When Jeff Stoutland first hatched the idea to try out Mekhi Becton at guard back in May, Becton’s reaction was quick.
“I said to him, 'Mekhi, there’s an opportunity here in the spring to maybe get a week of playing some guard,’” Stoutland said Saturday. “And he goes, ‘Really?’ I said yeah, and he goes, ‘Let's go! Let's do it!
“He goes, ‘You're going to coach me on all this too, right?’ I go, ‘Yeah, I got you.’ He sensed an opportunity … and he was great. Like, unbelievable.”
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That’s where it started. Becton, a 1st-round bust as an offensive tackle with the Jets, was jettisoned in April and snapped up by the Eagles, who envisioned him as a backup tackle.
Considering he had never played or practiced guard in his life at any level and the Eagles appeared set at guard with Landon Dickerson and Tyler Steen, Becton moving to guard in OTAs didn’t seem like anything more than another one of Stoutland's crazy experiments.
Then something happened.
He was really good.
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“You guys have heard me speak about critical factors before, and when those all start to align? Basically, for that position, (things) like explosive power, keep the pocket firm,” Stoutland said. “I'm saying to myself, ‘Wait a second, 6-foot-7? There's things that are aligning up with what we're looking for (in a guard), like Brandon Brooks (or Landon) Dickerson, like the guys that you can't push back into the quarterback.
“So we talked about it as a group and we tried it out a little bit in the spring and he was moving better on screens. You get a little concerned about out in space, stuff like that, which Isaac (Seumalo) was incredible at. So we started doing these things and it was like, ‘Holy cow, we might have something here.’”
As training camp began, Becton split reps between guard and tackle, and guard still seemed like a long shot. There’s never been a guard as big as thew 365-pound Becton in NFL history.
Then Tyler Steen got hurt, and Stoutland moved Becton to starting right guard.
He’s still there.
Becton had an eye-opening guard debut in São Paulo, playing every snap in the Eagles’ win over the Packers without allowing a sack.
“It was an opportunity for him and then it just took off,” said Stoutland, now in his 12th season coaching Eagles offensive linemen. “When I started coaching Jordan Mailata, the sky is the limit with Jordan. You could mold him the way you wanted, and it's still a huge upside to Jordan. He's still learning and getting better. Believe me when I tell you that.
“For Mekhi at guard, I feel (the same) way. I feel like there's still so much for him to learn but yet there are so many things that he does that people have seen and said, ‘Wow, look at that.’ But yet there is still a lot to clean up and get better at and he knows that.
“What's great about coaching Mekhi is that he wants to be coached and he is eager to learn.”
Becton, the 11th player taken in the 2020 draft, earned about $18 ½ million during his four years with the Jets but is playing this year on a modest one-year $2.75 million deal.
Stoutland is still high on Steen, the Eagles’ 3rd-round pick last year. But the way things are going now, Howie Roseman is going to have to consider trying to lock up Becton for the long term.
“When you teach him something, you see it the next day,” Stoutland said. “It's really incredible. Whereas some players, I don't know, they just don't get it right away. It's like, ‘Did you really mean that?’ So he either trusts me or he believes in what we're doing, but it's showing up and it's exciting to coach a guy like that.”
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