The Eagles finally drafted an offensive tackle Saturday, selecting Michigan’s Myles Hinton with the 191st pick in the sixth round.
There was a thought that the Eagles could take an offensive tackle and heir apparent to Lane Johnson as early as the first round, but it didn’t happen for another two days.
Hinton, 6-foot-7, 325 pounds, began his college career at Stanford, where he started 16 games at right tackle in 2021 and 2022 before transferring to Michigan, where he started 15 more games – 11 at left tackle and four at right tackle.
Hinton is the second offensive lineman the Eagles drafted Saturday whose father was an offensive lineman in the NFL for years.
Fifth-round pick Drew Kendall’s father Pete was the Seahawks’ 1st-round pick in 1996 and spent 13 years in the NFL. And Hinton’s dad, Chris, was the fourth pick in the 1983 draft and made seven Pro Bowls in a 13-year career with the Colts, Falcons and Vikings.
His older brother Chris, who also played at Michigan, is a defensive lineman with the Chargers.
Despite his size and his bloodlines, Hinton still had doubts about his future in football coming out of high school.
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“I wasn’t sold on the sport going into college, it kind of surprises people,” Hinton said on In the Trenches with Jon Jansen according to Michigan blog site Maize ‘n’ Brew. “My dad and brother played, it was part of the family. Once I got to college, I learned more about football and how it was a vehicle for future success, so I was trying to put myself in a position to where I could have that.
“The biggest thing was realizing my ability. For a while, I didn’t understand what I could do off and on the field physically.”
Hinton is a project tackle who has that tremendous size, long arms and the tools to become an NFL player at some point but needs to learn to stay low at 6-7 and play with more consistency and aggression. This is the kind of player Jeff Stoutland loves to work with, a guy who great potential who isn’t NFL ready yet.
With Fred Johnson leaving in free agency for the Jaguars, the Eagles don’t have a ton behind starters Johnson and Jordan Mailata. They have one-time Chiefs 5th-round pick Darian Kinnard, who was on the roster all year but only played in the meaningless season ender vs. the Giants, and they brought back 2018 Eagles 5th-round pick Matt Pryor, who has started 39 games mainly at tackle for the Eagles, Colts, 49ers and Bears.
The Eagles have drafted plenty of interior linemen lately, but Hinton is the first offensive tackle they’ve taken since Prince Tega Wanogho in the sixth round out of Auburn in 2020. He played four seasons in the NFL.
It’s the second straight year they’ve taken a Michigan offensive lineman on Day 3. Last year they picked Trevor Keegan in the fifth round with the 172nd pick. He also only played in the season-ending Giants game.