Jeff Stoutland is in a really, really happy mood. He's looking up at the depth chart of his Eagles offensive line and you know what he sees? He sees depth. He sees competition. He sees a chance to have something very special up front for the team's offense in 2017.

"This is great, what we're doing. I give the credit to Howie Roseman and to Joe Douglas that they've got the faith in me to work with all of these players and put something together with our offensive line that I think we're all going to be very happy with," Stoutland said. "It's going to be a lot of fun seeing all of these players pushing each other to be the best they can be this year."

Ah, the offensive line. The staple of Andy Reid's teams from 2000-08 when the Eagles went to five NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl, it was largely ignored in the three Chip Kelly seasons. Outside of the first-round pick used on Lane Johnson in 2013, the Eagles didn't use another draft pick with Kelly at the helm. The lack of front-line talent and depth caught up with the team and strained Stoutland as the offense bogged down late in 2014 and for most of 2015.

Last year, the Eagles made the offensive line a priority again with Doug Pederson on board as the head coach and with Roseman back in charge of personnel. They signed veteran Stefen Wisniewski as an unrestricted free agent. They used two draft picks on linemen – Isaac Seumalo in the third round and Halapoulivaati Vaitai in the fifth round.

They gave Stoutland some options. He needed every one of them, too, as Johnson's 10-game suspension along with some injuries forced the Eagles to use five different starters at right tackle and seven starting combinations along the offensive line through the course of the year.

The line, then, was a big priority for the Eagles in the first few days of free agency.

"We want it to be the best it can be," Roseman said. "Make it great up there with a deep, competitive unit. That was part of our plan."

And now, the Eagles have kept the offensive line front of mind. Wisniewski is back on a three-year contract. Chance Warmack, a starting guard with the Titans, was signed on a one-year contract.

And Stoutland is smiling.

"I think very few teams in the NFL will go through a season without having injuries. I think the Atlanta Falcons were the only team this year that made it through the year with all five players intact. We did it in 2013 and we went to the playoffs," he said. "But it's few and far between. You have to prepare yourself for injury situations. Right now, we have two groups of guys who are going to compete with each other.

"It's going to bring out the best in everybody. It's going to be a lot of fun."