The Philadelphia Eagles and GM Howie Roseman have long been lauded for their prowess in the NFL Draft, but it’s their work in undrafted free agency that makes them a cut above the rest.
The Eagles routinely assemble some of the NFL’s best UDFA classes, with their 2025 haul of 10 players ranking fourth-best among all 32 teams, per draft analyst Thor Nystrom.
Nystrom is especially high on Rutgers left tackle Hollin Pierce, who ranked No. 133 overall on his big board for Fantasy Life’s draft coverage. Pierce is a massive human at 6-foot-8, 344 pounds, and Nystrom compared him to a recent Eagles success story that the team will be working to replace this summer:
“There are some Mekhi Becton vibes, here,” Nystrom wrote. “Pierce weighed more than 450 pounds in high school. He started playing football and ultimately lost more than 100 pounds, turning himself into a Second Team All-Big Ten performer in his fourth and final year as a starter.
“Pierce has utterly ludicrous length, with a wingspan of 7-foot-4. His lateral shuffling has gotten smoother and quicker as he’s lost weight and improved his technique, playing up the effect of that length even more. Pierce is a hammer coming forward in the run game. Pierce needs to work on lowering his pad level in the run game. In pass-pro, his biggest issue is counter-moves that force the big fella to quickly adjust to rushers crossing his face.”
The Eagles made Pierce a high priority after the draft, luring him to Philly with $180,000 in guarantees in his UDFA contract. He graded out extremely well by PFF’s metrics, scoring an 85.1 overall. He surrendered 21 total pressures, but only allowed one sack in 13 starts for Rutgers in 2024.
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The Eagles drafted three offensive linemen on Day 3 in Boston College center Drew Kendall, Texas tackle Cameron Williams and Michigan tackle Myles Hinton. As usual, Roseman gave star O-line coach Jeff Stoutland plenty of size, diversity and raw talent to work with in what is an unsettled depth chart behind the best offensive line in football. Among Philly’s biggest needs entering training camp this year are swing tackle and starting right guard.
Becton anchored Philly’s right guard spot in 2024 as a massive, 6-foot-7, 360-pound converted tackle. The competition for reps at that now vacant spot figures to be fierce come August, and Pierce’s name will be one to monitor.
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