Jeff Stoutland went through the tape. He was on a roll, in his office at the NovaCare Complex on a late April night in 2022, just minutes after the Philadelphia Eagles selected Nebraska center Cam Jurgens with the 51st overall pick in the NFL Draft.
“Look at this kid,” said Stoutland, the Eagles offensive line coach. “Look how he moves. Look how he finishes. Power. Feel. It just jumps out at you. Wait until you see him in person. He’s a different kind of player.”
At that time, the Eagles had a plan in place for Jurgens, envisioning him as a replacement for star center Jason Kelce, who in fact had an instrumental and positive voice in endorsing Jurgens as his eventual successor. The path from then until now took some twists and turns – Kelce played a season longer than many expected, including Kelce, and in the process became a mega-superstar on and off the football field. But as the 2024 season starts, the vision has been realized: Kelce has retired from football, moving on to greater things, and Jurgens is the starting center for the Eagles.
Just like the Eagles drew it up.
“I’ve had a really good teacher these last two years… I have a lot of confidence in myself and my abilities. I’m here for a reason.”
“I don’t think things are ever like you think they’re going to be in this game,” Jurgens says, laughing, his orangish locks flowing. “I learned that right away when I got here. Things are moving so fast, it’s like your head is on a swivel. I know it’s like a cliché, but you have to just focus on you. Keep improving as a player. Do what the coaches ask you to do. Be ready for that moment, because when it comes you might only get one chance.”
Yeah, ok, that’s life in the NFL and, truth be told, Jurgens isn’t exactly an unproven commodity in his third NFL season. He was in Kelce’s hip pocket in that 2022 campaign, literally Kelce’s shadow as he learned everything about playing center in the league. They went to meetings together. They ate together. They studied film together. Jurgens played only 35 snaps, but he had the mental game locked in.
“A sponge,” is how Jurgens describes his time with Kelce. “Soaked it all in.”
But in 2023, Jurgens stepped outside his comfort zone and earned the starting right guard position (he started 11 games in the regular season). He then literally was Kelce’s shadow, lining up one slot over along the offensive line and playing very good football.
And earning a ton of respect.
“People don’t give him enough credit for doing that,” Stoutland said during the 2023 season. “This is a player who has been a center for most of his life now playing right guard. A totally different position. Angles are different. You’re going against different defensive linemen. What Cam is doing is very impressive.”
Now, Jurgens returns to his natural position and all he has to do is replace a legend. An icon. Kelce was more than a player who was voted to seven Pro Bowl teams and who earned six first-team All-Pro honors. He became a cultural phenomenon whose presence transcended the confines of a football team.
Cam Jurgens steps into a new world.
“It all feels natural to me, honestly,” Jurgens says. “The voice, the leadership, being the one on the offensive line who makes the calls and has the responsibility of communication. I’ve had a really good teacher these last two years, and what we’re doing here is similar to what we were doing in college. I’m just gonna be me. I can’t pretend to be something I’m not. I have a lot of confidence in myself and my abilities. I’m here for a reason. They drafted me because they wanted me here and I’m going to earn their trust.”
Kelce is still around the building, keeping a healthy foot in with the team just in case he is needed for a word of advice or perspective. Kelce knows that it is Jurgens’ time to blossom, to star. The specter of Kelce’s stardom marring Jurgens isn’t even a thought.
Cam time is now.
“I think Cam is absolutely going to kill it,” Kelce says. “He’s going to have a fantastic year. He did a really good job for us last year at guard and from an athletic standpoint, from a physical-traits standpoint he’s even more suited for the center position and what we like to do with that spot. I really think the bar is, in my mind, high for what I’m expecting out of Cam Jurgens.”
“I know it’s his first year starting, but he’s played the position before and he’s playing around great players. He’s in a great offense and I think he’s going to flourish. I don’t think he’s going to be intimidated replacing me because this is about Cam, not me. He’s a confident guy and a great player. When you go out and play well, none of that stuff matters. He is on his own journey.”
It is a journey that will inevitably be compared to the previous 12 seasons of Kelce’s reign because that’s just the way the sports world operates. These are the Philadelphia Eagles. This is the NFL. The scrutiny is inevitable. But Jurgens is one of those players who is unfazed by all of it. Heck, he learned of the Eagles drafting him in 2022 while taking shelter during a tornado warning in Nebraska. The rain and hail pounded his home as the Eagles called his cell phone to inform him.
How can anything be scarier than that?
“This is going to be fun. I am fully confident of what I can do. I’ve been preparing for this, and I feel great about where I am,” says Jurgens, who has his own line of jerky (Beef Jurgy, he calls it) and who had a video of him practicing his pass-blocking skills working against a steer on his hometown cattle ranch go viral days after the Eagles drafted him. “This is football. I’m lucky to be in this position. I know what I can do, and I know what this team can do. So let’s go out and do it. Let’s go out and play our best football and win as many games as we can.”
