Philadelphia Eagles: What role will CB Zech McPhearson play in 2021?
By David Esser
The lone cornerback drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles this past weekend, it’s already common knowledge that fourth-round pick Zech McPhearson will play a rather large role in Jonathan Gannon’s defense moving forward.
You could make an argument for the Eagles having three major vacancies on their cornerback depth chart, and as of right now, I guess McPhearson could be considered the team’s “highest potential” player at the position.
The Philadelphia Eagles will have to find a role for Zech McPhearson in 2021.
Continuing on with my series of analyzing and assessing each Eagles’ 2021 draft pick, here are some thoughts on how Gannon might utilize his new CB moving forward.
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Starting boundary corner, no questions asked.
Getting right to the big one, there’s a pretty high possibility that McPhearson is tasked with immediately assuming CB2 duties alongside Darius Slay. The team failed to bring in any veteran corners this past offseason (thus far), and McPhearson does have the physical profile of someone who could handle outside corner duties.
Standing in at 5-11 and 194lbs, McPhearson wouldn’t be vastly undersized like that of Avonte Maddox.
McPhearson also has plenty of experience playing on the boundary, as that was one of his main responsibilities at Texas Tech. While he was primarily restricted to zone schemes (something Gannon is also expected to run in Philadelphia), he definitely flashed signs of NFL potential.
The obvious drawback to such a strategy is that it could massively backfire for the Eagles early on. Very rarely are rookie corners capable of starting on the boundary year one – expecting that from a fourth-round pick is a rather large gamble to take.