Philadelphia Eagles: Matt Pryor may get a shot at right guard after all

Matt Pryor’s here if the Philadelphia Eagles need him.

Do you remember when Isaac Seumalo was considered the weakest link on the Philadelphia Eagles‘ defensive line? Good times, good times.

When Brandon Brooks suffered a non-contact torn Achilles tear back in June, it put the Eagles in a rather unadventurous predicament. With free agency and the NFL Draft long since passed and no guard of note added to the roster save for Connecticut guard-turned-Auburn tackle Jack Driscoll, the Eagles had to get creative in their search for a replacement right guard.

Fortunately, they found one in old friend Jason Peters, who decided to kick it inside for the first time since, well, since ever.

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With Andre Dillard locked in at left tackle and Peters sandwiched between Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, the Eagles’ offensive line looked pretty darn good on paper, unconventional yes, but good none the less. But in practice? In practice, the Eagles look anything but.

As anyone who’s kept up with the Eagles’ practices this month already knows, Jim Schwartz’s defensive line has been absolutely unreal so far this month. Even with Javon Hargraves, Derek Barnett, and now Genard Avery out with injury, the line has remained borderline unguardable, a good thing that’s also simultaneously really bad. Sure, Malik Jackson, Fletcher Cox, and even Josh Sweat getting theirs isn’t too surprising, as that trio are expected to play major roles in Jim Schwartz’s defensive rotation this fall, but when Joe Ostman is bull rushing Dillard into Carson Wentz and taking him to the ground, then Philly, we (may) have a problem.

Now to be fair, Ostman is no slouch. If he would have remained healthy last summer there’s a very real chance he, not Daeshon Hall would have earned the Eagles’ final defensive end spot, but when a 25-year-old UDFA who has never played a single snap in a regular-season game can manhandle a former first-round pick, there has to at least bit some internal conversations about what’s going on.

Factor in Peters’ issues transitioning from left tackle to right guard and the Eagles very well may find themselves with some unwanted worries in the trenches.

And hey, if that’s the case, Matt Pryor may get a chance to prove his worth at right guard after all.

A sixth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of TCU, Pryor earned his first live offensive action last fall in the Eagles’ Week 12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. While said game didn’t really go as anyone would have planned, the Eagles didn’t lose because of Pryor, who came pretty much as advertised. Pryor is a mountain of a man who can move bodies at will in the running game, while holding up fairly well against the pass. He may be a tad taller than most interior offensive linemen and ran one of the slowest 40 times of any guard in the NFL with a putrid 5.6 at his pro day.

Traditionally speaking, colleges try to cook the books just a little bit for their homegrown players on Pro Days, so that 5.6 may have actually been closer to a 5.8, maybe even a 6.

Fortunately for Pryor, and the Eagles as a whole, 40 yard dash times really aren’t that important for an offensive line, as even in lead blocking situations, offensive linemen are rarely asked to get more than 10 yards off the line of scrimmage on any given play. When the Eagles did ask Pryor to pull, his monstrous size and sledgehammer hands made quick work of would-be tacklers, allowing Miles Sanders to get to the next level and make plays in space.

Check out ex-Eagle Tra Thomas break down Pryor’s game in his Trench Talk Youtube show here.

Was Pryor viewed as pro-ready enough to immediately take on a starting role in 2020? No, but the Eagles clearly felt confident enough in his abilities to completely bypassing adding a premier reserve interior lineman during the first wave of free agency. If Peters is unable to get things done in the inside, or – more realistically – he has to return to his former spot on the outside to save Wentz from a Luke Fulk-esque sack party, Pryor is more than capable of picking up the slack.

As fans in Philly will happily attest, any playoff-hopeful team is only as good as their next man up.

Look, trying to dissect how any practice performance will translate to a regular-season game is rather foolish. We all remember players like Henry Jose and Paul Turner lighting it up in practice only to get cut in the final trim down to 53 or a preseason overachiever like Daeshon Hall failing to make an impact when the bullets become live. Who knows, maybe Andre Dillard and Jason Peters will get it all together, and the offense will hum along like a finely tuned engine. But if not, it’s nice to know the Philadelphia Eagles have Matt Pryor in place who can effortlessly slide in at right guard and keep the offense copacetic.

UPDATE: With Andre Dillard potentially out for the season, it would appear Matt Pryor is the #nextmanup at right guard… that is, unless the Eagles skirt him yet again and sign Larry Warford. To be continued…