A few weeks ago, before frigid temperatures forced the Eagles to practice inside their practice bubble, rookie Isaac Seumalo got a lengthy one-on-one tutoring session.
For about five minutes, during the portion of practice open to the media on this particular sunny Wednesday, the 23-year-old listened and watched as eight-time Pro Bowler Jason Peters gave him personal instruction and patiently waited for his words to sink in.
Those lessons might come in handy this weekend.
With Allen Barbre’s status in doubt because of a hamstring injury he suffered against Washington, Seumalo could end up being the fifth right tackle used by the Eagles this season.
“I’m just trying to soak as much as I can in,” Seumalo said Thursday. “Depending on whether [Barbre] is healthy, gotta prepare to play, which I do every week. Gotta prepare to play.”
How much has Peters helped his progression as a tackle?
“A lot,” Seumalo said. “Super good guy. He helps the young guys, usually without us even asking, which is huge for a guy of his status. He doesn’t really see it that way. We’re all teammates.”
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Seumalo’s rookie season started off with a pec injury that lingered from the summer and probably helped lead to his being inactive for the first seven games of the year. Then, he played sparingly as a fullback and a tight end for a few weeks until the Green Bay game.
In the Green Bay game and the Washington game, starting right guard Brandon Brooks wasn’t able to play because of a mystery illness that was eventually discovered to be anxiety. That meant two spot starts with little to no notice for the third-round pick from Oregon State.
“It’s a little weird, but my take on it is: what am I going to do? Complain?” Seumalo said. “It’s not like I have a choice, so I kind of get over the emotional roller coaster real quick and get ready to play.”
If Seumalo plays this weekend, he would become the fifth right tackle this season, after Lane Johnson, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Barbre and Matt Tobin. Johnson is still suspended. Vaitai hasn’t returned from a sprained MCL. Barbre has the hamstring. And Tobin was placed on IR with a knee injury.
Until this week, Seumalo’s practice reps at tackle had come sporadically. But without Barbre at practice on Wednesday and Thursday, all the first-team reps at right tackle have belonged to the rookie.
“At tackle, the guys you plays against are just a lot faster, athletic, still pretty big,” he said. “Just a lot more space. You really got to be quick off the ball. [Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland] really preaches that, getting off the ball, especially in pass protection.”
Immediately after his first start, against the Packers, Seumalo was extremely critical of his performance. Eventually, as he went back and watched it on film, it was better than he originally thought.
And against Washington on Sunday, he improved that much more.
“You could see Isaac settle down and play pretty solid football,” offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. “There's nothing that can substitute experience and getting in there and playing. There's nothing that can build confidence like playing, having a few good plays and building confidence one play at a time. When you're playing beside other guys that got a little bit of juice, the guy's got juice and you feel that support and practice goes well, I think those are all things that build confidence.”
