Chris Kuper has opened his first preseason with the Philadelphia Eagles with the kind of numbers any offensive line coach can use. In two exhibition games, the Eagles’ backup linemen have mostly kept quarterbacks clean, a sharp early return for a hire who came in under more pressure than any assistant position coach in the NFL.
That pressure was real because Kuper replaced Jeff Stoutland, the longtime voice of the Eagles’ line, after the offseason. He came over after four years with the Minnesota Vikings, and the first two preseason games are the first public test of whether the move was the right one. So far, the answer has leaned positive.
In the Eagles’ 24-7 preseason opening loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Jake Majors, Micah Morris, Willie Lampkin, Markel Bell and Drew Kendall combined for 68 pass-pro snaps and gave up no sacks, hurries or quarterback hits. The next week, in a 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots, the same group produced another strong pass-blocking line overall, with Majors working 26 pass-pro snaps without a sack, pressure or hurry, Bell logging 11 snaps without a blemish, Lampkin posting seven clean snaps and Kendall adding seven more without allowing any pressure at all.
Kendall’s night matters because he is the kind of player whose every snap is being watched. He was pulled early against the Patriots, as was Lampkin, and Kendall’s seven pass-pro snaps came in a game where the Eagles were still sorting out who can be trusted when the lights get brighter. Many around the team already see Kendall and Lampkin as close to locks for the 53-man roster, which only raises the value of every clean rep they put on tape.
The one crack in the picture came with Morris. He played 20 pass-pro snaps against New England and gave up one sack and one pressure, even as the rest of the backup line avoided sacks, pressures and hurries. That does not erase the broader work, but it does keep the evaluation honest. Morris still gives the Eagles insurance at either guard spot, and Bell remains viewed as the future successor to Lane Johnson at right tackle, which makes the depth chart more interesting than the preseason scoreboards suggest.
The early takeaway is simple: Kuper has not inherited a broken room, and the first two preseason games have helped turn an offseason worry into a live roster competition. If the backup line keeps this up when the games start to count, the Eagles will have more than one reason to feel better about the change they made after Stoutland left.
