Doug Pederson on Monday adamantly denied Stefen Wisniewski's assertion that he was benched for reasons other than his play.
Wisniewski on Sunday night told reporters he thought he had been playing pretty well and that he had "some theories" as to why he was benched, but didn't want to publicly state them.
On Monday morning, Wisniewski tweeted this:
Even though I wasnt playing bad I got benched last week.Its frustrating,but no matter what I will praise Jesus and will trust that He is in control and is good.I will believe that"Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all"— Stefen Wisniewski (@stefenwiz61) October 8, 2018
"I have no idea what the other theory would be," Pederson said, "because everything in this business is performance-based."
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Pederson was then asked if he gets pressured to play high draft picks. Seumalo was a third-rounder in 2016.
"Not at all. Not at all," Pederson responded. "And I don't know where that theory is coming from. If that's the theory, then that's not coming from us. Not at all."
Seumalo actually began last season as the Eagles' starter at left guard before getting benched after two games. The Eagles tried to hand the job to Chance Warmack, but eventually Wisniewski won the position and helped solidify the offensive line for the Super Bowl run.
Because of that, it's a little surprising that Wiz was benched four games into this season. But Seumalo is younger, he was a draft pick and, despite Wiz's claims, he was not playing very well. He was probably the weak spot on the line in the first four games.
"When we look at our personnel, if we feel as an offensive staff like we need to make a change somewhere, then we'll make that change," Pederson said. "We feel comfortable with Isaac, feel comfortable with his versatility."
Seumalo got off to a noticeably rough start on Sunday, but Pederson thought he played well, with just "one bad snap." The Eagles have a quick turnaround before playing the Giants at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night, probably too quick to make any lineup changes.
Pederson anticipates the same starting offensive line for that game. That means at least one more week of Seumalo.
