Philadelphia Eagles camp notes: Isaac Seumalo is struggling

The light switch doesn’t seem to be turning on for Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Isaac Seumalo.

If you can find yourself a starter or a really good reserve player in the third round of an NFL Draft, you’ve done yourself one heck of a service as a professional football team. The Philadelphia Eagles know this fact very well, and that was the goal when they took Isaac Seumalo 79th overall in 2016.

Deep down, everyone, fans and coaches included, were hoping that he could show he had the potential to play at a starters level if called upon.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to do that.

It can sometimes be hard to find diamonds in the rough.

Here’s probably something you’ve heard so many times that you’ve forgotten who said it originally. Often times, guys who are taken in early rounds don’t pan out. In the same thought, many an NFL team has found some of the heart of their roster in middle rounds.

To be honest, early, middle-round, and late-round players all don’t work out, but that’s another story.

Let’s look at Seumalo’s story. Philly had high hopes for him, once stating that they were excited about his versatility and he could play every position along the offensive line. Now, he’s being tried out at a new position, center. That was supposed to make him more comfortable, but unfortunately, things aren’t working out.

The plan is, apparently, for a man who has shown he may not be an NFL-level guard (think back to his game against the Kansas City Chiefs), is that he might be able to serve in a reserve role at center and, hopefully, one day, take over for Jason Kelce.

That’s never going to work, however, if he can’t figure out the shotgun snap. He’s missing high. He’s missing low, and his head coach has been yelling at him. This, in no way, means Seumalo is on a collision course with the waiver wire. It does, however, mean we’re still talking about issues we thought we could move on from.

His offensive coordinator remains confident in him:

"We love his position flexibility. We like the fact that he can play center and guard for us, and even bump out the tackle and he’ll play a big tight end for us too. An old saying in the NFL is the more you can do, the more valuable you are, so, he’s got a lot of value right now."

Keep an eye on this one. Things could get interesting.