Philadelphia Eagles: Please target Jaylon Johnson in a Carson Wentz trade

Excuse me, Philadelphia Eagles fans, did you happen to catch the Tampa Bay-Kansas City game the other night?

It was a “Super” showdown, quite possibly the biggest game of the year? You did? Cool, well, you, me, and 96.4 million of our fellow football fans all have a shared experience from which to draw from.

This is going to be fun.

Well, if you did watch the game, you’ll surely recall that Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers’ defense gave Andy Reid/Eric Bieniemy’s offense fits by delivering a defensive masterclass that kept Patrick Mahomes from finding his footing and the Cheifs’ receiving corps from getting comfortable.

Sure, the team’s pass rush surely helped to make that happen, as Mahomes was under pressure for 55(!) percent of the dropbacks, but if you watch closely, you’ll notice that Bowles didn’t call too many six, seven, or even eight-man rushes in the second half. No, the Bucs were able to hold the sixth-most expansive offense in the league to only nine points.

How were they able to accomplish that lofty feat; a feat that hasn’t been done in any game Mahomes has started as a pro? By playing lights out coverage on the back end.

Trotting out a starting secondary that exclusively featured homegrown players drafted before 2018 – if you can believe that – the Bucs’ secondary held one of the highest-powered offenses in the NFL to a measly 270 yards through the air without surrendering a single passing touchdown.

To make matters all the more impressive – and all the more frustrating for the Eagles – the Bucs’ top coverage cornerback on the evening, Carlton Davis, clamped down on a receiving corps headlined by Tyreek Hill. Despite lacking the household name recognition of a player like, say, Patrick Peterson, Davis – the 31st pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft –  put in work in his Super Bowl debut – allowing only 14 yards on two receptions versus four targets.

Why is this relevant to the Eagles? Well, their secondary isn’t exactly loaded with young, explosive talent.

Sure, they have Darius Slay, who ultimately lived up to his three-year, $50.05 million contract extension despite having a few rough goes during the second half of the season, but behind the 31-year-old ex-All-Pro, the Birds had pretty much nothing.

Could Avonte Maddox remain a fixture of the Eagles’ secondary for years to come? Sure, there’s a world where he reinvents his game and becomes the answer to Kenny Moore in Jonathan Gannon’s secondary, but after a disastrous 2020 season, he’s pretty thoroughly proven that he just isn’t built – literally – to play outside cornerback in the NFL.

And behind those two? The Eagles have nothing, literally.

Frankly, the team’s best two performers of the 2020 NFL season at outside cornerback were strong safety Jalen Mills, who had to play the position in an emergency situation mid-game, and Michael Jacquet, who showed out fairly well in some reserve outings before collapsing in spectacular fashion at the end of December.

Simply put, the Philadelphia Eagles really need to find some young, ascending secondary members to fill out their secondary moving forward and should explicitly target players on rookie deals from which to do so.

Obviously, the easiest way to make that happen is through the draft, but if, for some reason, the Eagles found a way to acquire a quality player with many years left on his rookie contract via trade, well, that would be an avenue I’d heavily explore too.

The Philadelphia Eagles passed on Jaylon Johnson once but can’t again.

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Heading into the 2020 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles had three positions many expected the team to target with their first-round pick: Wide receiver, cornerback, and linebacker.

In theory, the Eagles were fairly well-positioned to walk away with an impact player.

Discounting the decision to select Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson and Brandon Ayuk, there were three linebackers – Kenneth Murray, Jordyn Brooks, and Patrick Queen – and two cornerbacks – Noah Igbinoghene and Jeff Gladney – selected after the 21st overall pick in the first round, as well as scores of similarly impressive players who fell to the second round like Chase Claypool and Trevon Diggs before the Birds selected Jalen Hurts at 53. While one could argue which of these players would have been more impactful selections in the first round, the one player I really wish would have lasted two more picks was Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson.

The 50th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Johnson joined a Chicago Bears secondary looking for a replacement for departing starter Prince Amukamara and promptly took that opportunity and ran with it. Despite having to wade through a lack of organized team activities without a preseason to test his mettle versus live bullets, Johnson was named a starter for the Bears’ Week 1 bout against the Detroit Lions and retained the role through Week 14, before a shoulder injury prematurely ended his promising season.

Measuring in at 6-foot, 193 pounds, Johnson is the prototypical NFL cornerback. He’s got long arms, functional NFL speed (4.50), and an eye for the ball when it’s up in the air – even if that doesn’t necessarily always translate to interceptions. Through 14 games of action with the Bears, Johnson broke up 15(!) passes, tied for the sixth-most in the NFL behind only Xavien Howard, James Bradberry, Denzel Ward, Ronald Darby, and, funny enough, Carlton Davis.

Often tasked with playing off coverage with some pressing in Chuck Pagano’s Cover 3 scheme, Johnson only allowed 56.4 percent of the balls thrown his way to be completed. Was he perfect? No, Johnson surrendered five touchdowns in coverage, 424 yards through the air, and 270 yards after the catch, but his willingness to fight snap in and snap out regardless of the score, stats, or standing is exactly what teams are looking for in a young, hungry, 21-year-old cornerback, and a big reason why the Fresno, California native was selected within the top-50 of that year’s draft.

Just for context, Johnson allowed a lower completion percentage, a lower QBR percentage, and one fewer touchdown than Carlton Davis during his rookie season. While the two corners aren’t exactly carbon copies, as the 21-year-old plays more like his Bears teammate Kyle Fuller than a prototypical Seattle Seahawks cornerback, he’s certainly on the same path to becoming one of the more impressive young cornerbacks in the NFL.

If the Philadelphia Eagles are going to trade Carson Wentz to the Chicago Bears, I’d push incredibly hard to get back Jaylon Johnson in the deal.

Sure, the idea of adding multiple future draft picks is enticing, but who’s to say the Eagles will actually use them correctly? There are at least a half dozen players who had more impactful rookie seasons than Reagor and dozens more who played more/better than the players the Eagles ultimately chose with their 10 draft day selections. Why not try to land a player who has proven they can play at the NFL level rather than hope that a player the Eagles opt to draft, say, Jaycee Horn, Elijah Molden, or even Asante Samuel Jr, will do the same?

Heck, why not try to land Johnson and still take one of those cornerbacks with a premium pick, building a formidable secondary a la that of Tampa Bay or the Miami Dolphins?

While landing an ex-All-Pro like Tarik Cohen would undoubtedly add an intriguing wrinkle to the Eagles’ offense, and I’m all about re-acquiring Nick Foles for the chaotic energy it would bring to a franchise known for having a brutally tribal fanbase, those players can only help the team’s fortunes so much. Landing a 21-year-old cornerback with three seasons left on his contract, by contrast, is a building block that could impact the team’s future for the next half decade-plus, maybe even more.

If the Eagles could land Johnson, Foles, Cohen, and a first, that would be ideal. If the Eagles have to surrender another mid-round pick to get such a deal done or package in a player like Zach Ertz, who will reportedly not be back in 2021, that works too. Really, I’d even be okay with the Eagles throwing out Foles, Cohen, and Johnson if they instead feel like taking back the contract of Kyle Fuller makes more sense in addition to draft compensation; really, it’s all about shoring up the Birds’ leaky secondary for years to come in whatever way, shape, or form they feel best accomplishes that goal moving forward.

When Jonathan Gannon was announced as the Philadelphia Eagles’ new defensive coordinator, it left many a fan with an unusual sensation: Optimism. The days of single high safeties, rushing four, sticks defense were gone, and in their place was the dawn of a new era in Eagles defense. Now primed to run a defensive scheme that deploys two safeties to take away the outside deep ball, man coverage to take away slants and screens, and an exotic collection of blitzes to keep opposing quarterbacks on their toes. While these schematic adjustments should help the Eagles out immensely, to truly return to their 2017 form, they’ll need to stock their secondary with the kind of impactful young prospects that made the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense so effective in the Super Bowl. Jaylon Johnson falls into that category and should be a player Howie Roseman explicitly targets when negotiating a trade with the Chicago Bears.