Chris Kuper was dealt a tough hand, but this is bad.
When the Eagles hired Kuper as their offensive line coach this offseason to replace the legendary Jeff Stoutland, the hope was that the Eagles would be healthy up front and return to dominance. That hasn’t gone to plan.
And through eight games, the Eagles’ struggling offensive line is one of the big reasons they are 2-6 and losers of six straight. But head coach Nick Sirianni still believes in Kuper. He gave an impassioned defense of his OL coach on Monday afternoon.
“Chris is coaching his [butt] off,” Sirianni said on Monday. “He’s fighting his [butt] off, he’s coaching his [butt] off on a daily basis. You guys don’t get to see that. I get it on a daily basis.
“You get to see that for three hours on Sunday, but he’s coaching his [butt] off and he’s fighting his [butt] off and I know he’s giving the players good tools to use fundamentally and helping them be the best players that they possibly can be. But we all have to be better and we know that.”
The next morning on 94WIP, Sirianni said more of the same about Kuper when asked about the way Stoutland departed the organization. He also said the Eagles’ players have faith in Kuper and you can ask them. That might be true, but that can’t matter more than results; and the results aren’t good.
Through eight games, the Eagles are 30th in points and 32nd in total yards.
It’s impossible to say if having Stoutland this season would have helped the Eagles greatly. But it’s also impossible not to wonder, especially because his departure came after his role was diminished by Sirianni during the 2025 season. Stoutland is one of the greatest coaches in franchise history but even his line struggled last year.
It’s also fair to point out that the line the Eagles have been using for much of the season is very different than what they expected entering the year. At the start of the season, the Eagles were banking on Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens. Well, Johnson retired after playing in three games, Jurgens was traded to the Ravens and Dickerson has played just 3 of 8 games.
Here’s a look at the Eagles’ OL throughout this season:
Week 1: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson
Week 2: Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, Drew Kendall, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson
Week 3: Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, Drew Kendall, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson
Week 4: Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, Drew Kendall, Tyler Steen, Markel Bell
Week 5: Jordan Mailata, Willie Lampkin, Jake Majors, Tyler Steen, Markel Bell
Week 6: Jordan Mailata, Willie Lampkin, Jake Majors, Tyler Steen, Markel Bell
Week 7: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Drew Kendall, Tyler Steen Markel Bell
Week 8: Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Drew Kendall, Tyler Steen Markel Bell
In addition to the constant state of flux on the line, the Eagles have dealt with a ton of injuries to other players, including Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley and more.
So it wasn’t reasonable to expect the Eagles’ offensive line to completely save them. But it’s not unreasonable to expect better execution when it comes to things like assignments and communication. The Eagles have struggled with simple things up front at times this year. The Eagles have the 27th-ranked rushing offense in the NFL in 2026 and have given up a pressure rate of 42.65, which ranks 29th.
And the Eagles have been absolutely flummoxed by blitzes all year. They entered Week 8 allowing the highest pressure rate on blitzes in the NFL this season (57.7%), per NextGen Stats, and were even worse against the Commanders on Sunday Night Football. The Commanders generated 10 pressures on 12 blitzes (83.3%), which is the second-highest pressure rate on blitzes by a team in the 2026 season.
The Eagles have now faced 109 blitzes this season and have given up 66 pressures — an outrageous rate of 60.6% The Eagles have also allowed a free rusher on 18.2% of their passing plays this season, the most of any team, according to Ryan Paganetti.
A big focus for the offense this week is to fix the communication errors that have plagued them through eight weeks. Sean Mannion also expressed his confidence in Kuper this week.
“I think Koop’s been doing an outstanding job,” Mannion said. “I know, like I said, everything ultimately starts with me and making sure I’m charting the right course for us in terms of our protection plan, in terms of how we’re getting it taught, in terms of our install meetings and everything like that. But Chris is doing a great job. He’s a tremendous teacher of the fundamentals. He’s great with those guys in the room.”
Kuper was not retained by the Vikings after the 2025 season and the Eagles hired him with the hope that his knowledge in this system would help the transition to Mannion. Nothing on offense has worked this year.
So there’s no doubt that the pressure on Kuper has started to get ratcheted up in recent weeks as the Eagles’ struggles continue. But the Eagles seem like they’re sticking with him for now.
There are a lot of problems with the Eagles’ offense this season, as Sirianni is happy to share.
“Again, we all have to do better,” he said. “I think, again, we want to zero in on one thing. We’re not coaching well enough right now and we’re not playing well enough right now. I know we’re speaking offensively and right now we’re not doing all the things we need to do to win football games, and that falls on everyone’s shoulders. It’s not just one thing. We have to dig deep as coaches, as players, and again, find solutions, find answers.”
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