The Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Line has been ravaged with injuries. We are only week 4 into the season and the Eagles have lost 5 linemen throughout the season to injuries. Now, Jason Peters is headed to IR with a toe injury after one of his worst showings in his career, the Eagles now turn to Jordan Mailata to start at Left Tackle.

This is a horrible decision for Philly. Mailata has been by far the worst linemen for the Eagles to touch the field this season. Mailata was drafted in 2018 with 0 football experience and was expected to be molded into an NFL caliber player with his 6’8 350lb frame. While he has an incredible body to play tackle he lacks any necessary skills to even be allowed on the field.

At points, he has shown glimpses of being capable but he has purely relied on his size a majority of the time and often gets beat pretty easy with finesse moves. When he subbed in during weeks 1 and 3, Mailata was a catastrophe allowing nearly 2 sacks in roughly 2 drives which is incredibly concerning to see. I’m sure maybe he can develop into what they need but the biggest concern is who he is starting over in another backup Jack Driscoll. 

If you read my Week 1 O-Line notes, you’d know I’m a major fan of Driscoll and his game. Driscoll has shown time and time again how easily capable he is performing in a starting situation. Matched up against Chase Young in Week 1 with no information on what he would do in Washington, Driscoll stonewalled him constantly. Block calling miscues and missed pickups against an incredible D-Line was the main concern. But, with the lack of preparation and no idea of what they would throw Driscoll did an exceptional job. 

Driscoll has the perfect blend of size/strength and athleticism. He can slide back with quick rushers and easily rebound when they try to cut inside. Also at 6’5 300lbs, he has the size to not get blown back and strong hands to not break contact and continue to stay engaged.

Driscoll has all the physical traits needed to block successfully and it doesn’t seem like they have kept specific positional backups on the right and left side so it would only make sense for Driscoll to start. The Eagles have been trying to force the Mailata experiment to work but this week isn’t the spot to do it.

This is a must-win game with their season on the line and I have 0 doubt in my mind that Driscoll would be easily more capable of succeeding. I hope I am proven wrong and he does succeed but I’m not very confident in Jordan’s ability to succeed.

Mandatory Credit:  Rich Schultz Associated Press