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The Eagles continued their SEC streak of draft picks, snagging offensive tackle Tyler Steen with the 65th pick in the third round.
Steen transferred from Vanderbilt to Alabama as a graduate student before the 2022 season, earning second-team All-SEC honors for his play in 13 starts at left tackle.
He’ll now transition to the guard position in the NFL, with the versatility to play left tackle if Jordan Mailata suffers an injury.
Steen will battle second-year center Cam Jurgens for the right guard spot, but many experts around the league believe the job is for Jurgens to lose.
Bleacher Report recently looked at seven overlooked rookies from the 2023 NFL draft to watch, and Eagles right guard Tyler Steen made a list.
Cam Jurgens is the favorite. The former center was drafted last season as the heir apparent to Jason Kelce but will have to wait to take over his role for one more season.
But don’t count out Tyler Steen of forcing Jurgens to wait another year before entering the starting lineup.
Jurgens exclusively played center in his time at Nebraska. Since he’s 6’3″, 303 pounds, it’s the natural position for him and his smaller frame. He deserves the benefit of the doubt, but pairing him with Kelce (6’3″, 295 lbs) leaves them small on the interior.
Steen (6’6″, 321 lbs) played left tackle at Alabama, but his arm length (32 3/4″) isn’t ideal to play there in the league. As a guard, he’s an elite athlete with adequate length and a 9.94 relative athletic score.
An athletic offensive tackle who started his career on defense at Vanderbilt before transferring to Alabama, Steen started all 12 games at right tackle in his first year at that position, then started all nine games in 2020 at right tackle for the Commodores and all 12 games in 2021 at the left tackle spot.
Steen allowed two sacks in 498 pass-block snaps last season.
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