Philadelphia Eagles: 3 biggest storylines from first training camp practice

Avonte Maddox is the CB2.

Easily one of the most talked about debate topics this offseason was that of who would win he Eagles cornerback #2 job. The team picked up both Darius Slay and Nickell Robey-Coleman in the offseason, solidifying the CB1 and slot job. However, the winner of the CB2 position was a tad more ambiguous.

It took no more than a few drills before we got our answer, as third-year veteran Avonte Maddox was the one to take first team reps alongside Slay. Sidney Jones appeared to be the third outside corner in the depth chart, with Rasul Douglas rounding out as the final option.

There are pros and cons to Maddox playing outside, with the obvious con being his overall size. At just 5-9 183lbs, there’s plenty of potential for him to get flat out abused by larger WRs.

The main pro with this decision is the fact that Maddox is a “Jim Schwartz guy”, and knows the Eagles defensive system very well. He’s played safety, slot corner, and outside corner for the Eagles over the last three seasons, proving to be at least serviceable pretty much no matter where you put him.

With Slay shadowing team’s WR1 and Robey-Coleman holding down the slot, Maddox should in theory be able to have a far more productive season on the outside than he’s had in past years. He won’t ever have to match up against the Davante Adams or the Amari Coopers of the world, instead he can just focus on doing what he does best, which is acting as a twitchy ballhawk.