Heading into the Philadelphia Eagles’ preseason game against the New England Patriots, one of the few positional battles fans were hoping to see play out was between incumbent right guard Tyler Steen, who was given the position based solely on pedigree heading into the summer, and Mekhi Becton, a former New York Jets tackle who switched to guard over the summer.
Unfortunately, the duel was not meant to be, as Becton did not play, Steen sustained an injury that required him to be taken off the field, and spectators were left to witness Dylan McMahon and Nick Gates compete against the greatest second and third stringers New England has to offer.
When asked if Becton’s absence from the game meant he was fully supporting the Louisville product as the Eagles’ current right guard, head coach Nick Sirianni revealed where his thoughts were following preseason Game 2.
“Yeah, we still have some time to think through some things,” Sirianni told reporters. “We’ll have some really nice physical practices next week, almost some operational things, and other things like that. So we will see. There’s no reason to say anything either way right now because we’re still working through it. So, we’ll see.
So, Sirianni is still unsure about naming his new right guard? Publicly, sure, but given that Steen is unlikely to be at full strength coming into Week 1, it’s safe to say this dispute is more semantic than anything else, as Becton will most likely be sandwiched between Lane Johnson and Cam Jurgens in Brazil come Week 1.
Nick Sirianni praised some other Eagles offensive lineman.
The next day, after the Eagles’ victory against the Patriots, Sirianni was asked if he had any under-the-radar players for whom he wanted to give credit, and Philly’s head coach didn’t hold back, with the offensive line receiving the majority of his praise.
“I think the boys played tough and physical. Again, on defense, we missed one tackle versus Baltimore. I believe we had four, two on the same play, versus New England, which is still—you’re going to miss tackles, but I felt we tackled effectively. I know I mentioned the four missed ones, but there are several plays that occur during a game. So, once again, we achieved a percentage of our goals. Sirianni told reporters that the defense tackled effectively and pursued the football well, so I’d say that overall, the defense played with solid principles.
