Markel Bell is suddenly on the edge of his first NFL start, and the chance has come at right tackle. What looked like a depth move this summer has turned into a real test of whether the Philadelphia Eagles have found a usable answer on the edge, at least for now.
The reason Bell is in position now is simple: Lane Johnson was out, and Bell kept showing up with the first group. He took first-team snaps at right tackle when Johnson missed four straight practices because of an excused, non-injury-related absence, then stepped in again against the Rams for similar reasons. Bell reportedly did not know he would start until a couple of hours before kickoff, which only underlines how fast this turn happened.
That speed matters because the job did not look open when camp began. Many around the team assumed the swing tackle race would never become a true competition and that Fred Johnson had it locked up. Fred Johnson appeared to be on track for the role, but Bell took as many first-team reps and looked more comfortable by the day. By the time the staff needed a fill-in, the rookie had done enough to change the conversation.
Bell’s path also explains why this is not a routine promotion. He played left tackle in college, and moving to the right side in the NFL is more than a simple mirror image. Footwork changes. Punch timing changes. The body angles change. A tackle who once protected the blind side now has to reset his habits so they fit a different set of rushes and a different set of first steps. Bell said his game is built on being physical, fast and athletic, and that the system lets those traits show. That is the trait set teams want to see when a player switches sides.
His background only adds to the bet Philadelphia is making. Before Philadelphia, Bell went from JUCO to Miami and then became a third-round pick. At Miami, he was described as a mauler who finishes blocks and overwhelms defenders, a profile that fits a lineman asked to move people at the point of attack. The Eagles are now asking whether that kind of force can translate against NFL speed on the right side, where the margin for error is thinner and the rep count is unforgiving.
There is also the bigger team context. Reports have said Lane Johnson is likely retiring at season’s end, which makes every snap Bell gets more meaningful than a short-term injury replacement. If he holds up, the Eagles are not just patching a hole for a game or two. They are seeing whether a rookie who started the summer as a backup can grow into part of the answer at tackle. His first game was called a mixed bag statistically, which is about what one should expect from a player still learning on the job. The question now is not whether Bell has enough raw tools to get noticed. It is whether he can turn those tools into steady NFL production before the Eagles have to make a longer-term call.
