Philadelphia Eagles: Is Trent McDuffie too small for Jonathan Gannon’s system?

The concept of drafting “best player available” is a sound strategy.

Unlike in, say, the NBA, where teams only have 15 players and only start five, NFL teams enter camp with 90 players, trim it down to 53 before the first game of the regular season, and use as many as 40 players in any given game. While filling needs is important, especially at crucial position groupings, drafting for need, especially with premium picks, can lead to leaving value on the table, so to speak, and create a vacuum of talent that can have on-field ramifications.

With that being said, there are some considerations that need to be made for drafting players when it comes to scheme, even if it only serves as part of the talent evaluation process. If, for example, a team already has a franchise quarterback in place, they probably shouldn’t be drafting another quarterback in the first round, especially if he isn’t as good as the guy they already have. Similarly, if a team plays a 4-3, drafting a traditional two-down nose tackle probably isn’t an ideal allocation of assets in the first round.

But what about cornerbacks? If a team like the Philadelphia Eagles wants to run their defense with tall, long “Seattle”-style cornerbacks, does that make a cornerback like Washington’s Trent McDuffie undraftable in their scheme? Or do supreme coverage abilities supersede the length of one’s arms or the size of their hands?

Is Trent McDuffie too small for the Philadelphia Eagles?

If Jim Schwartz was still the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Trent McDuffie would unquestionably be a top-2 cornerback prospect on the team’s board.

Sure, the latest premier cornerback prospect out of the University of Washington has short arms, small hands, and size more akin to a prototypical slot cornerback than the sort of size most teams prioritize on the outside, but if there’s one thing Schwartz liked more than anything else, it was players who compete for the ball when it’s in the air, and McDuffie undoubtedly has that “my ball” mentality.

Measuring in at 5-foot-11, 195 pounds, McDuffie has a good 4.44 speed, great vision, and a willingness to lay down the hammer as a tackler. He played well in man and zone during his three-season run in Washington, recording 94 total tackles, eight passes defensed, and two interceptions over 27 games, and even contributed to the Huskies on special teams as a return man, where he brought back nine punts for 74 as a change of pace option.

In Schwartz’s scheme, McDuffie’s role would have been obvious. He would have lined up at CB2 opposite Darius Slay – probably on the left side of the field – and would have supplemented his lack of size with feisty on-ball effort and the requisite deep speed needed to make up for any coverage miscues or an out of place deep safety. But what about in Jonathan Gannon’s system? How would McDuffie fit into a defense that wants cornerbacks to have height and length to press and deflect passes instead of one accepting of smaller performers if they are willing to contest the ball and stick with their man?

That, my friends, could be the defining question of McDuffie’s evaluation.

On paper, McDuffie is undoubtedly a top-3 cornerback in this year’s class. He’s better in coverage than Kaiir Elam, Andrew Booth, and his college teammate, Kyler Gordon, but his lack of size and inexperience/ineffectiveness pressing at the line of scrimmage could relegate him to slot duty in Gannon’s scheme, a role already filled by Avonte Maddox, who just signed a very lucrative contract extension.

Now granted, could the Eagles draft McDuffie anyway, hope he sticks at cornerback but move him back to safety Malcolm Jenkins-style if it doesn’t work out? I mean, sure, but then the team would be using a premium draft pick on a project, which doesn’t make much sense when you consider actual safeties like Dax Hill and Bryan Cook will undoubtedly still be on the board at 18 and are naturals at the position.

If the goal of this year’s draft is to snag high-level performers who can stick around as foundational building blocks long-term, going that route just doesn’t make sense.

Who knows, maybe Trent McDuffie’s talents are just too good to pass up. Maybe Jonathan Gannon has fallen in love with his coverage abilities, like his competitive fire, and has signed off on his fit in the offensive scheme to Howie Roseman and the rest of the front office. If that happens, the Philadelphia Eagles will have secured themselves a relentless performer who has fantastic change-of-direction skills, a competitive fire, and a sizeable chip on his shoulder. But if Gannon doesn’t, McDuffie might just have to wait a little longer to hear his name called on draft day and recall being passed over the first time he takes the field against the Eagles.