Eagles

Two More Eagles Offensive Linemen Named To PFF All-Decade Top 101

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Paul Bowman
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Paul Bowman Sports Editor

Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).

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Sports Editor

Published12 May 2020

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor Two More Eagles Offensive Linemen Named To PFF All-Decade Top 101

On Monday, Pro Football Focus began their All-Decade Top 101 list and one Eagles player (as well as a former play) made the portion of the list between 101 and 74.

On Tuesday, they released the group from 73 to 50.

It should come as no surprise that the Eagles are again well represented in the trenches.

Coming in at number 70 is Lane Johnson’s battery mate, right guard Brandon Brooks.

Brooks, like Johnson, is a player overlooked by many typical accolades, but has recevied far more attention from PFF recently.

Brooks’ struggles with anxiety have been well documented and placed firmly in the public view. After tearing his Achilles in the 2019 playoffs, Brooks returned quickly and made all 16 starts for the Birds in addition to the team’s playoff games.

He was one of the three most dominant guards in the league no question, but was miraculously not named to the AP All-Pro team and was not named comeback player of the year. For the All-Pro team, the media chose to pick some guy because he has a recognizable name and plays for the Cowboys.

Meanwhile, Brooks has a record of play where, over eight seasons, he has allowed just seven sacks and allowed more than one sack in just one season over his entire career.

The addition of Brooks four seasons ago was not considered a major signing league-wide at the time, but it is now as the Eagles have a solidified right half of the line with some of the top players in the league working in tandem.

Speaking of the right side, while Lane Johnson and Brandon Brooks hold that down, there is a player that is supposed to hold down the center to keep both sides focused: center Jason Kelce.

Kelce, of course, will find himself on the list as he came in at 52.

A sixth-round pick in 2011, Kelce won the starting job and looked like he would be a capable player. Obviously, that didn’t happen as he instead became one of the most elite linemen in the game.

Kelce has been the best center in the league for three to five seasons now, but he has also been better than that, with PFF ranking his as the best overall OL in 2017 and the best interior OL in 2018.

While Kelce has dealt with injuries throughout his career, they have rarely sidelined him and fans often only hear about them after the season is over. The only games he’s missed are most of his second season with an MCL tear and four more games in 2014. That’s it.

Kelce was a player who was overlooked by the league for most of his career, but the Super Bowl season in 2017 really began to earn the center much more attention and things like All-Pro and Pro Bowl have, deservingly, been coming his way over these last three seaons.

With those, Kelce’s chance at being enshrined in Canton one day becomes more feasible as the voters will no longer have just dominant tape to look on, but the hardware that is supposed to prove that level of play, as well.

Among other local athletes on the list were Philly native and Shippensburg cornerback Brent Grimes at 53 and Penn State linebacker Navorro Bowman at 57.