Is Cam Jurgens Ready To Replace Jason Kelce?
The Jason Kelce era is over. The future Hall of Famer retired yesterday with an emotional 40-minute speech. So now, the Cam Jurgens era begins. Kelce hand-picked him as his eventual replacement two drafts ago. He sat his entire rookie season but played RG last season. The question becomes, is he ready, and capable, of replacing Jason Kelce?
Let’s first point out, we should not expect him to be as great as Kelce. Kelce is one of the best centers of all time. If we go in with the expectation that Jurgens needs to be that good, we are going to be let down. The question is not, “can he be as good as Kelce?” The question is, “can he be a good or great center?”
How Did His First Season Go?
Jurgens was solid in his first season. He was not spectacular, but he was dependable. He was the weakest of the starting 5 Linemen, but that is not really a knock on him given how great the other 4 guys are. Jurgens was playing out of position, and taking the first snaps of his NFL career.
Of course there was going to be growing pains. He is not a guard, he is a center. It may not seem like a big difference, but it is a big transition given he never took snaps at Guard in college.
He battled some injuries and struggled in some games. Pass Protection seemed to be particularly challenging for him at times. He gave up no official sacks, but he did allow 22 pressures. For reference, Kelce allowed only 11 despite playing nearly twice as many snaps. In fact, Kelce has only 3 seasons in his entire career where he gave up 22 or more pressures.
All of this to say, Jurgens has some stuff he needs to work on. But he is not without good qualities. And Jason Kelce himself has said he sees a lot of himself in Jurgens.
Jason Kelce Had Tons Of Praise For Him Coming Out of College
People love to compare players coming out of the draft to active players. It is a decent way to let people know what type of game a player the draft pick is. Often it is just pure hyperbole though. We heard people say Jordan Matthews is like Calvin Johnson. But in this case, Jason Kelce is the one who compared Cam Jurgens to himself.
“Out of all the guys compared the most to myself, this guy is him. He is so athletic, so fast. You see him out in space. He runs, he’s a natural athlete. You see the fluidity. He played tight end, a position convert. He’s been playing offensive line for two years. 4.92 [second 40-yard dash], 1.7 [second 10-yard split], 7.19 three cone. This guy is a freak athletically. He has the best chance to be a difference-maker at the center position. I like this kid a lot, I really do.”
If you want something who is going to be able to block downfield, Cam Jurgens is a great option. Like Kelce he converted to playing center in college. It gives him an athletic edge over most prototypical centers.
It also means he is maybe a bit undersized. Being undersized didn’t hold Kelce back, so maybe Jurgens can overcome it too. But there were moments early in Kelce’s career where he did struggle with it. So Jurgens may need a similar grace period.
All of that said, he has the tools, and a great O-Line Coach to work with. There is going to be a drop-off. But that has more to do with losing Kelce than it does with how good Jurgens is. With his skill set, and Jeff Stoutland’s knack for getting the most out of every O-Lineman, Jurgens should at the very least be a dependable center. We will have to wait and see if he can truly follow in Kelce’s footsteps though.
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