Sirianni compares Dickerson to a perennial All-Pro

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Nick Sirianni paused for a split second.

He knew what he was about to say and he still said it anyway. On Monday, he was asked for a comp for Eagles rookie Landon Dickerson.

“I know this is high praise, but I do see some of the physical movements that kind of like Quenton Nelson had,” Sirianni said. “There are some things that I see and I'm like, ‘That looked like Quenton right there.’ Obviously, I think Quenton is a great football player, so that's a high praise, because Quenton has done a lot for me in my career in the teams that I've been on.

“But I do see that every once in a while where I'm like, ‘Hey, that movement looked like Quenton right there,’ as comp goes.”

Yeah, that’s high praise.

Because Nelson has been the best guard in football since the Colts drafted him with the No. 6 pick out of Notre Dame back in 2018. In his first three seasons, and with Sirianni as his offensive coordinator, Nelson made three consecutive Pro Bowls and All-Pro teams.

Nelson, 25, appears on the fast track to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And there aren’t many people who got to see him up closer in recent seasons than Sirianni. So this comparison, even if it just describes one piece of their games, is extremely high praise from anyone, but especially from Sirianni.

The Eagles used the No. 37 pick on Dickerson despite a lengthy injury history during his college career at Florida State and Alabama. But most pundits felt like if Dickerson could stay healthy, the Eagles might have landed the steal of the draft.

It’s looking more and more like that every week.

“I just see Landon playing tough and playing physical and playing nasty, right?,” Sirianni said. “Which is what you want out of your offensive line. So, he's getting more confident, more comfortable being on that offensive line, and he's got one of the best centers to ever play this game next to him helping him through it. What an opportunity for him to play alongside Jason Kelce and help him through that first year and forward.”

Dickerson was still rehabbing an ACL injury in training camp so when he was thrust into game action early in the season, he didn’t perform very well. But ever since he moved to the left guard position, he seems to get better with each passing week. It’s at the point now where Dickerson might never leave that spot.

And between Dickerson and left tackle Jordan Mailata, that’s roughly 700 pounds on the left side of the Eagles’ offensive line.

“Then also being able to have combination blocks with Jordan Mailata,” Sirianni said. “He's huge, and so now you get those two huge bodes on the left side working combination blocks, whether that's on the front side of a run, which you saw on the touchdown run by Kenny (Gainwell) working a combination block into the linebacker, or whether that's on the backside of a run where they're working that combination block.

“So, he's got two good guys to work with alongside him, too, and obviously Coach (Jeff) Stout is a great coach that is continuing to develop him along.”

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