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Who is the most indispensable player on the Eagles’ roster? LeSean McCoy? Jason Peters? Fletcher Cox? We take a look.

When last year began, Jason Kelce was in charge of making the protection calls at the line of scrimmage for the Eagles.

When Kelce went down in Week 2 and Dallas Reynolds took over, he became the new man in charge.

But before the Week 9 matchup against the Saints, Michael Vick had a chat with the coaches and told them he wanted the responsibility back. Andy Reid and company went along with the suggestion.

Now, as the Eagles forge ahead with Chip Kelly, the offense is going back to doing things the way it did at the start of 2012. During the spring, the center was put in charge of setting the protection.

From two tight end sets to the state of the offensive line to the quarterback competition, here are three things we learned about the Eagles’ offense this spring.

We went over the defense yesterday.

Here is the projected depth chart for the Eagles’ offense, based on what we saw during spring practices. Explanations below.

Antonio Dixon is used to the pace and structure of the Eagles’ 11-on-11 team drills. He’s been participating in them all spring and knows what’s expected.

Jason Kelce, on the other hand, had been sitting out that portion of practice as he continued to recover from a torn ACL. But Tuesday, for the first time, Kelce lined up as the Eagles’ starting center, and he decided to go all out, mixing it up with Dixon on the very first snap.

“I think I was probably going a little bit harder than I should have in OTAs, and Antonio didn’t like it so we kind of got in a scuffle,” Kelce said with a laugh. “But it’s all good. We’ll be friends when we go back in there.”

The Eagles’ offensive line went from a strength in 2011 to a disaster in 2012. What’s in store going forward? Here’s the breakdown.

Kelce brings up an important point: a byproduct of the up-tempo attack is that you become vulnerable to the blitz in some cases. You’re rushing to get the play off. If the center is trying to switch protections while the quarterback is calling out the signals, chances are not everybody is going to get the message. So it’s best not to introduce that element of confusion.

“That’s the thing: if we’re going to be wrong, we have to all be wrong, 11 people on the same page, and then let the quarterback use his hot read on the blitz that we didn’t pick up,” said Kelce.

The Eagles’ fourth overall pick toiled quietly in the background Monday, running with the second team while Dennis Kelly got the reps at right tackle with the ones.  Jason Kelce — wearing a large brace on his right leg — got some work in but sat out teams drills, giving way to Dallas Reynolds. Evan Mathis‘ only appearance during practice was on Twitter. 

Just how close are we to seeing this line in its (presumed) most potent form?

Todd Herremans says he has not watched the draft since 2005. That was the year the Eagles selected him in the fourth round out of Saginaw Valley State.

But next Thursday could affect the ninth-year pro. After moving to right tackle before the 2011 season, Herremans could be asked to slide back inside to guard, particularly if the Eagles use a first-round pick on someone like Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel, Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher or Oklahoma’s Lane Johnson.

So surely Herremans will be tuning in this year, right?

“I’m sure I’ll see it on Twitter,” he said.

The changes Chip Kelly is implementing extend well beyond the locker room shake-up.

One area where players are already noticing a difference is in the weight room.

“The weight conditioning is a little bit more up-tempo than it was under [previous strength and conditioning coach] Barry Rubin,” said center Jason Kelce. “I think that part of the reason why is because we’re going to run up-tempo. Instead of being able to relax and just kind of walk around the weight room and do your lifts, it’s more at a steady pace where you have a set amount of time rest period. I think the receivers and those guys might be doing a little bit more conditioning. They know they’re in for a lot of running in this offense.”

There was a time back in their college playing days when teammates Jason Kelce and Connor Barwin locked horns.

“I was known as a guy in college that you don’t really screw around with,” said Kelce. “I’m not trying to toot my own horn at all, but a lot of guys on the defensive side kind of feared that. They didn’t want to get into a scuffle with me. But I can remember vividly one play with Connor where I got into him and I started jawing off at him. I can’t repeat what he said, but it got to the point where he was like, ‘You don’t want to screw with me, Kelce! I’m crazy, too!’

“He is that kind of guy where he ain’t afraid of nothing.”

The health of the offensive line is obviously a major issue heading into the 2013 season. The Eagles lost Todd Herremans (dislocated foot), Jason Peters (ruptured Achilles) and Jason Kelce (torn MCL, partially torn ACL) to serious injuries in 2012. Their ability to rebound will be critical if Chip Kelly wants to experience some semblance of success in his first year at the helm.

With the offseason program set to begin on April 1 and the first minicamp a little over two weeks away, we checked in on the triumvirate’s status.

When Eagles players return to the NovaCare locker room in the coming weeks, they’re going to notice some changes.

Instead of having the space organized by positional groups, Chip Kelly has decided to mix things up. A quarterback might find himself next to a safety, a wide receiver alongside a linebacker, and so on.

“I think it’s going to help us blend a little better as a team,” said offensive lineman Todd Herremans, who hosted a fund-raising event for the Herremans Foundation Thursday night. “You’re with your position so much in the meeting rooms and everything like that. This will also have us hold each other accountable.”

One of the more intriguing aspects of free agency for the Eagles might have been a move they didn’t make.

On the first day of the new league year, the Birds were linked to right tackle Jake Long. Eventually, Long ended up signing a four-year, $34 million deal with the Rams that includes up to $20 million in guaranteed money if he stays healthy.

The Eagles also expressed interested in right tackle Eric Winston once he was cut by the Chiefs. Les Bowen of the Daily News reports that the team has a number it’s willing to sign Winston at, and a deal is still possible, depending on what he gets offered elsewhere.

So what does all this mean for the current players on the roster?

When told last week that Chip Kelly had hired a sports science coordinator on the Eagles’ staff, Oregon running back Kenjon Barner was not the least bit surprised.

“He was huge with science over tradition,” Barner said. “Everything that we did at Oregon was based on science.”

Such as?

“How we practiced, what time we ended practice, what time we started practice, what time we ended meetings, what time we ate, how we rehabbed, just everything was based on science,” Barner explained. “He was huge on science, always looking something up, always bringing some type of fact or number to us in a meeting. He’s huge on that.”