Let’s get it back to the Eagles.

One of the bigger storylines of the summer is on the offensive line, with what should be a competition between 1st round draft pick Andre Dillard and 7th round draft pick Jordan Mailata for the starting left tackle job.

Dillard missed the entirety of his sophomore season due to injury, and Mailata stepped in to fill the void. With Jason Peters no longer in the picture, it’ll be one of those two taking over this year, and Dillard noted that he’s fully healthy and recovered from his biceps injury.

“I’m back even stronger,” Dillard said Thursday. “I’m all cleared to go, 100%. Feel good as new. I’m a lot stronger than before I got hurt, I’ll tell you that.”

So how does he feel about competing with Mailata for a starting job?

Dillard:

“I welcome all competition. I never shy away from it and I’m glad it’s happening. It makes sense that it’s happening. Jordan came in last year, filled in, and played most of the season and he did really well. It only makes sense for the coaches to give it competition and not just give somebody the spot when I come back from the injury. We’re really good friends, we sit next to each other in the locker room and pal around. Out on the field we’re always pushing each other to get better, so I really welcome it. It’s a lot of fun competing with him.”

Would it make sense to move Dillard? He did play some right tackle as a rookie and told media on Thursday he’d have no problem moving inside to guard. He also had to brush off a question about a possible trade if he doesn’t win the job, noting that he no longer has social media accounts.

“I try not to pay attention to any of that stuff because it’s all noise,” Dillard explained. “My job is just to keep my head down and work. That’s all I know is just work. If I’m not the starter, I would just do everything I can to earn it back. I’m not just gonna back down if the job isn’t given to me. I’m gonna keep fighting for what I want.”

“There were a few factors that went into (getting off social media). One being the obvious, just a lot of people, including myself, who just spend 30 minutes sitting there scrolling through stuff. You find interesting videos and all of that stuff, but next thing you know a whole hour goes by and you’re like ‘dang, I just wasted that, I didn’t get anything out of that.’ And just a whole bunch of other things. You don’t want to read into too much, just the general negativity in the world. Social media in general, I’ve watched a lot of documentaries on it. There’s one on Netflix, I can’t remember what it’s called… but there’s good and bad on the internet and I’d rather just not deal with it. I spent too much time on it. That’s really the case. But it’s definitely helped me. It feels like I live a more simple life. I get up, go work, study, all of that stuff. Relax, read. Not once do I flip open my phone and just (scroll). I still get news, but nothing too crazy. It has helped me a lot, I think.”

In short, social media a toxic cesspool! It does have its benefits, but Dillard is right; the general negativity is through the roof. Too much arguing and bloviating and bullshitting. Too much Ben Simmons blah blah and all of this other hyper-partisan stuff going on. It’s insufferable more often than not.

Good session with Dillard, though. He seems like a smart guy who has a good head on his shoulders. Gotta see a full season of him at 100% health, whether it’s at left tackle or somewhere else.

Here’s the video: