With Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox gone, the future of the Eagles could depend on their replacements

It was the final practice of training camp, and Jalen Hurts was asked to compare this camp to the ones that preceded it.

They’ve all been different, Hurts said. It was, after all, another year with a different voice in his ear. The Eagles quarterback is on his seventh offensive coordinator in eight seasons, dating to his college years. Kellen Moore will be his third coordinator in his fourth NFL season.

But while change has been a relative norm for Hurts, one thing has been a constant: The ball has started in the hands of Jason Kelce, the iron man, future Hall of Fame center who has been around for just about every meaningful snap of Hurts’ four-season career.

No more.

Kelce retired from playing football and is now making millions as a podcaster, ESPN analyst, and Swiftie by association. Kelce is a six-time All-Pro who played in 193 regular-season games and 12 postseason games for the Eagles over the last 13 seasons. In many ways — none more legendary than masquerading as a Mummer on the Art Museum steps while celebrating a Super Bowl victory — Kelce was the heart and soul of the football team in a football-crazed city.

The magnitude of Kelce’s departure is not yet known. And while it was a big blow to the team’s leadership structure and the subtraction of the anchor of one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, Kelce’s retirement announcement in early March became the first of two major jolts to the roster that forced an immediate changing of the guard. Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, who played in 200 games (postseason included) for the Eagles since coming into the league in 2012, in April announced his retirement as well.

Football games are won in the trenches. It’s hard to find a team that competes for a Super Bowl with major weaknesses on either line, and the Eagles, one month apart, lost the loudest and longest voices on both of their fronts.

The team last week announced its youngest initial 53-man roster in a dozen years, and the Eagles are handing over the reins of their lines. Center now belongs to Cam Jurgens, and with Cox gone, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis are the next up on the defensive line.

Whether the Eagles can return to the Super Bowl will in many ways be determined by Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, and others, but the future of the team is in just as many ways reliant on the guys tasked with replacing Kelce and Cox.

“I feel like the D-line and the O-line are the heartbeats of the team,” Davis said. “Quarterbacks and linebackers can say all they want, but it really starts in the trenches. I mean, who’s got the ball when they snap the ball? The center.”

Eagles tight end Grant Calcaterra spent a lot of time with Jurgens leading up to the 2022 NFL draft. They were represented by the same agency and ended up being drafted by the same team.

“He’s one of my best friends,” Calcaterra said. “He’s a Nebraska dude. I don’t know. He’s just a funny dude … has the belly out.” It’s not all fun and games, though, for the cattle farmer from a remote corner of southeast Nebraska. “He’s an emotional dude,” Calcaterra said. “He gets [ticked] off every now and then, which is good and also funny.”

Sound a bit like Kelce? It’s a common trait for an offensive lineman, Calcaterra said: The fun can turn into physicality quickly.

Calcaterra said Jurgens is “the ultimate competitor” and is ready for the challenge of replacing a legend, but he knows his friend is going to put his own spin on things.

“Comparison is the thief of joy, so Cam is just going out there and just being Cam,” Calcaterra said. “He’s going to do a great job.”

Fair or not, every move Jurgens makes will be judged on the Kelce Scale. Fail to recognize a blitz? Kelce would never. Be a step slow getting to the second and third levels to clear space for Hurts and Barkley? Kelce would never. Let too much liquid spill down your chin when shotgunning a beer? You get the point.

Joel Embiid scored 70 points in a January game, and the Yeah But Wilt Scored 100 Committee was ready and waiting.

Jurgens, who was Kelce’s backup as a rookie and then moved to starting right guard last season, has been preparing for this moment. Even after the position change last season, he said he didn’t change his pre-snap approach.

» READ MORE: Rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell will see plenty of action in the Eagles’ opener, Vic Fangio says

“I wasn’t going up there and just worrying about my blocking assignment,” Jurgens said. “I was still thinking like I was a center and what protections and what calls we were going to make. I was still going through my normal routine just because it was so ingrained in me, it’s kind of all I’ve done.”

Jurgens, who turned 25 last month, said he and Hurts spent a lot of time together during the summer workouts getting on the same page. Moore’s system is new to both of them, and they would talk about what each other saw after a series of plays finished. Kelce’s departure also means Hurts will be making protection calls more often before the snap, but Jurgens will be involved, too.

“We’re in this together, making sure we’re comfortable with what we’re doing,” Jurgens said.

The communication is something Jurgens said he loves about playing center.

“I just enjoy it because I love talking and getting everybody on the same page,” he said.

Said Calcaterra: “The center, other than the quarterback, is the leader of the offense and, obviously, the offensive line. Where Cam goes, we go, in the run game and in protections. Definitely him having a voice is big, and I think he’s growing into that role.”

Jurgens said he was a bit of an undersized guard last season and didn’t have to change his body much. At 6-foot-3 and 303 pounds, Jurgens is the smallest player on what might be the biggest offensive line in football.

Jurgens was asked about how he has prepared himself for changing positions while maintaining who he is at his core. He pointed to playing multiple positions during his football life. He was a center in third grade, he said, “because I weighed too much.” But he also played quarterback, running back, and linebacker later in his grade school days.

“I’m not a right guard. I’m not a center,” Jurgens said. “I’m a football player. I think that’s what I’m going to try to continue to be.”

» READ MORE: Cam Jurgens, Jordan Mailata seek to uphold Jason Kelce’s standard: ‘We’re trying to build a winning culture’

Nolan Smith had a crowd of reporters around him after an early August practice, and standing at the back of the scrum was Carter, who listened to Smith, his college teammate at Georgia, answer a question about new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme by mentioning the big playbook he had at Georgia.

“Georgia prepared us for this,” Carter turned to a reporter and said.

Earlier in Smith’s session, the edge rusher was asked about Carter lining up outside during a few reps in that day’s practice. All of Carter’s moves, Smith said, came from Smith’s “toolbox.”

Carter laughed when Smith’s words were relayed to him, but he didn’t disagree. He has picked up moves from others, and others have picked up moves from him. Asked later in camp about Cox’s lasting imprint on him, Carter said Cox wanted him to be more physical and focus on his bull-rush technique.

“I’m a lot of finesse, and I like to try to work people and get their body off balance so I can take advantage of that,” Carter said. “He said I’m pretty strong, and he would like me to start bulling a little more.”

More physicality means Carter will need to be in better shape. The ninth pick in last year’s draft had a strong rookie season but faded down the stretch in much the same way Davis did. New defensive line coach Clint Hurtt said the duo’s conditioning was the first thing he noticed when comparing their film to how they looked during camp.

Carter played in 51% of the defensive snaps last season and said he focused on conditioning this offseason partially because of how last season ended and also because he knew his reps likely would increase with Cox’s departure.

In addition to the conditioning, Hurtt said he has noticed improvements in Carter and Davis’ ability to recognize formations and identify protections. They are better at knowing where the ball is going in the run game.

“Their football IQ has definitely picked up and gotten a lot better,” Hurts said. “They’ve been smart guys, but now it’s forcing those guys to do that and have to communicate with other guys because it helps everybody play faster and better.”

» READ MORE: Jalen Carter and the Eagles begin life without Fletcher Cox

Carter’s teammates say some of his biggest year-over-year improvements are in his technique. Carter agreed but said he still notices on film when his hands “are like lobsters,” meaning they’re too far wide and need to get farther inside.

Carter’s personality shows in the meeting room, Hurtt said, but also his desire to get better.

“He’s an attentive guy, and he’s smart,” Hurtt said. “A lot of people, I don’t know if they really kind of give him enough credit for that. He’s an intelligent football player. In the meeting room, he asks all the right questions, you can hold him accountable when he doesn’t do something right, and he takes constructive criticism and moves forward.”

To be clear, Carter, at age 22, was for large chunks of last season one of the better players at his position. ESPN Analytics rated Carter sixth in its defensive tackle pass rush win rate metric, ahead of more established players like Quinnen Williams and Javon Hargrave. According to Pro Football Focus, Carter had more pressures (49) than any other rookie defensive tackle in the last 10 seasons. He was exactly as advertised up until the end.

What’s next? Carter knows that he holds the keys in some ways.

“I know that my potential and what I can do on the field is a big impact that can help the team and help the guys around me,” Carter said. “I know that there’s probably going to be a lot on my back, and I’m ready for it.

“I got a lot of weight on my shoulders. It’s no pressure. It’s been like this all my life.”

» READ MORE: Eagles’ Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter ready to take on more: ‘They’re the future’

Davis said he identifies a lot with Brandon Graham, the defensive end who is having a yearlong retirement party in his 15th season with the Eagles. Graham, like Davis, was a first-round pick who didn’t excel right away. Davis said he admires Graham’s perseverance and said he knows that as long as he works hard the rest will “take care of itself.”

“You can’t listen to the noise,” Graham said. “You got to put earmuffs on.”

So far, Davis’ bright personality has mostly shone a little brighter than his performances on the field. He said he knew his conditioning had to be better. His offseason featured fewer sugary AriZona teas and more fresh juices, like the mango juice from Whole Foods he grew to enjoy. He also added hiking to his routine. The result was a slimmer body. Davis is now listed at 336 pounds after playing last season north of 350 pounds, he said.

The Eagles primarily used Davis as a run-stuffing tackle on early downs as a rookie before increasing his pass-rushing opportunities and playing time last season. With Cox gone, the Eagles will need more production from Davis, starting with Friday night’s opener in Brazil.

“The kid wants it,” Hurtt said. “A lot of times with young people, you got to be patient. They don’t always understand it right away. He does have pride in himself. He does want to be great. He’s made that commitment to himself, and now it’s about the consistency every day.”

» READ MORE: Vic Fangio’s job: Make sure Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, and Nolan Smith aren’t the latest Eagles DL busts

Davis is still just 24 years old, and while he’s maybe not wearing earmuffs like Graham suggested, he’s paying attention to the longest-tenured Eagle. There is a changing of the guard on both lines, but Graham is still around, and so is Lane Johnson on the offensive line. It’s not as though Carter, Davis, and Jurgens are being asked to grab the entire offensive and defensive lines and take over. Consider it the first step of the succession plan.

A few Eagles teammates said the defensive tackle room has been passed from Cox to Davis, but Davis said there wasn’t one voice leading the charge. The Eagles are young in a few spots, most notably at defensive tackle, where no player is older than 25. There is youth and talent, but there is no player like Cox.

Right now, before the season starts, that’s neither good nor bad. It’s just different.

“In general, I think we feed off of each other’s work ethic and the intensity that we have,” said Thomas Booker, who spent last season on the practice squad before making this year’s 53-man roster. “[Davis], when he breaks down our huddle before we go out to practice, it’s always an energy and a fervor that kind of gets passed on to everybody.”

Will Davis assert himself more and take on a larger leadership role? If he doesn’t, will the room suffer from not having a singular voice? Time will tell, but the players seem to think the leadership-by-committee path, with Davis perhaps taking on a bit more responsibility than the others, will work fine.

“We want to make sure that it’s player-led,” Davis said. “We want it to come from within. We don’t want any outside noise or anybody from upstairs coming to tell us how this team is going to go. At the end of the day, we’re on the field. It’s our team, and we want to take control of that.

“We’re all the future. It don’t move unless we go. Ain’t nobody coming to save us, so we all have to make sure we do our part.”