Eagles select ‘unique’ Miami tackle Markel Bell, a ‘passion player,’ in third round of 2026 NFL draft

Markel Bell is 6-foot-9 and 346 pounds, but he “may still be growing,” he said late Friday night after the Eagles selected the Miami offensive tackle with the 68th overall pick in the NFL draft.

It would make sense. His ascension has been rapid. Bell was an off-the-radar prospect out of Cleveland Central High School in Cleveland, Miss. He was big, but raw. He went to Holmes Community College in central Mississippi and blossomed into the top junior college offensive tackle prospect in 2024.

He entered the 2025 season, his second at Miami, as a first-year full-time starter. He left college after losing the national title game as a still-developing prospect.

Howie Roseman called him a “passion player” for the Eagles during the draft process. The Eagles entered the draft cycle in need of an eventual successor for Lane Johnson, or at least a plan for one. Roseman was enamored with Bell. He wondered what would happen if he went back to Miami for another season after not allowing a sack in 2025. Chances are, Roseman was implying, the 21-year-old Bell would have morphed into a potential first-round prospect.

“This was a guy that’s hard to find,” Roseman said Friday night. “When you watch him in pass [protection] and you watch his ability, it’s hard to run through him, it’s hard to run around him, he’s got good feet for a big guy. You can see that. He’s a unique guy.”

The Eagles hosted Bell for a pre-draft visit. Bell said he “saw himself in Philly” and “envisioned” himself as an Eagle during his visit.

“I overwhelm defenders,” he said, “and I think that’s what got me drafted here.”

Bell played left tackle at Miami but has been cross-training at both spots.

“I’ll be good. I’m a plug-and-play guy,” Bell said. “I can play anywhere. You can put me at center if you want to.”

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote that “Bell is high cut and faces some disadvantages because of how he is built, but he compensates with his length and ascending awareness, which suggests he has NFL starts in his future. His performance in 2025 forced NFL scouts to reevaluate both his ceiling and floor.”

The Eagles have time to evaluate the floor and ceiling without needing Bell to get on the field right away.

The Eagles, who also brought back swing tackle Fred Johnson, have been due to have a plan ready for life without Lane Johnson. The future Hall of Fame right tackle turns 36 in two weeks and missed the second half of last season after suffering a foot injury. He then pondered retirement in the offseason before opting to return for a 14th NFL season.

Bell’s selection marks the first time the Eagles used a pick in the first three rounds on an offensive tackle since taking Andre Dillard in the first round in 2019. That pick did not pan out, but the Eagles had a 2018 seventh-round pick, Jordan Mailata, who developed into the long-term solution at left tackle. The Eagles have had remarkable consistency bookending their offensive line in recent seasons.

But a position group that used to be plug-and-play has come under the microscope over the last year due to multiple key injuries.

It’s not just right tackle that the Eagles may need to replace soon enough. Left guard Landon Dickerson, who has suffered multiple injuries over his career in college and with the Eagles, spent some time this offseason contemplating his future. He then restructured his contract, which now expires after the 2027 season instead of 2028.

Those things — which lineman retires first, how soon the Eagles need Bell to play — eventually will work themselves out. For now, the Eagles have a big blocker in the fold, one who may be 6-foot-10 soon enough.

“I just know I’m a big guy that loves to play football,” Bell said. “That’s all that really matters to me.”