Philadelphia Eagles: Releasing Nate Herbig is a silly decision

In the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles stacked a strength on top of a strength with the addition of Cam Jurgens in the second round.

Dubbed the best zone blocking center – and center in general – by more than a few front offices across the league, Jurgens’ combination of speed, strength, and athleticism makes him a natural interior offensive lineman and could find himself making an impact sooner than later for his new team, as Howie Roseman suggested during his press conference.

And yet, with Jurgens now expected to fill out multiple positions across the Eagles’ depth chart, the roles of other players will certainly change as a result. Isaac Seumalo’s expected seat in the starting lineup just became a whole lot hotter, and a player like Sua Otepa may go from wearing his uniform on game days to wearing sweats, assuming he even makes the roster at all.

But one player who won’t have to wonder what their role will be moving forward is Nate Herbig, as he was just released by the Philadelphia Eagles in order to save $2.43 million. After starting 17 games as a reserve over the past two seasons, that feels like a silly reason to release a solid reserve.

The Philadelphia Eagles shouldn’t get too confident in their depth.

If the 2022 NFL season opened up today, the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting offensive line would look something like this: Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson at tackle, Landon Dickerson and Isaac Seumalo at guard, and Jason Kelce handling the middle.

That’s a solid unit.

Behind them, the Eagles will likely dress three more players, Andre Dillard, Jack Driscoll, and Cam Jurgens, with some combination of Sua Otepa, Jack Anderson, Brett Toth, and Kayode Awosika, competing for the final spot or two on the roster.

That’s not too shabby either…. assuming the team’s top-eight players can all remain healthy. If that happens, the Eagles will retain one of the better offensive lines in the NFL and their offense will be similarly potent but recall back to 2021, where 12 different linemen each started games, including Otepa and Anderson, who didn’t even make the opening day roster. If a similar situation befalls the team in 2022, the Eagles will certainly wish they still had Nate Herbig on their roster, instead of a little over $2 million on their ledger and a glaring hole on their depth chart.

Is Herbig a perfect player? No. Even after trimming down considerably from his college weight, Herbig is still more refrigerator than “bear on roller skates,” but when afforded an opportunity to sandwich between two starters, especially at the right guard spot, the Stanford product has been very good.

Sidebar: At center, Herbig had been less than good but hey, who expects a UDFA to be perfect?

Realistically, Nate Herbig was somewhere between the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40th and 50th best player. Clearly, he was internally viewed as a replacement-level talent, and that evaluation will be tested this fall not only by how he performed with his new team but how well Philadelphia is able to weather his absence. Maybe it goes well; maybe we’ll be doing player profiles on practice squad guys come October: Who really knows?