Philadelphia Eagles: How on earth does Nate Herbig start over Matt Pryor?

Herbig was named a starter Pryor to the Philadelphia Eagles 27-17 loss to Washington.

When Nate Herbig made the Philadelphia Eagles‘ initial 53 man roster, it turned quite a few heads in the City of Brotherly Love.

A mildly celebrated UDFA signing after a decent enough career playing guard for the Stanford Cardinals, Herbig’s most noteworthy contribution to the Eagles came during 2019’s preseason opener when the supersized interior lineman comically needed to catch his breath after a particularly grueling snap. Granted, a week later, Herbig was taking snaps at center, a position he never played in college, with decent enough results but still, at best, Herbig looked like a practice squad dude with some upside to develop with NFL conditioning.

Fast-forward a yearish into the future and Herbig officially earned his first snaps at the NFL-level as the Eagles’ Week 1 starting right guard.

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Is that surprising? Most definitely. Through camp, Herbig was mostly used as Jason Kelce‘s understudy at center, with 2018 fifth-round pick Matt Pryor receiving most of the snaps at right guard once Peters returned to his rightful position. And yet, when the Birds took the field against Washington at FedExField the roles were reversed and it was Herbig, not Pryor sandwiched between Kelce and Lane Johnson’s replacement Jack Driscoll, yet another position he’s never played.

But why? Was Pryor that bad at right guard in practice after playing competitively in limited action last fall? Based on the available information, it’s… complicated.

In theory, I guess the thought process went a little bit like this: Matt Pryor is the Eagles’ top reserve at left tackle, and thus if he and Herbig are close, why not give the latter the start and allow the former to fill a reserve role?

Boy, that’s… a choice.

Assuming Peters actually went down via injury or had to leave the game for a few snaps here or there, the idea of only having to insert Pryor in at left tackle makes more sense than moving him from guard to tackle and inserting Herbig in on the right side is solid enough. Offensive lines are a funny thing and maintaining as much continuity as possible over the course of a game can be the difference between a finely tuned offense and a sputtering mess.

With that in mind, Herbig gave up at least two sacks in his first career game, including a brutal Jon Bostic linebacker blitz at the end of the third, and looked lost as to who to even block on more than a few occasions.

But wait, it gets worse. Not only did Herbig get the nod over Pryor at right guard but when Driscoll left the field midway through the third quarter, it was Jordan Mailata who received the nod to enter the game as the team’s third-string right tackle.

…what? So you’re telling me Pryor went from the odds on favorite to win the starting left tackle spot post-Andre Dillard to at best the team’s sixth offensive lineman out of seven? What is going on?

To make matters worse, it’s not like Pryor was featured on the Eagles’ injury report or was a last-second scratch like Johnson either, he just, for whatever reason, didn’t play.

Needless to say, Cordy Glenn is sitting somewhere watching this game, running his hands like he’s Anthony Adams.

dark. Next. 5 bold predictions for the 2020 NFL season

Without a viable offensive line, the Philadelphia Eagles can’t run the ball effectively, as evidenced by their 57 rushing yards. Without a viable offensive line, the Philadelphia Eagles can’t pass the ball deep, as evidenced by having only one completion of 40 or more yards. And most importantly of all, without a viable offensive line, the Philadelphia Eagles can’t keep Carson Wentz upright and by extension, can’t win games. Need proof? Check the darn box score.

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