September 05, 2020
In case you missed it, the Philadelphia Eagles had offensive tackle Cordy Glenn in for a workout on Friday. Since Glenn is a well-known, established starting tackle in the NFL, and he makes sense in a number of ways for the Eagles, we went ahead and watched all his snaps in 2019 to get a better feel for who he is as a player.
Glenn was a second round pick (41st overall) of the Bills in 2012, and he played in Buffalo for six years, starting at LT every season. In 2018, the Bengals paid roughly the equivalent of a second round pick (using the draft value chart) to acquire Glenn in a trade from the Bills.
| Bengals got | Bills got |
| Cordy Glenn | 2018 1st round pick (12th overall) |
| 2018 1st overall pick (21st overall) | 2018 6th round pick (187th overall) |
| 2018 5th round pick (158th overall) |
By most accounts, Glenn had a solid first season in Cincinnati, but there were issues in 2019. He suffered a concussion in the preseason, which caused him to miss a big chunk of the regular season, until he was finally cleared to play in mid-October. Thereafter, Glenn and the team disagreed on Glenn's readiness to play, via Mike Florio of PFT.
Per multiple sources, the Bengals and Glenn have been at odds regarding the concussion, its symptoms, whether he’s able to return, the need for second opinions, and how the player feels. At some point, the situation prompted the Bengals to fine Glenn $200,000 for conduct detrimental to the team.
As one source explained it to PFT, things got heated on Wednesday. Glenn and a member of the Bengals’ coaching staff argued (a witness thought at one point that it was going to turn physical), and Glenn eventually told coach Zac Taylor to just cut him.
Glenn was upset because he believes that the team rushed him back from his concussion.
Glenn was also suspended by the team for one game. He did not play his first game in 2019 until Week 12, when the Bengals were already 0-10.
• Week 12 vs. Steelers: As noted above, the Bengals were already 0-10, and they were starting a fourth-round rookie in Ryan Finley. Glenn had to play his first snaps of the season against an extremely athletic edge rusher in Bud Dupree, who had 11.5 sacks in 2019. That didn’t go well, as you might expect. Glenn struggled with Dupree’s speed around the corner, as he gave up a couple of knockdowns, the game-sealing sack-fumble, and another near sack when Dupree beat him with a push/pull move. That was easily his worst game of 2019.
• Week 13 vs. Jets: Glenn mainly faced Jordan Jenkins (eight sacks in 2019), and Jenkins didn’t get a whiff of Andy Dalton all game. Impressive performance, and the Bengals won a game!
• Week 14 vs. Browns: With Myles Garrett out, Glenn faced a combination of lesser players. He gave up two sacks, which sounds bad, but it really wasn't that a bad a performance, overall. One sack was on a stunt, in which the DT got inside of him with a swim move. The other was a play in which Bryan Cox Jr. got under him on a dip move around the edge. Those two plays aside, Glenn shut everyone down that he faced on a steady string of win after win after win. Sometimes you'll see a guy definitively lose 10 or so reps in a game, and not give up a sack. Glenn just happened to get bad results on his rare lost reps in this game, which can happen when you play for a 2-14 team.
• Week 15 vs. Patriots: Glenn faced a combination of Jamie Collins, Deatrich Wise, and Chase Winovich. Despite a big deficit throughout the second half, Glenn easily handled those guys.
• Week 16 vs. Dolphins: Glenn seemed to be splitting series with then-rookie Fred Johnson, which makes sense, since the Bengals' season had long since been over, and they were surely going to be cutting him during the next offseason to save $9.5 million on the cap. Glenn was involved with one sack that was difficult to assign blame, as it looked like a miscommunication. But in 1-on-1 situations, Glenn shut down Miami’s pass rushers.
• Week 17 vs. Browns: Didn’t start, only played 2 snaps. I didn’t bother finding them.
If you're getting the 2019 version of Glenn, he is still good enough to be an effective starting LT in the NFL, particularly in pass protection. He's massive, at 345 pounds, and he has 35 3/4" arms. He's a brick wall against power rushes, and when he's able to get his hands on opposing pass rushers, it's game over. His long arms, paired with his obvious strength, are able to keep defenders at bay.
I saw two areas where he is deficient. First, there are times in which he gets caught leaning forward, and rushers will use push-pull moves to take advantage. More worrisome is that speed rushers (like Dupree, as noted above) are always going to give him problems, because of Glenn's lack of athleticism.
In the run game, I was expecting to see Glenn moving defenders off of the line of scrimmage, seeing as he's a mammoth 345-pound dude. To my surprise, there was very little of that. Additionally, he doesn't have the short area quickness to get to the second level, or be effective in any way in the screen game.
He's a hell of a lot better than Matt Pryor or Jordan Mailata would be at LT, and he was a lot better than Andre Dillard was last year (though to be fair, Dillard had to face tougher pass rushers).
But an important note on Glenn is that you have a good idea of where he's going to get beat, when he does. It's more often than not going to be around the edge, with speed. If the opposing defense isn't lining up a speed rusher opposite Glenn, then he will typically have the matchup advantage. If they do, Doug Pederson can game plan for that.
What you can't have is a guy who is going to consistently get walked back into the pocket. That won't be Glenn.
If Jason Peters continues to refuse to play LT, Glenn could theoretically fill right in to that spot. Even if Peters does eventually move to LT, Glenn has extensive experience at LT, and as an added bonus, he was set to play LG last season before then-rookie Jonah Williams tore a labrum, ending his season. None of the Eagles' backup offensive linemen have any real game NFL experience at LT or LG.
It's not often that a competent left tackle such as Glenn is just sitting there, waiting to be signed in September. I would have to imagine that his altercation with a member of the Bengals' coaching staff last season has something to do that.
The Eagles will have to weigh the character risk that Glenn could bring vs. how he can help the team on the field at a position where the team is currently very vulnerable. They at least felt comfortable enough to bring him in for a workout. If that workout went well, and if he was able to show during his interview that he can fit into the locker room, it feels like a he would indeed be a logical fit.
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