September 18, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Landon Dickerson won't play on Sunday against the Titans. Who will replace him?
After his poor performance Week 1 against the Washington Commanders, Landon Dickerson landed on injured reserve. The most obvious question thereafter was, of course, who would replace him?
It was unanimously assumed by those of us who cover the team that Dickerson's replacement would be second-year interior offensive lineman Drew Kendall.
In the Eagles' meaningless Week 18 game against the Commanders in 2025, Kendall got a full game's worth of action, and showed promise. This summer in training camp and in the preseason games, Kendall seemed to take his game to the next level, playing well both at center and guard. He improved in pass protection, as a run blocker, and he showed a level of aggressiveness and confidence that he didn't show as a rookie.
The only question seemed to be whether Kendall would fill in directly at left guard for Dickerson, or if he would play center and Cam Jurgens would slide over to guard.
Kendall was purely a center at Boston College, and although he has been cross-training at center and guard since the team drafted him, he has no experience in real NFL games at guard. Jurgens has been the Eagles' starting center since Jason Kelce retired following the 2023 season, but in 2023 he was the starting RG.
On Wednesday, Jalen Hurts was asked how big of a deal it is if Kendall replaces Jurgens at center. “I’ve been working with Cam," Hurts said. "When Cam has his off days in camp, [Kendall] fills in. But, yeah, Cam.”
OK, so that settled that. Jurgens would remain at center, Kendall would play left guard.
Until...
Fred Johnson was at LG during individual drills on Thursday, at least when the media was allowed to watch. (Media gets kicked out after the first 10-20 minutes of practice, and cannot watch team drills during the season like we can during training camp.)
#Eagles in full subterfuge mode with Fred Johnson at LG in individual work. pic.twitter.com/TFU32tKoJm
— John McMullen (@JFMcMullen) September 17, 2026
Was that just a ruse to get the Philly media to report on it, knowing that the Titans would be paying attention to media reporting?
Well, first let's analyze what possible benefits there could be to starting Fred Johnson at LG:
• Johnson was a guard in college at Florida, and he played some guard early in his career in the NFL. But it's been a while. Career snap counts, by position:
| Year | LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| 2019 | 129 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 278 | 0 | 0 | 124 | 77 |
| 2021 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 53 |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| 2024 | 351 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 119 |
| 2025 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 521 |
| TOTAL | 832 | 0 | 0 | 144 | 805 |
As you can see, he has zero career snaps at LG, but certainly he has proven to be an effective reserve on both sides of the line, so footwork shouldn't be an issue.
• Johnson has also played 1,870 career snaps total, playoffs included. Kendall has only played 89. So, overall, Johnson has far more game experience, just generally speaking.
• Jeffery Simmons is the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL, and maybe the Eagles don't want Kendall's first ever meaningful start to be against that guy.
And the downside to starting Johnson:
• Johnson didn't have a very good camp, even at his regular position at OT, while Kendall crushed it and seemed to have satisfied the Eagles' staff and front office with his progression from Year 1 to Year 2. Kendall is a potential future starter, and Johnson probably is not.
• I mean, Kendall is just ready. Play him.
I can't recall the Eagles ever screwing around with practice reps to get the media to report it and create confusion for the upcoming opponent. To do that for the first time ahead of a matchup with one of the worst teams in the league would be a weird choice, even if the opponent's best player is facing the position where the Eagles would be hoping to create confusion.
Showing Johnson at LG in front of the media for the purposes of a ruse at the expense of reps for Kendall would be silly, in my opinion. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the team trusts Johnson over Willie Lampkin, who would theoretically be the next-next guy up on the interior. That is far more reasonable. And if so, they are rightfully getting him some reps at LG in case Kendall, Jurgens, or Steen go down.
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