Philadelphia Eagles: A change in the secondary is much needed
The Philadelphia Eagles need to change up the secondary.
The Philadelphia Eagles have had a change of scenery this season with the addition of Darius Slay.
The three-time Pro Bowler has come in and made a great impact on the Philadelphia secondary with his ability to shut down one half of the field. It has been such a refreshing feeling of finally having a true number one corner on this team and not seeing opposing wide receivers have career weeks every week.
The only problem, however, is that there is still another side of the field to attack. And this was clear last Sunday against the New York Giants.
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After scoring an opening drive to start the third quarter, the Eagles’ defense did what they usually do and gave up a touchdown on the drive right after. On back-to-back plays, Daniel Jones beat the Eagles with his arm and got the Giants right down the field. Jones threw a deep ball to Sterling Shepard for 27 yards as he beat out cornerback Avonte Maddox for the football.
On the very next play, Jones went deep again, connecting with Golden Tate for 37 yards, beating out Nickell Robey-Coleman. These two plays set up the Giants to score a touchdown and extend their lead that never went away.
Those two plays made one thing clear: the Philadelphia Eagles need to make a change in the secondary.
Going into the season, the Eagles were banking on Maddox to be the second outside cornerback to play on the other side of Slay. It was a big ask for Maddox, as he is only 5-foot-9 and faces a mismatch against pretty much every wide receiver he will face.
Every other cornerback on the roster is more suited as a slot cornerback, as the team rostered Robey-Coleman, Cre’Von LeBlanc, and Craig James. These players stuck around after the release of Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas, two players who could at least play on the outside.
The Eagles have a problem in their secondary, but they do have options to salvage this.
One option the team has for the secondary is to move Jalen Mills back to outside cornerback. After re-signing for this season, Mills made the transition to strong safety to play the role of Malcolm Jenkins after his departure. Mills has been good this year but hasn’t been a standout or made plays that are eye-opening at the position.
By moving Mills back to cornerback, this would give either Will Parks or K’Von Wallace more opportunity at the strong safety position. To keep Maddox on the field, moving him to the slot cornerback position would be best so he can take over for the underwhelming Robey-Coleman.
The other option is to look to another cornerback that has been up and down the active roster. UDFA Michael Jacquet has been a practice squad call up all season and finally got a shot to show he can play in recent weeks. Against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8, Jacquet was one of the best-graded rookies in the entire league, according to Pro Football Focus.
Albeit, quarterback play wasn’t the best that game, but Jacquet had the opportunity of going up against very talented receivers such as Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb. Not bad for your first real game action, as we’ve highlighted how impactful Jacquet was and can be moving forward.
After comparing these two options, putting Jacquet out there would give the Eagles a better secondary. He fits the part of a true outside cornerback, standing at 6-foot-2 and hauling in four interceptions and 14 passes defended in his last two college seasons at Louisiana.
Giving Jacquet more playing time can be a huge success for this defense and could force opposing offenses to look for other ways to beat them. You can leave Mills at strong safety and keep more experience and leadership on the field for the young cornerback.
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Nine games into 2020, it is clear that the Philadelphia Eagles have a problem in the secondary outside of Darius Slay. Their cornerbacks are filled with undersized players who would benefit more in the slot. A change needs to be made if they want to see improvement. What they will do is still a mystery, but until this is fixed, they will continue to get burned.