Philadelphia Eagles: Don’t discount the return of Isaac Seumalo

Landon Dickerson is a star in the marking for the Philadelphia Eagles.

He has fantastic size for an interior offensive lineman, elite athletic measurables, and the sort of collegiate pedigree that few players in the NFL can confidently boast. Assuming Jason Kelce is back for another season in 2022, which feels likely given his offseason comments (more on that here), there’s little reason to believe Jeff Stoutland and company would want anything but to have Dickerson start for them at left guard moving forward.

Why, you may ask is that relevant to this particular conversation? Well, because for years now, that left guard spot has belonged to Isaac Seumalo, another multi-hyphenate the Eagles drafted on Day 2 of the NFL Draft. While it took Dickerson a few weeks to really get his sea legs under him at the NFL level, by season’s end, it was hard to imagine Seumalo getting his former spot back, even if he returns next season fully healthy.

Now, usually, that would be bad news for a veteran player, right? While no one can predict an injury, it sort of stings to lose a job due to no fault of your own, especially when your play doesn’t necessarily dictate it. That, unfortunately, is the name of the game in the NFL for all too many players. With that being said, it’s not really time to give up on Isaac Seumalo fully either, as the Philadephia Eagles just so happen to have a need for a guard on the right side, especially one who already knows the team’s system.

Isaac Seumalo’s experience at right guard could benefit the Philadelphia Eagles.

In college, Isaac Seumalo started 37 games for the Oregon State Beavers. He started 23 at center, nine at right guard, three at left tackle, and two at right tackle, and was pretty good at all four positions, especially on the interior.

Initially thrust into action as a center, Seumalo became the first freshman to start at center for the Beavers since Roger Levasa in 1978, according to OSUBeavers.com. After a successful freshman season, where he started all 13 games at center, Seumalo split his time between center and right tackle during his true freshman season and then kicked it to right guard and left tackle during his redshirt junior season, where he played well enough to earn Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention consideration.

Coming out of college, Seumalo’s versatility was viewed as an asset. While some teams saw him as a center and others believed he’d be a guard, once he put up very good numbers at the 20-yard shuttle, the 3-cone drill, the broad jump, and the 40-yard dash at the 2016 NFL combine, it was clear the Honolulu native was a going to hear his name called in the top-100 picks of the NFL Draft.

Seumalo’s name ultimately came off the board at pick 79, 77 selections after the Philadelphia Eagles drafted the one and only Carson Wentz.

Sidebar: Did anyone honestly think Seumalo would outlast Wentz with the Eagles? If so, leave your lottery numbers in the comments section below.

In the NFL, Seumalo’s positional versatility hasn’t been quite as useful as some folks expected. Outside of his rookie season, where he played 137 snaps at right guard in place of Brandon Brooks, Seumalo has been a left guard through and through and hasn’t quite lived up to the title of “Jason Kelce Heir” that many bestowed on him right around the 2016 NFL Draft.

Assuming the Eagles don’t either sign the next “Brandon Brooks-type” player in free agency – which feels unlikely – hit big on a buy-low target who wants to learn under Jeff Stoutland – which feels more likely – or drafted a “Tyler Linderbaum-type” in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft who is NFL-ready right out of the gate, Seumalo will likely be starting at right guard come Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season and that, my friends, is far from the team’s biggest issue.

According to Pro Football Focus, Seumalo has been a perfectly average starting-caliber NFL guard over the past four seasons and will surely put up that level of production on the field this fall if his play can translate from left to right guard. Is that play better than what the Eagles got out of Brooks? When he was fully healthy no, Brooks was one of the best guards in the NFL over the last half-decade, and his shoes will surely be hard to fill, but when you consider the three-time Pro Bowler only played two games over the past two seasons, that offensive dominance hasn’t been a consistent part of the team’s gameplan for some time.

No, when you compare Seumalo to some of the guards the Eagles have been forced to rely on over the past few seasons, players like Jack Driscoll, Nate Herbig, Sua Otepa, Jack Anderson, and Kayode Awosika, it’s not hard to get excited about the 2016 draftee’s return, as he’s definitely in the upper echelon of that group.

Will Isaac Seumalo ultimately be the Philadelphia Eagles’ right guard of the future? Will he continue to start for the team well into the 2020s and go down as one of the better draft picks of the Howie Roseman era? Only time will tell; between you and me, I sort of like Jack Driscoll for that role, but hey, I’d be happy to be wrong. But for now, in 2022, having Seumalo under contract is an asset for the Eagles, as he can finally put that versatility to good use and play on the right side for the first time since 2016.