PHILADELPHIA -- In the Philadelphia Eagles' version of the changing of the guards, they went from two players whose experience was measured in years to a couple of guys whose experience is measured in starts.

But Allen Barbre and Matt Tobin, with a total of 15 career starts, have spent two years learning head coach Chip Kelly's offense and line coach Jeff Stoutland's techniques.

They have gotten enough game action to identify their weaknesses and enough practice time to focus on correcting them. They both feel ready for this next step.

"I approach every day the same," Barbre said after Tuesday's minicamp. "Just focusing on things you can work on every day, then letting everything else take care of itself."

Barbre stepped into the hole left by Evan Mathis -- first by Mathis' absence from organized team activities, now by Mathis' release from the Eagles -- at left guard. He will work next to Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, who has expressed his confidence in Barbre as a player.

"That definitely means a lot, coming from a guy like that," Barbre said. "You know, he's a future Hall of Fame guy. Honestly, my mindset is just going out and working every day. We're just getting continuity together as a group. That will be big going down through the stretch, understanding what everyone is doing and holding everybody accountable."

Barbre was tabbed by Kelly as the replacement for right tackle Lane Johnson during Johnson's four-game suspension last season. That meant Barbre practiced with the first team throughout training camp, playing in all four preseason games as a starter. In the first game of the regular season, Barbre badly injured his ankle. The injury required surgery and Barbre went on season-ending injured reserve.

"We've seen Allen play in games," Kelly said before Wednesday's practice. "We're very confident in him. We're real confident in all those guys that we've had an opportunity to coach."

That includes Tobin, who saw his first action last season at left guard, after Mathis was injured. After five games, Mathis returned and Tobin had to play right guard to replace the injured Todd Herremans. That presented a problem. Tobin had trouble adjusting to a right-handed stance and got caught leaning the wrong way at times. Andrew Gardner replaced him after two games.

"Compared to last year, how I was feeling on the right side, I feel a lot better now than I did then," Tobin said. "At that point, I didn't have a lot of experience on the right side at all, my whole, entire career, college included. This whole offseason, I've really been focused on getting better on the right side."

Tobin, Gardner and Kevin Graf are the main competitors for the right guard job. Barbre is the likely left guard. None have as much experience as Mathis and Herremans, but all have two years in the offense and a familiarity with the coaches.

So if it could be a better situation at guard, it also certainly could be worse.