A year after losing out to Mekhi Becton, Tyler Steen strives to become the Eagles’ starting right guard

Exactly one year and one day ago from Monday, Tyler Steen left the third day of training camp practice with an ankle injury. It marked the beginning of the end of his stranglehold on the Eagles’ starting right guard role in 2024.

Mekhi Becton stepped in and won the job out of camp, even though Steen returned to action roughly a week after suffering his injury. But Steen, the Eagles’ 2023 third-rounder out of Alabama, didn’t sulk as he assumed the backup gig.

Instead, he embraced his opportunities when they arose, typically at mid-game due to injuries to the starting offensive line. Those experiences, Steen said Monday, were integral to his development.

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“Honestly, I think I grew more last year than I did my rookie year,” said Steen, 25. “I think just getting the opportunity to go in there and play and get some experience and just getting more and more comfortable at guard and those types of things. I think it really helped me just gain some confidence.”

The 6-foot-6, 321-pound Steen is bringing that confidence into training camp as the front-runner for the starting right guard gig once more. The third-year guard, who started two games last season, has taken all of the reps in team drills with the first-team offensive line, despite offseason additions at the position such as Matt Pryor and Kenyon Green.

He has already garnered votes of confidence from his teammates on the offensive line, including Lane Johnson, who has had an up-close view of Steen’s progress while playing along his right side.

“Tyler has really developed the past couple of years,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Physically. Communication’s been good. So he’s playing with more confidence and I have confidence in him moving forward.”

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From his vantage point, center Cam Jurgens echoed a similar sentiment about Steen: “He’s getting a lot better,” Jurgens said. “He’s being a lot more accountable. He’s got so much talent. Starting to see it.”

Still, Steen isn’t allowing complacency to creep in as he contends for the starting role for a second consecutive season.

“I think whenever you’re in a competition, the mindset’s always the same,” Steen said. “You always want to go out there and put your best foot forward. You don’t really want to focus on the outside things. You just want to focus on doing your job at the best of your ability and just going forward from there.”

After all, training camp hasn’t come without its trials for Steen. In team drills, he has seen plenty of Moro Ojomo, the third-year defensive tackle out of Texas who turned heads with his four-pressure performance in the Super Bowl. With Milton Williams now a member of the New England Patriots, Ojomo is slated to see an uptick in snaps this season.

Ojomo got the better of Steen on Monday. On one occasion late in an 11-on-11 drill, Ojomo pushed Steen into Jalen Hurts’ lap for a would-be sack.

Steen, who called Ojomo a “really good player,” has welcomed the challenges posed by his 2023 draft classmate and the rest of the Eagles’ defensive line in practice.

“I think the D line as a collective is extremely talented,” Steen said. “We’ve got a lot of guys on that defensive line that do a lot of really good things. And I think being able to do that and go against that in practice, I think, helps us out a lot, because it’s going to make the game that much easier.”

Ojomo lauded Steen, too, calling him an “incredible talent.” But talent alone isn’t going to solidify his starting role. He must possess a sense of urgency, which Ojomo has witnessed from the other side of the line of scrimmage.

“I know he’s hungry,” Ojomo said. “High tides raise all ships, right? He’s got Pro Bowlers, multiyear guys next to him. He’s going to be ready.”

Those Pro Bowlers have long impacted Steen for the better. The third-year guard has been surrounded by the likes of Johnson, Jurgens, Jordan Mailata, and Landon Dickerson since he entered the league.

They’ve set the standard for the line, even in the offseason. The only change that Steen said he made to his offseason training regimen was the incorporation of mobility work, which has been a hallmark of Johnson’s longevity entering his 13th season.

Steen said that watching Johnson perform mobility exercises everywhere around the facility, from the practice field to the meeting rooms, inspired him to add them to his offseason routine. The guard said the added attention to his body helped him come to camp at “100%.”

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“It helps so much, ’cause those guys have set such a high bar for the room and for the other guys in the room,” Steen said. “It doesn’t get better than them. They’re the top of the league at what they do. So setting that bar for everybody else in the room to strive for, I think it allows everybody to have something to push for and continue to work towards and strive towards.”

While Steen may be embarking upon a new journey as the starter, he has plenty of familiarity with his teammates and his coaches. He knows Jeff Stoutland so well that he can anticipate what he’s about to say at any given moment. He knows how his teammates want different details to be communicated.

He also knows the opportunity is his for the taking. Finally healthy in training camp, Steen is striving to rise to the occasion.

“Everybody wants to play,” Steen said. “I want to play. I want to start. Yeah, I’m pretty eager to do that.”