Eli Stowers Knows What He Must Prove: Blocking Will Define His Eagles Future

PHILADELPHIA - The so-called "Consensus NFL Draft Board" has been a hot topic around the league in recent days.

While discussing Eagles rookie tight end Eli Stowers with an independent scout who is included in all those consensus boards, the evaluator volunteered that he had the second-round pick ranked No. 105 overall - a significant gap from the No. 54 selection by Philadelphia GM Howie Roseman.

The issue wasn't Stowers' playmaking ability or his exciting skill set as a receiver.

"At some point, no matter how good you are at one aspect of the position, if you can't handle the other, it's going to become a formational issue for you," the scout said.

Make Or Break

For Stowers, the blocking side of the position remains a work in progress. The former quarterback only switched to tight end three years ago at New Mexico State. Some NFL teams even viewed Stowers more as a king-sized slot receiver than a traditional tight end - something the impressive athlete, who boasts a 44½-inch vertical, took as a compliment.

"I think that I view myself as a tight end, but I think that I can be a really good weapon in the passing game as well," Stowers said Thursday at the Jefferson Health Training Complex, a day before the Eagles' annual rookie camp. "I'm thankful that I'm viewed that way, because it shows that people think that I'm explosive enough to view me as a receiver.

"But the fact of the matter is that I play tight end and I want to be used in the offense in that way - however they ask me to do it."

If Stowers wants to reach his ceiling as a potential TE1 and eventual heir apparent to Dallas Goedert in Philadelphia - rather than a situational sub-package player - blocking will have to become part of the equation.

"I think just moving from quarterback and getting into blocking is just new," Stowers told Eagles On SI when asked about the blocking aspect of his toolbox. "It's really new because quarterbacks are never asked to block. So it's just something that's new, and you have to learn the technique.

"I think that was not necessarily a hurdle, but the thing you have to learn the most is really getting your technique down. A lot of it is reps, so you can get the muscle memory."

Perhaps most important, though, is the willingness to embrace that dirty work.

"The other side of it is just the will to want to block, and I have that," Stowers said. "I want to be the best blocker that I can be. Learning my techniques and really practicing it - that's the key."

The positive is that Stowers obviously has the physical tools and self-awareness to know exactly where he must improve.

The question now is how quickly he can turn that willingness into functional competence as a blocker. If the former quarterback can reliably handle those responsibilities without sacrificing his rare athleticism in the passing game, the Eagles may have found themselves a long-term starter at a premium position.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/eagles/onsi as Eli Stowers Knows What He Must Prove: Blocking Will Define His Eagles Future .

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 3:00 PM.