The Philadelphia Eagles saw Mekhi Becton leave the City of Brotherly Love during the offseason after agreeing to a two-year, $20 million contract with the Los Angeles Chargers. While Becton thought he would be a key piece of the puzzle on the offensive line in front of Justin Herbert, he enters Week 14 and Los Angeles' matchup with Philadelphia filled with regret.
Becton's frustrations were evident during a recent matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he was pulled from the game for a reserve during the second quarter. While Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh stated the reasoning behind pulling Becton in that moment was due to a limp that was noticeable from the sidelines, according to Kris Rhim of ESPN.com, Becton did not feel the same about the decision and expressed his frustrations to his teammates on the sidelines.
While we can't say the same about every decision Howie Roseman made during the offseason, allowing Becton to take the money and run appears to have worked out quite nicely for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Was Right to Not Sign Mekhi Becton to a Big Contract
After being a vital piece of the offensive line during his stay in Philadelphia, Becton is dealing with a completely different experience in Los Angeles. Becton has a snap share of 69.7% on the season, a stark contrast to what the lineman had grown accustomed to since entering the NFL.
To put it bluntly, Becton has been one of the worst offensive guards in the NFL since taking his talents to the Chargers, and the advanced statistics back that fact up. According to Pro Football Focus, Becton has an overall grade of 40.5, which ranks 79th out of 81 eligible guards. As one would expect, the pass and run blocking grades leave plenty to be desired, as well. Becton owns a pass blocking grade of 47.9, ranking 68th out of 81 guards, and a run blocking grade of 41.4, which is good enough for fourth-worst among all eligible guards.
Those statistics aren't the only ones that paint a negative picture of the lineman's performance in Los Angeles. Becton has a run-block win rate of 62.7%, second-worst in the NFL, while his pass-block win rate of 91.8% is good enough for 43rd-best. Given that Harbaugh has always been a firm believer in having a strong rushing attack, being that ineffective as a run blocker has put Becton in a situation where the coaching staff doesn't trust him on the field.
Following two straight losses, things aren't going great for the Eagles right now. They would be much worse, though, had Roseman elected to sign Becton to a new deal this past offseason, however.