The career refurbish Mekhi Becton pulled off in 2024 with the Philadelphia Eagles was truly something to behold.
The former first round pick switched positions from offensive tackle to offensive guard and became one of the NFL’s best at his position, taking his career off life support to become a Super Bowl champion in one season.
Even with that, the free agent market wasn’t quite as robust as Becton would have hoped after one season in Philly, he ended up with a 2-year, $20 million contract from the Los Angeles Chargers after playing on a 1-year, $2.75 million contract with the Eagles.
Reports that Becton could have come back to the Eagles to help them defend their title led Bleacher Report’s Brent Sobleski to put the former first round pick on a list of players who “signed with the wrong team” in free agency.
Spotrac had Becton’s market value projected at a 4-year, $40 million contract before free agency.
“Obviously, money came into play here, because Philadelphia doesn’t have nearly the amount of salary-cap flexibility as the Chargers do,” Sobleski wrote. “Yet the Eagles still had enough to retain Becton depending on how the deal was structured. The Chargers also place a heavy emphasis on trench warfare and consistently winning at the point of attack, which should help Becton. But his decision couldn’t have been easy leaving the reigning Super Bowl champs, the game’s best O-line coach and a truly elite unit.”
Eagles Gain Compensatory Pick for Becton
While replacing Becton could be difficult for the Eagles, they’re arguably still coming out on top as Becton grossly outplayed his contract in 2024 and now Philadelphia gets a compensatory pick in return for him signing with the Chargers.
“After losing free-agent OL Mekhi Becton to the Chargers, as @Tim_McManus reported, the Eagles are now poised to have 2026 compensatory picks in rounds 3, 4, 5 and 6,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on March 15. “They also already had the Jets’ 3 in 2026 courtesy of the Haason Reddick trade. They now are expected to have five of the top 100 picks, and 12 overall picks, in the 2026 NFL Draft.”
That’s an incredible haul general manager Howie Roseman might be able to spin into gold at any number of positions, although not necessarily at guard. That’s because the Eagles traded safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans in exchange for offensive guard Kenyon Green — a former first round pick like Becton.
Becton Cashed in With Career Turnaround for the Ages
Becton can hang his hat on one of the great career turnarounds for an offensive lineman in recent memory.
Selected in the first round (No. 11 overall) of the 2020 NFL draft by the New York Jets in 2020, Becton was a full-time starter as a rookie but only played 1 game over the 2021 and 2022 seasons with knee injuries. He returned in 2023 to play 16 games but the Jets declined his fifth-year option.
Becton, 6-foot-7 and 363 pounds, was one of the NFL’s best guards with a 75.2 overall grade from PFF in 2024 that ranked him 21st out of a possible 135 eligible players at his position.
