Philadelphia Eagles: Who will fill Brandon Brooks’ shoes?

Brandon Brooks is one of the best Philadelphia Eagles of the last decade.

A three-time Pro Bowler who won the PFF Bruce Matthews Award for the best offensive lineman during his final full season in 2019 – fresh off a torn Achilles no less – Brooks was a bulldozer in the run game, a warrior versus the pass rush, and a role model who normalized being outspoken about mental illness off the field. Whether he remains a part of the organization a la Harold Carmichael, Darren Sproles, and Connor Barwin before him, or he instead puts football behind him and focuses solely on obtaining a business degree from UPenn, the next player who wears a 79 jersey will have incredibly big shoes to fill.

Fortunately, the Eagles have a relatively well-stocked pool of talent to do just that.

From Isaac Seumalo, the team’s third-highest paid lineman, to 2020 fourth-round pick Jack Driscoll, and even Stanford educated UDFA Nate Herbig, the Philadelphia Eagles have a number of interior options heading into the 2022 NFL season, with the potential to fill out the depth chart even further via free agency and the draft. Needless to say, this is going to be interesting.

The Philadelphia Eagles have a wealth of options at right tackle this spring.

To truly hypothesize who will replace Brandon Brooks in 2022, we first have to know the status of Jason Kelce moving forward.

If Kelce sticks around, the Philadelphia Eagles can likely get away with their current depth and wouldn’t have to either sign a big named free agent or explicitly target an offensive lineman in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Howie Roseman could still opt to do that, as more than a few fans have fallen in love with Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum, but theoretically, between Jack Driscoll and Isaac Seumalo, the Eagles should be able to slot in one of their pre-existing players without sacrificing too much of their depth.

If, by contrast, Kelce retires, which has to happen eventually, the Eagles will have to replace two perennial Pro Bowlers and, thus, probably need to attack the interior of their line a little harder this offseason.

Looking at right guard specifically, the two most obvious names to watch are Driscoll and Seumalo, who present opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of upside versus experience. At only 24-years-old, Driscoll still has two seasons left on his rookie deal and fits the mold of what the Eagles look for in an offensive lineman. Despite being knocked during the pre-draft process for his short arms, Driscoll ran a sub-5.0 40 coming out of Auburn and ranked in the 95th percentile in the broad jump, which are two areas that benefit linemen that play in a zone-blocking scheme with pulling responsibilities. While Driscoll may never become a Pro Bowler, he’s the sort of guard who could play a decade in the NFL and become a local favorite.

And as for Seumalo? Well, he’s getting paid like a starting NFL guard because he’s just that, a starting-caliber NFL guard. Initially drafted to become the team’s center of the future all the way back in 2016 – 77 picks after Carson Wentz no less – Seumalo eventually became the Eagles’ starting left guard, where he would have remained for the 2021 NFL season had he not suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 3. Seumalo’s absence opened the door for the Eagles’ next center of the future, Landon Dickerson, to slot in at left guard, where he got better and better with each passing season. While Seumalo has the least athletic upside of the three – including Dickerson – he has one year left on his contract and has 30 more starts on his resume than Driscoll and thus, could be a good stop-gap guard capable of being extended long-term if he plays well or being moved on from in favor of Driscoll if his play isn’t up to snuff.

Factor in the team’s wealth of draft picks and the desire for offensive linemen like Le’Raven Clark to explicitly seek out the tutelage of Jeff Stoutland, and the Eagles’ offensive line should be in pretty good shape for years to come, whether they are down one Pro Bowler or two in 2022.

Losing Brandon Brooks is tough. Losing Jason Kelce too, either this season or next, will be even tougher, but unfortunately, that’s just the NFL’s circle of life; players come, players go, and the only thing that remains is the name on the front of the jersey. After fielding one of the best offensive lines in the league for the last decade, the Philadelphia Eagles will have to now identify, cultivate, and ride with the next generation of maulers upfront, which is never easy but has been done oh so many times before. Like Evan Mathis, Todd Herremans, Jon Runyan, and Tra Thomas before them, new players will have to come in, and old players will fade into the memories of fans who appreciated their on-field efforts.