Box scores tell you what happened. The tape tells you who made it happen.
That’s where Drew Kendall enters the picture after making his second straight start at center on Monday night. With the Eagles trying to get the run game going against the Bears, the offense leaned into a new-look wide-zone approach and mixed up its formations early. Kendall was right in the middle of it, setting the tone for a night that didn’t fully meet expectations as a unit but still offered a clear glimpse of what he can bring to the Eagles’ front five long term.
One of the clearest examples came on a man-blocking run to the front side, with a backside double team leaving Kendall alone against veteran Grady Jarrett on his inside shoulder. Kendall had to work to the right side of Jarrett’s body to make the play go, and at first it played out like a dead heat.
Jarrett got his hands on first and had Kendall a little too upright early. But Kendall kept driving, re-fitted his hands inside, and finished the rep by burying Jarrett in the turf once the defender stopped his feet trying to get free.
That kind of finish is the stuff coaches love. It wasn’t clean from the jump, but Kendall powered through the leverage battle and turned it into a highlight-style block.
Later, on a stretch-zone look, Kendall showed the kind of awareness that keeps a play alive from the inside out. He knew the backside A-gap defender, No. 90, belonged to Tyler Steen, so he planted and knocked Jordan Van Den Berg, No. 96, onto his back before quickly flipping his hips to pick up Austin Booker, No. 94, on a T-E stunt from the Bears.
With Van Den Berg on the ground, Jordan Mailata was free to climb to the corner, and Saquon Barkley handled the rest. If Kendall doesn’t fire off and take 96 out of the picture, Mailata likely stays occupied with Cam Jurgens and No. 21 has a shot to scrape over the top and meet Barkley.
That rep was less about flash and more about work rate. Kendall kept finding a body, kept staying involved, and in doing so helped clear a path for the play to develop.
The pass protection numbers were just as striking. Kendall was the only Eagles lineman who did not allow a pressure on Monday night, and he did it across 33 dropbacks.
For an interior blocker, that starts with cutting down lateral movement, setting quickly, flashing the hands to the chest, and anchoring before the defender can win the angle. Kendall did exactly that on one snap, getting his hands inside, lining them up parallel to his facemask, and stalling the rush before No. 90 stepped on Jurgens’ foot.
Even without the stumble, Kendall was in control.
He also showed why the center’s role in wide zone matters so much. On a front-side reach block, the job is to get to the play-side edge, cross the defender’s face, and seal him back toward the center spot.
Kendall used his first step to gain width, then worked his hips and hands into position so the defender couldn’t penetrate the lane or beat him across the play. The result was a cutback lane for Barkley, even if the run only produced a short gain.
It went for four yards, but the kind of movement Kendall created is the sort of thing the Eagles can build on. That’s the value here: not just a decent stat line, but a center who is already showing he can help shape the run game and hold up in pass protection at the same time.
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