Acme Packing Company
In case you missed it, the Green Bay Packers sent their 2027 sixth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night in exchange for offensive lineman Darian Kinnard, a former Packers pre-draft visitor who was picked in the fifth round of the 2022 draft.
In this piece, we’re going to look at how Eagles media has reacted to the trade, instead of how he fits with Green Bay, to try to glean some information on Kinnard. I hope you enjoy.
Here’s what Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation, APC’s sister site covering the Eagles, had to say in their writeup:
That being said, this trade is a bit of a surprise … for multiple reasons.
I’d wager that most 53-man roster predictions had Kinnard making the team. Philly’s backup offensive linemen generally didn’t perform well this summer but Kinnard seemed to be one of the better performers from that group. Following Landon Dickerson’s injury, there was a day in practice where the Eagles actually gave Kinnard some first-team left guard reps, though the bulk of those went to Brett Toth.
How could the Eagles possibly trade their good luck charm?! Kinnard has been in the NFL for three seasons. He’s won a Super Bowl in all three of them (two with the Kansas City Chiefs, one with the Eagles). Does correlation equal causation? No, of course not. But why tempt fate here? Now the Packers are totally winning Super Bowl LX.
From what I can tell, the point about Kinnard being projected to make the Eagles’ 53-man roster is accurate. When I looked at former Packers pre-draft visitors on the roster bubble earlier this week, most believed that Kinnard would make the team, but there were a few who thought otherwise.
Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice noted the positions that Kinnard lined up during summer camp:
Kinnard seemed poised to play a bigger role for the Eagles in 2025, as Jeff Stoutland played him at RT, RG, and LG throughout training camp. But Kinnard became expendable after the team traded for Fred Johnson, the team’s swing tackle in 2024.
For what it’s worth, all of Kinnard’s snaps in the preseason were taken at right tackle and right guard (I know because I watched them all). Kinnard looked sharper at guard in my review of his film, which isn’t surprising considering he’s a mauler-type lineman. With that being said…oh boy, did the Eagles’ backup tackles struggle. I get why they essentially turned a guard into a tackle with their trades on Sunday.
According to Eagle Wire’s Glenn Erby, those tackles are now expected to be cut:
The Eagles took several swings at adding a backup offensive tackle during the spring. Philadelphia signed Kendall Lamm during free agency, drafted Myles Hinton, and had Matt Pryor and Darian Kinnard operating as backup offensive tackles during the preseason. Kinnard has been traded, while Lamm and Pryor could both be cut.
