Philadelphia Eagles training camp is in the books, and the start of the NFL season is only six days away, so let's do a mailbag or two, shall we? Thanks as always for doing half the work for me.

Question from @jayb773 (via Bluesky): Let's say that Lane Johnson retires, Landon Dickerson retires due to injury, and Tyler Steen leaves in free agency. Are there potential replacements on the roster that would keep the line a top-tier unit in 2027? Markel Bell looks like Lane's replacement, but can Micah Morris, Willie Lampkin, and Drew Kendall be starters on a top-tier OL?

Whenever the Eagles lose Johnson, there is going to be a drastic drop-off to whoever replaces him. He's one of the best football players in NFL history. That said, I don't think the Eagles could have reasonably hoped for more than what Bell has shown this offseason, in terms of his on-field play, and work ethic behind the scenes (or so Lane says).

At LG, I actually kinda wonder if Kendall might be the better player right now. I'm not there yet. I'd like to get a look at Dickerson in real games this season, but I do feel OK with what Kendall has shown this summer about his chances of becoming a long-time NFL starter.

And at RG, I also like what I have seen from Steen. His 2025 season has been oddly criticized by some, but he was absolutely fine for a first-year starter, and I expect him to make a jump this season. I'm not ready yet to say that Lampkin would be ready to start at RG if Steen left. I'd like to see him go up against the Dexter Lawrences of the world before I can trust a player with his size to start full time. But certainly, he has passed every test so far, so I'm also hesitant to doubt him.

Morris is still a project player. He showed enough this summer that he was worthy of a roster spot, but he still has a ways to go.

Would an offensive line of Mailata-Kendall-Jurgens-Lampkin-Bell be top 5 in the league? No. Top 10? Probably not. But the Eagles have to be ecstatic about the progression they saw from Kendall and Lampkin as well as the early returns on Bell and Morris.

Howie Roseman even said as much.

"I don't know if we talked about this before camp, but certainly if any of you would've given me a truth serum and said, 'What are you looking for in training camp?' It would be how our interior offensive line depth panned out and the way that Drew, Willie, and then obviously Micah, keeping Micah," Roseman said on Monday. "Those young guys and the growth that they showed, their ability to play in the passing game, in the run game. 

"I mean, really, really excited about those guys, about being able to have those guys, being able to develop those guys, but at the same time, have confidence that if those guys need to play, that they're ready to play. I was saying it, our interior O-Line depth, it was kind of in a different spot than it had been in years past, relying on some young guys to take a step. A lot of credit to Coach Kuper and the guys around him for getting these guys ready to go. Feel like we're in a really good spot there and it was a concern going into camp."

Question from @BigFeist73: If Dickerson is clearly hurt again this season, will the Eagles make the smart decision and put someone else in there not only for the team, but to save Landon from himself? Obviously last year for whatever reason they refused to make that decision.

A lot of players won't be as revealing about injuries as they should be, because they don't want to come out of the lineup. Dickerson acknowledged this summer that he needs to be smarter about that going forward. Will he actually do that though, knowing that Kendall had a great summer and looks like a real NFL player, potentially capable of replacing him? Who knows?

I do think you're right that the coaching staff bears some responsibility for having Dickerson play at times last season when he shouldn't have been. It was extremely easy to see that he was hurting and needed to take a step back.

Question from 7he_reason (via Threads): Is Tyler Steen the top candidate for an in-season extension vs. possibly having to replace 3 positions on the O-line next year?

The Eagles haven't done a notable in-season contract extension since 2021, when they re-upped Dallas Goedert and Avonte Maddox. Recent notable extensions:

• 2026: Jalen Carter (July)
• 2026: Jordan Davis (March)
• 2025: Cam Jurgens (April)
• 2025: Lane Johnson (March)
• 2025: Saquon Barkley (March)
• 2024: A.J. Brown (April)
• 2024: DeVonta Smith (April)
• 2024: Jordan Mailata (April)
• 2024: Jake Elliott (March)
• 2024: Landon Dickerson (March)
• 2023: Jalen Hurts (April)
• 2023: Darius Slay (March)
• 2022: A.J. Brown (May)
• 2021: Avonte Maddox (November)
• 2021: Dallas Goedert (November)
• 2021: Jordan Mailata (September)

Since then they have prioritized getting extensions done early in the offseason, either in March or April. This year, Jalen Carter's extension was a bit of an outlier in that it dragged on until July, but that was a situation where Carter and his representation were waiting for some other interior defensive lineman deals to get done first.

I think that if the Eagles have any urgency to get a deal done with Steen, you'll see it over the next week or so. But more likely Steen and his representation are fully aware how much quality linemen can make in free agency these days, with so many teams desperate for help in the trenches. I don't think we'll see that get done. We'll see!

Question from @HipsterEagle: Do you think Lampkin stays at guard? If Kendall is the first off the bench at all three iOL spots, what’s Lampkin’s role? Maybe they could have him moonlight at FB?

Lampkin's role is second guy off the bench at all three iOL spots, ha. I do think that if both Kendall and Lampkin have to play in the same game this season, Kendall would play guard and Lampkin would be the center. It's easier to help the center than it is the guard.

I'm curious who will be active on gameday among the backup offensive linemen. There are usually three active backups. Surely, Kendall will be active. And then I think Fred Johnson could be active initially, because of his experience and because he was the sixth offensive lineman in jumbo sets last year before he was forced into the starting lineup. Maybe that has changed. We'll see.

If that's right (and it might not be), then the last spot is between Bell and Lampkin. I think they'd opt for Bell, even if the interior O-line is statistically more likely to suffer two in-game injuries.

But also, yes, I'm curious to see if the team has some other creative use for Lampkin, given his unique body dimensions. I think he could be a pretty nasty blocking fullback.

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Question from @dan_mphillips: Will the Eagles regret losing either of OTs Cameron Williams or Myles Hinton?

I don't think Hinton would have even been back on the practice squad this year. He was that bad in camp. I'm shocked he got claimed.

Williams still has a chance to be something in this league, even if only a long-term backup. He had a pretty brutal camp as a rookie last year, and there was some improvement this year. But he also pretty clearly wasn't among the top 10 most valuable offensive linemen on the roster at cutdowns. I'd have kept him over Andy Dalton. But I'd have kept a lot of guys who got cut over Andy Dalton.

Question from @tgriz1 (via Bluesky): How about Lampkin playing long snapper and freeing up another roster spot?

I've actually gotten a few of these questions and I'm trying to decide if people are just messing with me. But, no, ha. Long snappers are crazy precise these days. On field goals, they're able to put a certain amount of spin on the ball so that the laces are pointing out when the holder puts it down. They also have to be able to snap with speed (literally the ball getting back to the holder quickly) and placement. And then on punts, again, you want speed and accuracy there as well, plus they're expected to block and get down the field in punt coverage.

These guys hone that craft for years and years. Suffering a bunch of extra missed field goals and a few blocked punts with an amateur long snapper is not worth saving an extra roster spot for some undrafted rookie.

Question from @TheSmartyJones: Did your life feel empty this summer not watching Brett Toth ruin second and third team offensive sessions with bad snaps?

Ha, my streak of bitching about that every camp finally came to an end. To Toth's credit, he snapped fine in the real games he had to play at center, and he got a nice payday this offseason, at least for a guy who has been hanging on the fringe of the 53-man roster his whole career. Good for him!

Question from @MattBurk86: With A.J. Brown targets to distribute elsewhere, and Tucker Kraft's performance in Mannion's system last year, why are we not projecting Dallas Goedert for a bigger season, and instead putting more pressure on Lemon to fill the gap immediately?

Well, I can only speak for myself here, not what anyone else might be saying, but I am definitely not pushing the idea that the team should be pressuring Lemon to fill the gap immediately. Personally, I think he could probably use more time to ease in.

As for Goedert, I'm not projecting a big bump in production, (a) because I think he had a rare season in 2025 when he didn't get hurt, and I believe his durability should still be a concern; and (b) I believe he is in decline.

Kraft is a great player. I think at one time Goedert was somewhere near his level as a receiver. He is not anymore, in my opinion.

Question from @chrisgancarz (via Threads): Is E.J. Jenkins just a roster spot holder for an eventual reunion with Zach Ertz?

That is my read, yes. I do think the Eagles will add Ertz, after Week 1, when his salary won't be fully guaranteed.

Question from @RonJAdams: Seems to me that calling the game as an OC from the booth is the most efficient way. See everything, space for your call sheets and photos, space to think. With comms being so good these days it seems the only reason to be on the field is just fun. Any thoughts or theories on this?

Yeah, I think I have some level of perspective on this. When I'm watching Eagles practices from the sidelines, it's a lot harder to see route combinations on the field, and how they're being defended. When I'm up in the press box during games or open practices at the Linc, it's far clearer.

Sean Mannion has been watching games from the sideline his whole life, so that's just what he's used to. But my bet is that he'll see that the view from above is a lot more revealing. And also, yep, he can spread out, have some coffee in front of him, lay out his sheets as needed, etc. The booth would be a no-brainer choice for me.

Question from @jimmyd-antwerp (via Bluesky): How do you think your press box food experience will be now that you won't be doing the reviews?

This might sound ridiculous, but those press box food reviews were taking a toll on me, lol. It was a legitimate commitment to eat as much as I did every weekend, and I was putting on like 10-15 pounds every season. Part of that is because I'm typing at my desk for longer periods of time during the season instead of getting exercise, but also a big part of that was shoveling that crap into my face every Sunday. Shedding that extra weight in the offseason isn't quite as easy when you're pushing 50.

But also, I've been to every stadium now, and at most of them they don't change all that much from year to year, so the series was going to get even more repetitive than it had been. It was time.

Anyway, to answer the question, I'm kinda thrilled to not have to worry about it anymore. I can just eat like a normal person while working games and not be a fat slob in February.

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