The 2026 tackle class didn’t make its loudest statement in the first round. It made it at pick 68, when the Philadelphia Eagles took Markel Bell.
The Football Debate Club panel had set an over/under of 6.5 first-round tackles and landed on six. The more interesting outcome came later, when Bell, a 6-9, 346-pound project out of Miami, slid all the way to Philadelphia in the third round. Omari Brown called it the real story of the position.
Why the Eagles Took a Lane Johnson Bet at No. 68
“It’s going to be [Markel] Bell. The Eagles were able to get their Lane Johnson replacement at 68,” Brown said.
“Howie Roseman again just shows that he’s exceptional and he’s ahead of the curve. You bring in a guy that’s 6-9, 346. He did not surrender a sack over 500 pass attempts. You can’t teach 6-9, 346. But what you can teach him to do is be a better run blocker. What we saw the Eagles do with Jordan [Mailata], what they were able to do with Mekhi Becton, I think we all have faith that [Markel] Bell’s ceiling will be reached if he’s developed by the Philadelphia Eagles. They have a type. It makes sense.”
The need is real. Lane Johnson turns 36 this spring, missed the second half of last season with a foot injury, and weighed retirement before deciding to come back for a 14th year. Philadelphia walked into the draft needing a succession plan, and Bell offers a rare starting point.
He started all 16 games at left tackle for Miami in 2025 and did not allow a sack across 558 pass-block snaps. The frame is enormous, the wingspan tops 87 inches, and the pass-protection tape is clean. The run blocking and the technique are where the work lives.
The Case Against Markel Bell Over Austin Barber
Jacob Infante agreed Bell was the bigger surprise, then pushed back on the player.
“I’m going to go with [Markel] Bell, but I’ll go in a different direction. Looking at who was still available, I would have taken Austin Barber ahead of him,” Infante said.
“He ended up falling to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns got two future starting tackles in this class in [Fano] and Barber. I’d also say Caleb Tiernan, who fell to the Vikings. Bell is really impressive. The size, the length, the power is really impressive. I think he’ll succeed in Philadelphia, but Barber is a much better athlete. He’s more experienced at the SEC level. Barber especially is somebody I would have taken over him.”
The math backs the discomfort. Bell went at 68. Barber, a longtime Florida left tackle with All-SEC honors, fell to the Browns at No. 86, after Cleveland had already taken Spencer Fano ninth overall. Caleb Tiernan lasted until No. 97 in Minnesota. Bell, the eighth tackle off the board, jumped both of them despite being the rawer prospect.
Here is the part the bet now hinges on. Philadelphia’s reputation for turning big, unfinished linemen into starters, Mailata the seventh-round rugby convert and Becton the reclaimed bust who won a Super Bowl at guard, was built largely by offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. Stoutland is no longer in Philadelphia. The “they have a type” argument assumes a development pipeline that just lost its architect.
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Bell is likely a year or two from meaningful snaps, and Johnson’s return buys exactly that runway. If the frame and the clean pass sets translate, the Eagles found a long-term tackle at a third-round price. If the post-Stoutland staff can’t coach up the rest, they spent pick 68 on a 6-9 dart throw. The biggest surprise of this tackle class was never the thin first round. It was who Philadelphia grabbed after it.
