3 Philadelphia Eagles with much to gain following Lane Johnson injury

Can Jeff Driscoll’s Philadelphia Eagles stock rise by not playing?

When the Philadelphia Eagles take the field for their Week 12 game versus the Seattle Seahawks, the starting lineup will include Jordan Mailata, Isaac Seumalo, Jason Kelce, Jason Peters, and Matt Pryor. For the uninitiated, here’s what that means.

Jordan Mailata is your left tackle, and how great of a story has been? That last rugby guy didn’t work out (Adam Zaruba), but this one is doing just fine. Seumalo, perhaps Philly’s most versatile lineman, is the left guard. Kelce is the anchor. Peters moves back to the role that we thought he’d play at the beginning of the season, right guard, and we now know, thanks to a Saturday morning presser with Eagles head coach, Doug Pederson, that Pryor is the starting right tackle in Johnson’s absence.

Some of you are probably wondering what Jack Driscoll has to do with any of this. It’s quite simple actually. Driscoll, a fourth-round selection by the Birds in 2020’s NFL Draft had an amazing training camp, something Pryor can’t claim to have had. Driscoll is more talented than Pryor, but he’s also hurt, and while Pryor is the starter for Week 12, it appears that Driscoll is more NFL-ready and the guy that this team prefers.

Lane Johnson won’t be seen again until 2021. The question is who will his backup be? A bad showing by Pryor down the stretch in 2020 could leave the door wide open for the man nipping at his heels, even after he missed Week 7 through Week 9 with injuries. Then again, after the decisions that we’ve seen the Eagles make personnel-wise, who’s to say that they won’t make the decision to send an injured Driscoll out onto the field?