Guys who were walk-ons in college and didn’t get invited to the Combine. Guys who plunged to the bottom of the draft. Guys who played at small colleges or didn’t play at all.
Long-range projects. Works in progress. Training camp long shots.
This is Jeff Stoutland’s specialty.
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Stoutland, the Eagles’ legendary offensive line coach, has done wonders with high draft picks. Lane Johnson, the fourth player taken in 2013, has played his entire 12-year career under Stoutland and is building a Hall of Fame case as a right tackle. Brandon Brooks was a decent 3rd-round pick with the Texans before making three straight Pro Bowls under Stoutland with the Eagles. Second-round pick Landon Dickerson has blossomed into a perennial Pro Bowler.
But some of Stout’s best work has been done with late-round picks and undrafted players. He has a special affinity for those offensive linemen who have the most work to do to become NFL players.
Every offensive lineman the Eagles drafted in the fifth round or later from 2013 through last year has played at least four years in the NFL, and it’s too early to tell about rookies Trevor Keegan, a 5th-round pick out of Michigan, or Dylan McMahon, a 6th-round pick out of North Carolina State, but both have had promising training camps and will wind up either on the 53-man roster or the practice squad.
With that in mind, we thought it would be fun to take a look at Stout’s Greatest Hits, his top 10 triumphs considering only undrafted players or guys drafted in the fifth round or later. We included only players who began their careers with the Eagles.
NFL
It’s quite a list.
Kayode Awosika: An undrafted offensive lineman out of Buffalo, Awosika got his start in Eagles training camp in 2021 and spent his entire rookie season on the Eagles’ practice squad. He got into one game – the meaningless loss to the Cowboys on the final day of the season – and played 43 snaps at right guard. Awosika spent 2022 training camp with the Eagles as well and began the season back on the practice squad. The Lions snapped him up on Sept. 15 and he’s been in Detroit ever since. Still only 25, he’s played in 25 games with five starts for Detroit and is currently a backup guard for the Lions.
Nate Herbig: Herbie went undrafted out of Stanford in 2019 but signed with the Eagles and made the team as a rookie after a very good training camp. He spent his first three seasons here, starting 17 games, including 12 in 2020 – seven at right guard, five at right guard. He wound up with the Jets in 2022 and started 11 games at right guard, then signed before last season with the Steelers and started two games. He seemed to have won the starting center job this summer in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, Herbig suffered a torn rotator cuff on the last day of Steelers training camp last week in Latrobe, Pa., likely ending his season.
Jason Kelce: It’s easy to forget that when Stoutland arrived in Philly in 2013, Kelce was a relatively unknown 6th-round pick going into his third year who had never made a Pro Bowl and played in just two games in 2012 because of a knee injury. Under Stoutland, he blossomed into a six-time 1st-team all-pro, a slam-dunk Hall of Famer and one of the greatest centers in NFL history. He’s one of only five centers in history to make all-pro six times and the only one not yet in the Hall of Fame. He was the 191st player taken in the 2011 draft.
Jordan Mailata: Another Stoutland miracle, transformed from an Australian rugby player who had never played one snap of football on any level in his life into a Pro Bowl-caliber left tackle now going into his fifth year as the Eagles’ starter. Mailata, still only 27, should have made his first Pro Bowl last year when he was the 3rd-highest-rated tackle in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, and 2nd-highest at left tackle, behind future Hall of Famer Trent Williams. Mailata is the Eagles’ first position player to become a starter after not playing college football since guard Dick Hart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Hart signed with the Eagles after playing minor-league baseball in the Braves’ organization for five years.
Sua Opeta: Opeta went undrafted out of Weber State in 2020 and spent the last four years with the Eagles, starting 10 games – two at left guard as a rookie, two at left guard and one at right guard in 2021, and five at right guard and one at left guard last year. Opeta signed as a free agent with the Buccaneers this offseason but unfortunately is out for the year with a knee injury he suffered at practice on July 30. When he started against the Bucs in the 2021 playoff game, he became the first undrafted rookie offensive lineman to start a postseason game for the Ealges since center Hank Fraley in 2001.
Matt Pryor: The 6-foot-7, 330-pound Pryor has bounced around the NFL for six years now after the Eagles drafted him in the fifth round in 2019. Pryor spent his first two years with the Eagles and started 10 games in 2020 – six at right guard, one at left tackle and three at right tackle. He started 14 games in two years with the Colts and then spent last season with the 49ers before signing with the Bears this year.
Brett Toth: The ony guy on this list who’s still with the Eagles, Toth is that rarity among offensive linemen capable of playing all five spots. That versatility and his gradual improvement during his six years with Stoutland has him in the mix for a roster spot. Toth has been on and off the roster and practice squad since 2019 and has also had brief stints with the Cards and Panthers along the way. An undrafted free agent who played at Army, Toth has played in 20 career games – 17 with the Eagles in 2020 and 2021 and three with one start last year with the Panthers. He's one of only seven position players on the roster who was here as far back as 2019.
Matt Tobin: Another undrafted free agent who got his start under Stout with the Eagles. Tobin was a walk-on at Iowa and arrived with the Eagles in 2013, the same year as Stoutland. He only played one game as a rookie but started 21 games over the next three years – five at left guard, 15 at right guard and one as an extra tight end. Tobin signed with the Seahawks in 2017 and he spent time in 2018 with the Patriots and 49ers.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai: Big V put together a nice seven-year career as a 5th-round draft pick out of Texas Christian. He spent his first four years with the Eagles and started six games as a rookie in 2016 while Lane Johnson served a 10-game suspension. In 2017, when Jason Peters suffered a season-ending torn ACL in a Week 7 game against Washington, Vaitai took over at left tackle and started the rest of the year, including the playoff run and the Super Bowl. He was one of five players undrafted or taken in the fifth round or later to start for the Eagles in their Super Bowl triumph, along with Kelce, 7th-round pick Jalen Mills and undrafted Rodney McLeod and LeGarrette Blount. Vaitai was with the Eagles through 2019 and spent the last three seasons with the Lions. He’s not currently on a roster.
Prince Tega Wanogho: The Eagles drafted Wanogho out of Auburn in the sixth round in 2020, but he only got one year with Stoutland before Andy Reid signed him in 2021. He’s spent the last three seasons with the Chiefs, winning two Super Bowl rings and playing in 22 games. He’s not currently on an NFL roster.