10 Philadelphia Eagles that will play key roles in winning at Pittsburgh

The Philadelphia Eagles are relying on young players to bolster their O-Line.

We don’t know how many fans Nate Herbig has, but we are sure they were equally excited and worried about seeing him start his first game ever versus the Washington Football Team and their potent defensive line in the season opener. To everyone’s surprise, he held his ground for the most part as the team’s right guard rather well, and he continued to do so in Week 2.

The Eagles asked him to switch to left guard when Isaac Seumalo sustained a knee injury. There, he hasn’t fared as well as he did on the right side, but there’s a lot of confidence in him as Philly approaches Week 5.

The injury bug continues to bite this Philadelphia Eagles team and has decimated their offensive line since training camp. The unit has undergone lineup changes everywhere except for at center. At left tackle, they’ve placed both Andre Dillard and Jason Peters on injured reserve, and that means Jordan Mailata is their only option at left tackle for the foreseeable future.

In his first-ever start, Mailata played solidly and allowed just one quarterback hurry.  The sample size is too small to evaluate right now, but his potential can’t be ignored. If he keeps playing the way he did in Week 4, he could keep the starting job for the remainder of the season, even though Doug Pederson has stated in so many words that the job belongs to Jason Peters when he returns.