Eagles offensive line suffering from lack of recent draft picks

It didn’t take intense analysis to determine that the Philadelphia Eagles have been pitiful at blocking this year. Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray have had essentially no time to make plays because the offensive line is getting blown up almost immediately. If this doesn’t change, the Eagles will surely fail to finish with a winning record.

Having a solid offensive line is of paramount importance to an offense’s success. The ability to run the ball consistently, and actually gain yards, is something that the Eagles had to do to win games this year. It’s old news that they spent millions of dollars on three separate running backs, but the pressing issue is still there: they can’t run the ball.

Here’s a little history lesson. First of all, let’s establish that LeSean McCoy is indeed a very good running back, regardless of how salty he is for being traded and how annoyed Eagles fans are at how he’s acted. In 2012, the Eagles’ offensive line was absolutely brutal, seemingly switching up every week. People were getting hurt left and right and nobody could block well enough for McCoy.

He finished the year with just 841 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The next year, when the same offensive line started every single game together, that same running back ran for nearly twice as many yards (1,607) and nine touchdowns. It was the same guy behind the line, just a different set of guys in front of him. That group of guys in front of him surely does matter.

In a way, Cowboys fans have been right all along. Murray did have a sensational 2014 season because of how great the offensive line was. Was that the only reason? Of course not, but having such a dominant force up front allowed Murray to run through holes the size of Mack trucks on a regular basis. It was too easy.

While Murray clearly isn’t as effective as last year, I think this is mostly due to the fact that five guys are already tackling him by the time he gets the hand-off. It’s hard to blame the running back when he has a horde of defenders on top of him the second he gets the ball.

Bradford is dealing with the same problem. He genuinely looks scared in the pocket because at any moment a bunch of humongous, quarterback-hungry defenders could be collapsing on top of him. Why should he have any confidence in his line with how poorly they’re playing? We all know Bradford can be accurate, but it’s very difficult for that to happen with the situation he dealt with Sunday. It just won’t work.

Which brings me to the point of the headline. The last time the Eagles drafted an offensive lineman (Lane Johnson) was in the first round of the 2013 draft. That’s 20 straight draft picks since they’ve taken an offensive lineman. Johnson remains the only offensive lineman that Chip Kelly has drafted. It was a great pick, but with an aging offensive line that has been here since Kelly got to Philly, he has to be more aware.

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Teams can get away with having an average quarterback or running back and still win games. Teams can have just one or two talented skill position players on offense and make an offense work. That is, only if they have a stout offensive line. It may be a quarterback’s game, but those quarterbacks would be nothing if it weren’t for the guys in front of them blocking.

In two games, the Eagles offensive line has been horrendous. I wish I could say it was only Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner who were struggling, but every single guy looked bad yesterday. Even Brent Celek, who is basically only getting snaps to block, was brutally bad against Dallas. According to Pro Football Focus, only four players at any position had a worse grade for run-blocking in Week 2 than Celek (-4.2). That’s horrible.

Kelly thought that cutting both of his starting guards from 2014 wouldn’t change much and that they could easily replace them with guys already on the roster. It’s pretty clear that hasn’t worked at all. This is a fixable problem. Things can be improved. But they’re stuck with the guys they have for now, and it’s not looking good. If the younger guys like Johnson and Jason Kelce are struggling, good luck figuring out how to improve the guys in their 30s. At some point, not drafting offensive linemen is going to catch up with a team, and it appears it has happened to the Eagles.

Next: Sam Bradford looked strong in Eagles regular season debut

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