NFL Draft prospect draws comparisons to Eagles legend Jason Kelce

Much can change in a month. As the final days of March trickled away, the Philadelphia Eagles still had three first-round draft choices, and we were tossing around ideas about whether or not they’d make all of them. One, month later, we’re still feeling the effects of some news we were made privy to upon April’s arrival.

A blockbuster trade was announced. Philly and the New Orleans Saints entered into a deal involving eight draft choices that cover the span of three offseasons, and less often, we were mentioning prospects that we had spent a great deal of time discussing. Throw Tyler Linderbaum‘s name in that discussion.

At six-foot-three and 290 pounds, Linderbaum is universally seen as the best center prospect in the 2022 NFL Draft class. As we’ve moved through the pre-draft process, he’s drawn a nice comparison, one that mentions him in the same breath as one of the greatest Eagles ever, Jason Kelce.

Could Tyler Linderbaum really be a clone of the Eagles legend?

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein is one of the best in the business when it comes to analyzing college football’s prospects, and in his NFL Draft profile, he compares Linderbaum to Jason Kelce. The physical similarities are obvious. Kelce is six-foot-three and 295 pounds and there were quite a few references to him being undersized when he entered the league as well.

Zierlein also mentions a few of the things he sees as strengths. Linderbaum’s “hands, hips, and feet are harmonious”. He looks for “additional work when uncovered”. Zierlein also likes the fact that the 2021 Unanimous All-American and Rimington Trophy winner is accurate in his “roadmaps” whenever he’s hitting those “second-level angles”.

Chris Simms sees things this way. He offered his theories in a recent episode of Pro Football Talk Live

"You kept waiting for (Linderbaum to get overpowered), and every game, he wins the battle. He’s extremely athletic. It’s elite athleticism for a center or really any offensive line position. It’s Jason Kelce-ish, in a lot of ways. That’s the guy he reminds you of."

In some of the earlier mock drafts we saw, the dots were being connected between Linderbaum and the Eagles often. That’s changed over time.

Some have said he’d be drafted before the Birds were on the clock at 15. Others believe he’ll go later now and he only would have made sense for Philadelphia if they would have hung on to that third first-round draft choice.

That would have made him a luxury pick, someone they could have stashed on the roster until Jason Kelce was done playing. It seems doubtful that Tyler Linderbaum will have his name written on a draft card by the Eagles now, but you never know how the draft will play out.

By taking Landon Dickerson a year ago, the Eagles wound up with the 2021 NFL Draft’s best interior lineman. If they shock everyone and take Linderbaum during 2022’s selection meeting, they would have repeated that feat two years in a row. The offensive line would be set for years to come.

Again, it seems unlikely, but you never know what may happen. Trading the original Jason Kelce for the next doesn’t sound like a bad idea. It’s definitely a theory Philly is discussing regardless of how they spend the first two picks in Round 1.