Bowen: Seumalo needs to develop fast

ISAAC SEUMALO stacked a bunch of gold bars over the weekend. Fans of an Eagles team with a suddenly scrambled offensive line are just going to have to hope he finds a way to redeem them.

Seumalo is the third-round rookie guard who just a week ago didn't look like a contender for a starting job. That was before news leaked that right tackle Lane Johnson almost certainly will be suspended 10 games for his second PED violation.

By the commutative property of offensive-line play, that affects Seumalo, who moved up to the first unit, with first-team left guard Allen Barbre moving to right tackle for Saturday and Sunday practices. There might be more permutations as we go, but the coaching staff's first take on how to solve this very serious problem is to move Barbre, and bring in the rookie who was expected to challenge for a starting job before he missed almost all the spring work thanks to Oregon State's quarter system and the NFL-NCAA class graduation rule. Johnson, unlikely to play before Nov. 28, is practicing with the second team.

Offensive-line coach Jeff Stoutland has tried to impress the value of practice reps on Seumalo, the first o-lineman drafted by the Eagles since Johnson was taken fourth overall in 2013.

"Coach 'Stout' always calls 'em bars of gold. You try to show your personality through your play. Give coaches and GMs a reason to keep you here. Every repetition is a bar of gold. Get locked in for that 4 or 5 seconds," said Seumalo, 6-4, 303. "It's crazy, because you've got to lock in for that 4 or 5 seconds, then erase everything and go on to the next play."

This has been a problem for Seumalo, who certainly has the physical tools to compete. His debut in last Thursday night's preseason opener was uneven, at best. Seumalo overpowered opponents on some running plays, seemed hesitant and easily flummoxed in pass protection.

"Mentally, I can get that stuff down," Seumalo said. "Then physical reps, going up against really good players, and then when the lights come on, Thursdays or Sundays (it's harder) . . . it's all about playing fast. Guys are too good in the NFL to overthink."

Sunday evening's practice "wasn't great," Seumalo said. "I think as a football player, especially offensive line, you always think about the bad stuff. You could have 99 good plays, but if you have one bad play, and it's a sack or whatever, that kind of haunts you."

Barbre, meanwhile, is a 32-year-old veteran who felt he was settling in nicely at left guard, where he started all 16 Eagles games last season. Barbre has eight career starts at right tackle, seven of them with the Packers in 2009.

Asked Sunday if he is comfortable on the right side, Barbre, 6-4, 310, said: "I'm gettin' there. Every snap helps."

Right guard Brandon Brooks said Barbre has "good feet, and he knows what he's doing while he's out there. Half the game in the NFL, just period, is knowing what you're doing."

Brooks said his advice to Seumalo as the rookie tries to hit the ground running would be "if you have any questions, even in the middle of a play, feel free to ask the guys to your left and to your right; you got two of the best in the game (in left tackle Jason Peters and center Jason Kelce). I have faith in him. He's done a lot of good things. He's athletic, a strong, powerful guy. I know he'll do well."

Fans might have thought the Eagles would reach for veteran Stefen Wisniewski, signed as a free agent, to start at left guard, but Wisniewski seemed to have as chaotic a preseason opener Thursday as anyone.

"We've got some guys who have played a lot of football here," Kelce said Sunday. "I'm not too worried about it. I'm just kind of going at it as however it shakes out, it shakes out."

Kelce said Seumalo is "a young kid . . . but you see a lot of really, really good things, and he's a very smart kid. I don't think it would take very long to catch him up to speed. I think he's a very fast learner, and I like what he's doing out there so far."

Lane Johnson, facing a possible 10-game ban for taking what he said was an amino acid supplement whose label he'd scanned through the NFLPA's approved Aegis Shield phone app, said he feels "the players have no rights."

Johnson served a four-game suspension for taking what apparently was Adderall without a therapeutic exemption in 2014.

Johnson said he bought this supplement online. Of course, the app has no way of determining whether there is anything in the container that isn't on the label. The NFL's stance is that players are responsible for whatever ends up in their urine samples.

"I talked to the NFLPA. They do not test the products, so there is no backing from them," Johnson said. "That's all I know right now. I'm waiting for my B sample to come in. That'll be probably in two or three weeks . . . Everything I've taken was approved by the NFLPA Aegis Shield app, and that's the only thing the NFLPA gives us to test our products."

Actually, the NFLPA later clarified that it warns players the limits of just scanning labels, and offers to test products for free if players ask, which Johnson apparently did not do. Linemates Allen Barbre and Jason Kelce also noted that the NSF (originally the National Sanitation Foundation, now it just goes by the acronym) tests supplements through its "Certified for Sport" program. Johnson apparently was unaware of this, as well.

"The first time, I knew I was at fault. There's no worse feeling than having to go through this again," Johnson said. "This is something that I definitely wanted to avoid. It's nothing I ever wanted to be a part of again."

The Eagles released wide receiver Deon Long and guard Malcolm Bunche. Bunche spent last season on the team's practice squad . . . Ex-Giants tackle Will Beatty has been connected with the Eagles in published reports, but the Birds do not seem close to signing him . . . The injury list is down to Jordan Matthews (knee), Carson Wentz (ribs), Jalen Mills (hamstring) and Mychal Kendricks (hamstring) . . . A source close to the situation said Wentz has a 2-to-4-week injury in terms of weathering contact, but he can start throwing and practicing again whenever he feels comfortable . . . The Eagles said 17,389 hardy souls made their way through the boiling soup that passes for air around here these days for Sunday evening's public practice, the second and final one at Lincoln Financial Field.

@LesBowen

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