With the 2025 regular season just seven days away, some notes as the Eagles focus in on Dallas and the NFL's first game of the season on Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

1. This has been a staple of the Eagles' locker room at the NovaCare Complex for years: In the far right back corner, the starting offensive line has its lockers lined up, left to right. Farthest away is left tackle Jordan Mailata. Next to him is left guard Landon Dickerson's locker. Next to him, center Cam Jurgens. At the very end, right tackle Lane Johnson.

The lone empty spot has been filled, and with that, Tyler Steen is smiling. He is the starting right guard heading into Thursday's regular-season opener against Dallas and he is darn pleased with the work he's put in, the progress he has made, and the play he has shown this spring and summer.

Steen, a third-year player from Alabama, has a high level of confidence with the opener ahead.

"Very confident," Steen said on Thursday afternoon. "I'm really confident in the guys we have in that room. I plan to lean on those guys. Just make sure we communicate well and that we're on the same page and I think everything will go well."

In 2024, Steen and Mekhi Becton battled for the starting job and eventually Becton won out. Still, Steen played 371 offensive snaps and helped the Eagles when he was on the field. He has talent. He has experience.

And now he's starting at right guard for the Eagles with the Dallas Cowboys coming to town next week. He's in the starting locker, after all.

"That's cool. The starting five, all on that side of the locker room. Cool," he said. "I plan on staying there. I stayed focused on putting my best foot forward every day. I wasn't concerned on winning the job or whatever. I just wanted to get better the next day."

The offensive line's job will be much different come Thursday night, as the Cowboys have traded All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers (so the Eagles will still see Parsons, just later in the season).

2. Assistant General Manager Alec Halaby provided a peek behind the curtain of how the Eagles develop their personnel staff with a similar approach to nurturing the young talent on the roster.

Halaby, who has been promoted several times since joining the Eagles in a full-time capacity in 2010, credits the leadership and vision of Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie and Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman for directing the senior members of the staff to serve as guides and teachers to shepherd the up-and-coming members of the staff.

"It helps team cohesion. It helps people see a future for themselves within the organization," Halaby said. "As employees, that means a lot to us. It's not like that everywhere."

3. The Eagles claimed interior offensive lineman Willie Lampkin off waivers from the Rams this week and he joined practice on Thursday, still recovering from a lower leg injury suffered in the preseason. Lampkin was signed by the Rams after the 2025 NFL Draft and earned Pro Football Focus' top rookie blocking grade in the preseason and now he's here to see how it works in Philadelphia. Lampkin is a 5-11, 290-pounder who was a state champion in wrestling during his high school days in Florida before playing college football at Coastal Carolina and North Carolina. Working with Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland is something Lampkin is excited about.

"He's one of the best to ever coach offensive line in the NFL," Lampkin said. "He's coached legends. He's still coaching legends right now … there is a bunch of talent in that O-line room."

Lampkin looks at his stature as an asset and he plans on using it to the fullest.

"When you get that leverage, it helps me be lower than the person that's in front of me," Lampkin said. "The leverage, and the wrestling helps me as well, being in the right position at the right time."

4. There is no injury report or practice updates or game status updates until Monday for both the Eagles and the Cowboys. You understand the schedule: Sunday is a Wednesday (as if the game were played on Sunday), Monday is a Thursday, Tuesday is a Friday, Wednesday is a Saturday, and Thursday is the opener!

5. You already know this, but the last time the Eagles and Dallas met to open a season was way back in the 2000 season, the famous Pickle Juice Game in Texas won by the Eagles, 41-14. Duce Staley ran for 201 yards, the defense allowed only 167 total net yards, and the Eagles opened the game with a brilliant onsides kick to start the rout in searing heat at Texas Stadium (hence the use of Pickle Juice to stay hydrated). It was a statement game for the Eagles, for quarterback Donovan McNabb, and for Head Coach Andy Reid and his era of coaching. Here we are, a quarter century later and, oh boy, how things have changed for both Dallas and Philadelphia through the years.

6. Hat tip to Jimmy Kempski from Philly Voice on this good nugget: The Eagles have the second-youngest roster in the NFL with an average age of 25.49 years (it continues to change, of course). Green Bay is ranked as the youngest team with an average age of 25.23 years. Philadelphia has just six players on the roster who 29 years old and older, an impressive re-modeling of the roster from last season. Seven of the team's 10 draft picks are on the 53-man roster, two (quarterback Kyle McCord and outside linebacker Antwaun Powell-Ryland) are on the practice squad, and offensive tackle Myles Hinton is on Injured Reserve.