Philadelphia Eagles: Andre Dillard’s ceiling and floor in 2021
Ceiling: Andre Dillard becomes the Philadelphia Eagles’ long-term left tackle.
Jordan Mailata’s 2020 season was encouraging.
Despite some initial questions about his readiness, the former South Sydney Rabbitoh appeared in 15 games with 10 starts and accounted for seven sacks and three pressures versus 733 total snaps.
Are those numbers good? Well, no, no offensive lineman on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster gave up more sacks than Mailata in 2020, but when you put on the tape, his performances can be contextualized in a new light.
Mailata looked good against the pass, good on the run game, and had a natural presence at the position seldom possessed by a tackle two years into his football career. Did he make mistakes? Most definitely, Doug Pederson literally benched Mailata for Week 10 and much of Week 11 after a poor showing versus Dallas, but for the most part, Mailata proved he could hang as a real-life NFL tackle, a thought borderline unimaginable one year prior.
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Needless to say, Andre Dillard has a tough hill to climb to get back into the starting five, but if he finds a way to do just that, you’d best believe it would be the best possible outcome for the Philadelphia Eagles moving forward.
Why? I’m glad you asked.
Well, for one thing, Mailata is entering his fourth NFL season and will likely be asking for a massive contract extension versus his meager current salary to remain with the team moving forward. While Dillard will too eventually require an extension, he’s under contract through the 2022 season and has a fifth-year option for 2023.
Furthermore, if Dillard does beat out Mailata for a starting spot, you know he played darn well to earn that distinction, as he had no pre-existing relationship with Nick Sirianni and could arguably net the Birds better draft compensation than Mailata if the two were both placed on the trade block.
Factor in Dillard’s athletic gift (check out his spider chart here), and you have a player built to start on the left side of a zone-blocking offensive line for a very long time.
Best case scenario, Dillard proves himself to be that player both in 2021 and beyond.
At only 24 years old, Andre Dillard still had a lot of room to grow. After taking a year off due to injury, it’s entirely possible the former Washington State Cougar could come back a leaner, meaner mover of men with a new lease on the game he loves. If that happens, maybe Howie Roseman will be vindicated for his decision to trade up to select Dillard 21st overall in the 2019 NFL Draft and will have his bookend offensive tackle for the foreseeable future.