for. As for the Eagles, no meaningful starters played in any preseason games.

It was especially glaring this year because no one knew, NO ONE, knew how bad Landon Dickerson's lingering knee issues were until they watched him struggle in every area in the season opener against Washington.

This is also a year of massive change on the offense. Fourth new offensive coordinator in four years and with a new offensive line coach and a new QB coach.

So, the trio of Sean Mannion, Chris Kuper, and Parks Frazier have spent the past eight months installing a new offense that is vastly different for everybody.

Very different for Jalen Hurts who comes from a shotgun background from starting as an 18-year-old freshman for Nick Saban in a shotgun offense and was very similar to Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma and for his first six years in Philadelphia.

Now he is asked to go under center and execute a lot of play action passes and sell the run to defenses with intricate ball handling.

That is an adjustment.

It's also a big adjustment for Saquon Barkley. Since his days at Penn State to the New York Giants and the past three years in Philadelphia he has largely been a runner from the shotgun formation.

Baldy believes Eagles offensive lineman Drew Kendell will be a productive center in the NFL. Photo by Andy Lewis

For the first time he is being asked to lineup eight yards deep and see the daylight from a completely different perspective

I think both QB and RB have been professional and worked hard at the nuances associated with the change.

Everything changed a great deal after their week 1 victory when Landon Dickerson elected to go on injured reserve where he will miss at least a month of action and likely more. The conversation centered around how do we fix the left guard position?.

No one knew how bad Landon Dickerson's knee issues were until the opener against Washington. Photo by Terence Lewis

After some internal discussion they elected to change two positions to fix the left guard vacancy. They moved Cam Jurgens to left guard and inserted Drew Kendall to Center. That move changed a lot.

Drew is a natural center. I have known his father, Pete Kendall, for a long time. He also attended Boston College and played 13 years in the NFL as a very good center.

Like Father, like son.

Saquon Barkley will eventually benefit from Hurts taking more snaps from under center. Photo by Andy Lewis. 

Drew also went to BC, and I believe he started 39 straight games at center. When the Eagles drafted Drew with a No. 5 pick in the 2025 draft, I thought it was a solid pick, and he would eventually become a starter in the NFL. I just didn't forecast the circumstances that he became the starting center.

So in the season where there was a complete overhaul in offensive philosophy that included trading their best wide receiver more changes happened after Week 1.

I think Drew played very well against a defensive front in Tennessee that features the best DT in the NFL in Jeffrey Simmons.

Young players find out a lot about themselves especially when you face the very best in his first NFL start. I think Drew might say his "welcome moment to the NFL" was when he first felt the power of Simmons.

I think for Cam Jurgens it's going to be on the job training transitioning to left guard. As a player who went from RG to Center in the very first game one year it was world's apart even though I knew all the assignments.

Same for Cam. Learning to play out of a left handed stance; angles to the linebackers, when to come off of a double team to block a crashing linebacker.

Even with all of the changes that have occurred over the past nine months I believe in this offense despite the high percentage of three-and-outs and the number of runs that have gone for two yards or less. After three weeks, Saquon is averaging over five yards per carry.

He has only done that one other time in 2024 on his way to 2,000 yards and a Super Bowl victory. His issue is that he only has 34 carries in three games, largely due to being dinged early in the Tennessee game

Jalen Hurts is being asked to take more snaps from under center...not just the Tush Push. Baldy says that is a big adjustment. Photo by Andy Lewis.

He needs to begin working up to 20 carries a game where he can get in sync with the new O-Line, a new offense, and a new system. They can practice all the runs in practice all they want but games are different.

Sometimes you make changes on the sideline or even in the huddle and how certain plays need to be blocked .

This unfortunately for many impatient Eagle fans will take time.

But if they avoid major injuries and are allowed to develop all phases of this offense I think by the end of October you will see Drew Kendall emerge as a legit NFL center and big runs from Saquon should occur simultaneously to the development of this offensive line and the new system.

Am I really preaching patience to Eagle fans? *