Philadelphia Eagles double down on TCU lineman with guard Matt Pryor
After taking the fifth round off following the Dallas Goedert trade, the Philadelphia Eagles draft their second TCU lineman in three years in Matt Pryor.
In the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles took a shot on a developmental lineman from TCU named Halapoulivaati Vaitai, and now, two years later, they are returning to Texas Christian for his former teammate, redshirt-senior Matt Pryor in the sixth round.
A 6-foot-7, 322-pound mountain of a man, Pryor played 46 games at right guard, left tackle and right tackle for the Horned Frogs and was named to the All-Pac 12 second team in 2017. Though he struggled at times with his weight, as he arrived in college at almost 390 pounds, Proyer finished out his career at 322 pounds, and looks like a legitimate NFL lineman, even while playing in TCU’s air-raid offense.
After having success playing at four different positions across the Horned Frog’s offensive line, Jeff Stoutland, Howie Roseman, and the entire Eagles’ front office likely envisioned him filling a similar role in 2018, giving the team year another young, developmental player to work with in the trenches.
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With only three linemen who have tackle experience on the roster, Pryor gives Doug Pederson optionality on game day and could signal the end of Chance Warmack‘s time in Philadelphia, as he can really only play guard.
With Vaiti now the heir apparent to Lane Johnson at right tackle when he eventually replaces Jason Peters at left tackle, Pryor gives the team a viable swing tackle to fill Big V’s role moving forward, and may even have an outside shot at challenging Stefen Wisniewski at left guard if he comes into camp ready to rock.
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A big, powerful lineman with a wide frame, solid base and long arms, Matt Pryor may be somewhat of a project, but if he’s willing to put in half as much work as Vaitai has over the last two years, he may end up a steal for the Philadelphia Eagles at pick 206.