The Eagles offensive line has been a dominant staple for the team for more than a decade, but heading into the 2026 season, the group was forced to make a lot of changes — both to the coaching staff and to the overall offensive scheme. As the guys get more reps in the new system through the first few days of training camp, veterans like Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata talked about how their job as tackles should actually be easier this year.
All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson explained that some of
the new things they’re doing should open up the passing game and get more guys, more touches. But that wasn’t his favorite part about the changes.
JOHNSON: “What I like about this, though, is that everything looks very complex to the defense, to the offense it’s pretty simplified. So, obviously, we have to pick up on communication and cadence, and stuff, but it’s very o-line friendly compared to maybe some past years I’ve been involved in.”
Johnson went on to explain that there’s a lot more under center plays which makes it more difficult for defense’s to make reads pre-snap.
JOHNSON: “For me, it’s like I always have a presence of a guard in pass protection where I have inside help, where I’ve never had help in my entire career in pass protection here, so it’s been a lot of games are different for me and Jordan [Mailata] as far as other offenses.”
Jordan Mailata spoke with reporters the following day and very quickly agreed to Johnson’s assessment of things being easier for the tackles. He also elaborated on how the scheme overall will look different and make things more confusing for opposing defenses.
MAILATA: “Stretching the defense a lot more than we did in the past — this is not a knock to our past schemes or our past coaches, but we get to stretch the defense and kind of stress them out a little more. They don’t know if it’s a pass or run and the play-action game being married is pretty key to the scheme. It’s been fun so far, but still early days, so we just gotta keep stacking days and go from there.”
Mailata went on to explain that it’s fun to play a different style and it’s a little more aggressive than they’ve been in the past. He noted that it also is super fun to see the defense so tired, because they’re engaging the defensive line a lot more — like running to the left and then passing over the middle. By convincing the d-line that they’re running, it confuses the linebackers and then opens up the middle of the field for a pass.
As far as technique, Mailata said there’s a bit of a change with regard to their footwork because rather than moving laterally, they’re going across the line of scrimmage — being more aggressive and meeting them across the line rather than at the line.
MAILATA: “When we’re being taught the scheme, just the explanation of how the defense is going to see it and the plan, in those meetings you just see like — ‘Oh wow, that’s pretty smart. Why didn’t I think of that?‘
Mailata has repeatedly expressed how impressed he’s been with new OC Sean Mannion this offseason, and the offensive coordinator, on Saturday, described how he and new OL coach Chris Kuper are trying to prioritize assignment commitment for the guys up front.
MANNION: “We want these guys to go out there, know exactly where to go, and play fast. So, throughout all of our teaching, we want to make as many things as black and white for them as possible, so we’re all on the same page and we’re off and running. At least we all know where we’re going, and we’re going with total assignment commitment to attack our aiming points, attack our targets, and that will ultimately allow us to play fast, play physical, have the play style that we want. But, we want to make everything as cut and dry, and black and white for the offensive line so they can fire off.“
Landon Dickerson also reiterated the groups new priority of having things be as simple as possible and being able to play a lot faster as a result.
DICKERSON: “I think for the o-line as a whole, a big emphasis is eliminating the slow play, not having a lot of time on the clock, just getting up there, being able to make a call, stick with it, and run the play. So, I think just for us, it’s about getting to the ball and playing fast, which can help a lot.”
The LG said that a lot of it is trying not to overthink things. Dickerson explained that in their last system, a lot of it was problem solving and identifying things at the line of scrimmage, but the new system is all about playing fast.
It’ll be awhile before we see the offense at full speed, but that so many veteran offensive lineman are excited about doing something new this season — and something they can believe in — is encouraging if nothing else with just over a month until Week 1.
