You won’t believe who Jeff Stoutland just compared Tyler Steen to originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jeff Stoutland is about as no-nonsense as they come.
No BS. No hyperbole. If he doesn’t believe it, he won’t say it.
So when he compared Tyler Steen to a guy who made three straight Pro Bowls and started at right guard for the 2017 Super Bowl champions, yeah, it was eye-opening.
And if there was any doubt before Monday that Steen would be the Eagles’ starting right guard this year, there sure isn’t anymore.
Because you don’t compare a 23-year-old with one career start to Brandon Brooks unless you’ve already made up your mind that he’s the guy.
“Brandon Brooks to me … that is the person,” the Eagles’ legendary offensive line coach said Monday when asked about Steen. “That’s who you’re looking for. Ain’t many of them around. But that’s who you’re looking for.
“Size, length of arms, explosive power, all these things. Lower body flex. All these things are like all into one. It’s like, ‘Holy cow, how do you find these?’ And so you’re always comparing everybody.
“In my mind, I’m comparing him to him. He has a little bit of that.”
Then he paused.
And added: “Like, a lot of that, actually, Tyler does.”
Coming off last year, there were some real questions about the Eagles’ confidence level in their 3rd-round pick from Alabama. After he started at right guard in the win over the Cowboys with Cam Jurgens and Sua Opeta unavailable, Stoutland turned back to the undrafted Opeta over Steen until Jurgens was healthy. That didn’t seem so promising for Steen, who wasn’t even active the last few weeks of the season.
But no such questions so far this spring. Opeta is now in Tampa, Jack Driscoll is in Miami, Matt Hennessy is clearly a backup, and Stoutland made it clear that there won’t be any competition in training camp.
The job is Steen’s.
Steen said a couple weeks ago he was “a lot farther along mentally and physically from last year,” and Stoutland’s remarks Monday tell you the Eagles agree.
“Right now, he’s on the track to be (the starter),” Stoutland said. “I really like what he’s doing. I really like his stuff. I know again it’s individual stuff (until training camp), but we demand quickness, effort, straining.
“I’ve seen a definite improvement in his strength, in his power, in his quickness, his ability to play with low hips. I thought he played high last year. I think he’s put a lot of time into the weight room with our people here because I could see it.”
Stoutland said Steen took everything the coaches told him at his exit meeting to heart and spent the last few months attacking his deficiencies.
“When we have exit meetings, you don’t just say, ‘Hey, you have a good time,’” he said. “(It’s), ‘Here’s some things that I have pinpointed and you need to get better at. And they’re not new things. They’re things that we have said in meetings before and they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, there he goes again. It must be an issue. I must have to do something about this.’
“And then you tell them exactly what you need. Here’s what you should be doing. Here’s how you go about getting better at it.”
Steen sure looks the part. Last year he looked like a college tackle playing out of position at guard. Now he’s hammered himself into a strong, powerful interior lineman.
There have been summers where we’ve seen offensive linemen compete through training camp, but Stout said that won’t be the case here.
There is no competition.
“I would like – I mean, doesn’t this make sense? – to have the five (starters), I call them the five-wheel drive, to have the guys together as much (as possible) and as many reps as possible so they could synchronize everything,” he said.
“It’s hard when you’re rotating people in and out and trying to get that certain it factor. And so for me, I try really hard, unless there’s something that tells me, ‘No, you better get a good look at this or you might be making a mistake,’ or something like that.
“Otherwise, I’m like, ‘Let’s go.’”
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