Here's The Really Scary Part About Eagles Draft Pick Markell Bell

PHILADELPHIA – At 6-9¼, Markel Bell is already taller than Jordan Mailata and everybody else on the Eagles' offensive line. His arms measure just over 36 inches long, which is considered the longest of any offensive lineman drafted in the past decade. His wingspan is over 87 inches.

But here's the scary thing about Bell: He may get even taller, still.

"I may still grow, you know?" he said on Zoom after the Eagles selected him in the third round, the 68th player taken overall on Friday night.

Bell said he's been growing all his life. No drastic growth spurt in one summer. Just a steady, gradual climb up the measuring stick.

"Measurements get misconstrued all the time, but all I know is I'm a big guy who loves to play football," he said.

He began playing in seventh grade growing up in Mississippi because, he said, "All my home boys played where I was from and really didn't have anything to do, so we just played, played, and then I fell in love with the game around high school. I find out that I can really be good at the game and that I can help my family."

Bell isn't just big. He's wide, at 346 pounds, still just 21, and was the top junior college recruit before signing with Miami.

"Markell was a passion player for us throughout the process," said general manager Howie Roseman. "Obviously, unusual size, unusual length, hard to find, but really when you watch the tape, he is hard to get around in pass pro."

No Secret Sauce To Markel Bell's Success

So hard, that Bell didn't allow a single snap in 558 pass pro snaps this past season, and he played his best in the biggest moments.

"There's no secret sauce to it," he said. "I go against great players, and I had a great coach behind me. I'm looking forward to doing the same thing in Philly."

In the college football playoffs against Texas A&M, he didn't give up any QB pressures in 25 pass pro sets. In the national title game against a very good Indiana defensive front, he threw out another 0 in 34 pass pro sets. The only pressure he allowed in the CFP was one against Ole Miss in 51 pass pro snaps.

There's a possibility that he could move to guard at some point, but Roseman said they would start him out at tackle and get him used to playing both the left and right sides. That toggling back and forth on the line can give some trouble, but Bell doesn't expect any issues.

"I'll be good," he said. "I'm a plug and play guy. You can put me anywhere. You can put me at center if you want to. That's all I do. I've been training left and right. They do a great job of cross training us at Miami. I've been going right side and left side drills. It wouldn't be anything too major.

Roseman is excited to get him around his standout tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, and the organization spent a lot of time doing their homework on him.

"Just watching the tape, this is one of those guys you say, what would happen if he went back to school this year?" said the GM. "To have an opportunity to learn from the guys that we have on this roster, and we spend a lot of time with him, we spent time with him here, we spent time with him in Miami. We had a lot of eyes on him. Just a sponge, high character guy. Just felt like this was a guy that's hard to find.

"When you watch him pass pro and 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. Again, he's a unique guy."

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/eagles/onsi as Here's The Really Scary Part About Eagles Draft Pick Markell Bell.

Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM.