Philadelphia Eagles: Look Out for the Secondary

After an offseason of turnover for the Philadelphia Eagles, improvement should be expected next season. One of the units that will improve immediately is the secondary.

Last season, the Philadelphia Eagles were led to a 7-9 record by a middling offense and one of the worst defenses in the league. After turnover to the coaching staff, highlighted by bringing in head coach Doug Pederson and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz both units are poised for improvement in 2016.

In 2015, the Philadelphia Eagles had the 28th ranked scoring defense by allowing teams to average 26.9 points per game. That’s an unacceptable number that’s going to cost a team a lot of games. The Eagles allowed 30+ points in five games and in three of those they allowed 40+ points.

That ineffectiveness has paved the way for Jim Schwartz to immediately improve the defense. His schemes will improve the rush defense that ranked dead last in all of football by allowing 134.6 yards per game. Shipping out Kiko Alonso for younger linebackers such as Nigel Bradham should help the defense as long as the Fletcher Cox situation gets figured out. Jim Schwartz works wonders with front sevens and that will be no different with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Schwartz’s teams create pressure through their front sevens. Those players will improve the running game and also pressure the quarterback. The run defense wasn’t the only issue with the defense for the Philadelphia Eagles last year as the passing defense ranked 28th in yards per game allowed. Opposing teams threw for 267.1 yards per game to assault the secondary.

Going into the offseason updating the secondary was a major priority for the Philadelphia Eagles as they brought in Rodney McLeod, Leodis McKelvin, and Ron Brooks to add to their depth in the secondary.

Malcolm Jenkins and Nolan Carroll were the best members of the secondary last year so it was important that they were signed to contract extensions in the offseason (thanks, Howie). Ron Brooks and Leodis McKelvin were brought in to help the secondary learn Jim Schwartz’s system and compete for depth roles to make the secondary better against 4 wide receiver sets.

The added pressure from the front seven should lead to more turnovers but the biggest addition to the secondary is Rodney McLeod, who was signed from the Rams to a 5-year 37 million dollar deal. McLeod and Jenkins will form one of the best safety tandems in the NFL allowing the corners to be a little more aggressive with their coverages.

Having two good safeties allows a team to play different coverages because if a cornerback gets beat there will still be help over the top minimizing the risk for being aggressive. McLeod is one of the most athletic corners in the league so he will have no issues with playing help defense if a play breaks down. The (way too early) depth chart of the secondary is shown below:

Left Cornerback: Eric Rowe, Leodis McKelvin, Jaylen Watkins, Randall Evans, JaCorey Shepperd
Safety: Rodney McLeod, Jalen Mills, Chris Maragos
Safety: Malcolm Jenkins, Ed Reynolds
Right Cornerback: Nolan Carroll, Ron Brooks, Denzel Rice,Blake Countess, Aaron Grymes

Obviously, all of these players won’t make the team after the preseason but there is more depth than the Philadelphia Eagles had last year. With improvement from Eric Rowe, who showed promise last year the starters in the secondary could be a solid group. Jalen Mills is a player who could exceed expectations because he is not your average seventh round pick. Mills is an athletic player that can make a difference on special teams as well as in hybrid packages, which Schwartz is likely to employ.

Next: Ruben Randle's Surgery to affect Wide Receiver Core

It shouldn’t be hard to improve on having the 28th ranked defense in the league but the Philadelphia Eagles could drastically improve this year jumping into the top half of defensive rankings. The front seven will play a large part in that but don’t sleep on the pass defense in 2016.

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