Thumbs up or down on the Eagles drafting center Drew Kendall? Our writers weigh in.

The Eagles selected former Boston College center Drew Kendall with Pick No. 168 in April’s NFL draft. Here’s how our beat reporters evaluate the fifth-round selection:

The Eagles got into a bit of a bind when center Cam Jurgens suffered a back injury in the postseason. Lacking a true backup, they slid left guard Landon Dickerson from left guard to center, and the results were pretty bad. Dickerson was dealing with a knee injury, one that would require offseason surgery, along with other ailments, but he was playing out of position. The Eagles would prefer to have a bona fide No. 2 center, preferably one that could play all three interior spots as a reserve. But they’d also take a true blue center to back up Jurgens.

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That’s where Kendall comes in. A three-year starter, the Boston College center played in a run-heavy pro system with gap and zone blocking schemes. He’s a savvy and smart dude who was a captain in college and has NFL bloodlines. (His father, Pete, was a former first-rounder of the Seattle Seahawks.) Kendall never played guard, but he’s got guard measureables in height (6-foot-4), if not weight (304 pounds) and arm length (31-¾ inches). There’s room there to get bigger and add muscle. I don’t think the Eagles’ strength staff can stretch out his limbs, though.

He’s a center, first and foremost, though, and I think the Eagles have a prospect who can learn from coach Jeff Stoutland, Jurgens, and, whenever he’s around, Jason Kelce. Kendall’s not quite the athlete Jurgens is or Kelce was, but he moves well for his size. I could see Stoutland using him in space on pull blocks. He isn’t exactly explosive and may struggle against powerful NFL defensive tackles. I think he can offset what he lacks in physical strength with good technique, toughness, and intelligence. But I wonder if he has enough of the necessary tools to compete at the next level.

A late-round pick with these genes and college production is almost an automatic thumbs-up decision for me without diving too much into the player. Kendall was picked 168th in the draft, and there is no be-all-end-all crystal ball for players taken around that spot. He could turn into a solid NFL starter. He could fizzle out and rarely ever play.

If the Eagles had things their way, he won’t be playing anytime soon. They locked up their Pro Bowl center, Jurgens, to a long-term deal, and Kendall’s primary position is center. It’s worth mentioning that because the Eagles decided to list Kendall as a center/guard. Kendall says he has the positional versatility to do it, and the Eagles have the right offensive line coach to make those words turn into more than a hopeful empty promise.

Kendall doesn’t have eye-popping athleticism, and his measurables don’t pop off the charts, but he’s a longtime starter who was one of the better centers in college football and allowed just five pressures on 350 dropbacks in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus.

Maybe Kendall ends up taking to guard and the Eagles have another versatile lineman. Maybe he continues to develop as a center and another team finds him valuable and the Eagles flip him for an asset. Either way, it’s hard to dislike this selection given all the possibilities.

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The Eagles are starting to make an understandable habit of targeting an undersized, athletic center in the latter rounds of the draft. And even if Kendall falls closer to 2024 sixth-round pick Dylan McMahon’s side of the spectrum rather than Kelce’s, it’s hard to fault the logic behind taking a flier on a player with the college experience and pedigree Kendall has.

He played exclusively as a center during his time at Boston College and will likely be best suited there because of his smaller frame and lack of ideal arm length. But that might not be a bad thing. If Kendall eventually can develop into a viable backup for Jurgens, it will offer the Eagles more stability along an interior line that necessitated Dickerson changing positions last postseason when Jurgens was sidelined. That would be one of the better scenarios when assessing the range of outcomes for Day 3 offensive line selections, though.

His lack of prototypical size means his first training camp and preseason will be instructive. Can he hold up against bigger, more powerful nose tackles? Will his NFL lineage help ease his transition to the next level? There’s certainly a world where he hits the ground running, chasing down linebackers at the second level and using his playing experience to compensate for any size disadvantages, but I’ll reserve judgment until we see him in action.