You won’t believe who Jeff Stoutland just compared Tyler Steen to, originally appearing on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jeff Stoutland is 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, that was an eye-opener.
And if there was any doubt before Monday that Steen would be the Eagles’ starting right guard this year, there is certainly no more.
Because you don’t compare a 23-year-old with one career start to Brandon Brooks unless you’ve already concluded that he the man.
“Brandon Brooks for me… that’s the person,” the Eagles’ legendary offensive line coach said Monday when asked about Steen. ‘That’s who you’re looking for. There aren’t many around. But that’s who you’re looking for.
“Size, arm length, explosive power, all these things. Flexion of the lower body. All these things are like all in one. It’s like, ‘Holy cow, how do you like this?’ And so you’re always comparing everyone.
“In my mind I compare him to him. He has a little bit of that.”
Then he paused.
And added: “Like a lot of that, actually, Tyler does that.”
Last year there were some real questions about the Eagles’ confidence level in their 3rdround pick out of Alabama. After starting at right guard in the win over the Cowboys with Cam Jurgens and Sua Opeta unavailable, Stoutland returned to undrafted Opeta over Steen until Jurgens was healthy. That didn’t seem too promising for Steen, who wasn’t even active in the final weeks of the season.
But so far this spring, no such questions have been asked. Opeta is now in Tampa, Jack Driscoll is in Miami, Matt Hennessy is clearly a backup and Stoutland made it clear there will be no competition in training camp.
The track is Steen’s.
Steen said a few weeks ago that he was “a lot further along mentally and physically than he was last year,” and Stoutland’s comments Monday show the Eagles agree.
“Right now he’s on the court to be (the starter),” Stoutland said. “I really like what he does. I really like his stuff. Again I know it’s individual things (until training camp) but we demand speed, effort and effort.
“I’ve seen a marked improvement in his strength, in his power, in his speed, and his ability to play with low hips. I thought he played high last year. I think he put a lot of time in the weight room with our people here because I could see it.
Stoutland said Steen took everything the coaches told him in his exit meeting to heart and attacked his shortcomings in recent months.
“When we have exit meetings, you don’t just say, ‘Hey, have fun,’” he said. “(It’s), ‘Here are some things I’ve identified that you need to get better at. And they’re not new things. They’re things we’ve said before in meetings and they say, ‘Oh yeah, there he goes again. It must be a problem. I have to do something about this.’
“And then you tell us exactly what you need. This is what you should do. That way you can get better at it.”
Stone certainly looks good. Last year he looked like a college tackle playing out of position at guard. Now he has hammered himself into a strong, powerful interior lineman.
There have been summers where we’ve seen offensive linemen struggle during training camp, but Stout said that won’t be the case here.
There is no competition.
“I’d like to—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 sync everything up,” he said.
“It’s hard when you’re moving people around and trying to get that certain it factor. And so I do my best, unless there’s something that says, “No, you better look at this carefully or you might make a mistake,” or something like that.
“Otherwise I say, ‘Let’s go.’”
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