Eagles Need Return To Form From Offensive Line With Lane Johnson Return On The Horizon
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 19: Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson (65) looks on before the NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles on October 19th, 2025, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN. (Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The 2025 season has not been a good one for the Philadelphia Eagles in many departemnts but no doubt the worst may be the play from the Eagles’ offensive line.
Offense has been the talk of the town for the Eagles this season as the team has struggled to put up consistent offensive performances together. Whether it’s a struggling run game, turnovers galore, or an inability to get the ball into the playmaker’s hands, the Eagles have done it all.
Week after week, the Eagles say that things will change, and yet things haven’t. Why is that? The leading answer has been the poor performance from Eagles’ offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, and while he is definitely a cause for some of the blame this year, I believe the Eagles’ offensive line can be a huge reason for the big step back this year.
The Eagles have always been a team that prioritizes offensive and defensive line, whether it’s through the draft or free agency. Winning in the trenches is the key to victory, and the Eagles know this and have put the time and money into it. While the defensive side of that theory is working this season, the offensive side is not.
Last season, the offensive line helped the team rush for over 3,000 total yards, 2,000 coming from Saquon Barkley, while this year, they didn’t even rush for 2000 as a team. Now, yes, the Eagles had over 140 more carries last season compared to this year, but the average yards per rush this year is down from 4.9 to 4.2, and yards per game is down from 179.3 to 116.9. The Eagles as a team are rushing for nearly 80 fewer yards per game, and each rush is nearly a yard shorter.
Touchdowns are also down, as they’ve only scored 17 touchdowns on the ground this year compared to 29 a year ago. However, the biggest stat that is lacking from the run game is the factor of big plays from the group. Big plays are considered 20+ yard rushing plays, and last season, the Eagles’ line was known for making great blocks on plays that turned into huge runs from Barkley. In 2024, Philadelphia recorded 25 Big Runs, while this year, they’ve recorded just nine.
It sums up this offense as a whole; they’re not creative, and they’re not explosive. Nothing they do jumps off the paper, and it allows defenses to easily identify what this group is running.
Not only are they not explosive, but multiple players have put up career-worst years up front. For starters, left guard Landon Dickerson has been the huge outlier of the group. Dickerson, a former three-time Pro Bowler, posted a 60.3 PFF pass-blocking grade this year, placing him 51st among 81 qualifying guards in the league. That’s a major drop off for Dickerson, who ranked near the top of that list last year.
Also, you have Cam Jurgens. Jurgens made his second consecutive Pro Bowl this season, and to say this is undeserved is an understatement. This season, Jurgens leads all starting offensive linemen in blown run block rate. Multiple times this year, Jurgens has been taken advantage of, and because of it, it’s caused multiple plays to be blown up.
Also, this group has been without their leader, veteran tackle Lane Johnson, who’s missed seven games this year due to multiple nagging injuries, but mainly from a Lisfranc sprain in his right foot. Johnson has been a big hole in this group, as filling his void has been a huge issue.
Despite the struggles, the offensive line is moving on from their rough regular season, saying that now that they’re in the playoffs, it’s a brand-new season for them.
What went from the Eagles’ bread and butter has turned into a serious issue and area of concern heading into the postseason. Johnson’s return will give this group the hopeful bump that it needs to get going, but if not, the Eagles may have to make some moves this offseason to get their once elite offensive line back to the standard.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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