Philadelphia Eagles: Does Kary Vincent Jr. have a role moving forward?

With their season magically turned around thanks to a dominant win over the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles were pretty well-positioned heading into the 2021 NFL trade deadline. In clear need of another offensive weapon to better spread out the field for Jalen Hurts, fans scoured the league and looked for someone, anyone, to fill out the depth chart and push Philly’s offense over the top.

Fortunately, Howie Roseman did hear the calls for further reinforcements and opted to make a trade, his second in-season move of the year following his decision to swap out local legend Zach Ertz for Tay Gowan and a fifth-round pick. Unfortunately, that trade was exchanging a sixth-round pick for Kary Vincent Jr., a defensive back selected in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.

Who? Exactly.

Stuck largely on the bench for his first professional season, appearing in as many games as the number of teams he played for, Vincent only saw the field for 52 total snaps as a rookie, with 29 on defense and 23 on special teams. If the Eagles didn’t rest their starters in Week 18, Vincent might not have seen the defense at all in 2021, and frankly, the snaps he did play weren’t particularly indicative of his role moving forward, as Vincent played 25 of his 29 defensive snaps at perimeter cornerback, which, as 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, likely won’t be his long-term role at the NFL-level.

But what is that role, especially with James Bradberry and Darius Slay locked in as the Philadelphia Eagles’ perimeter cornerbacks and Avonte Maddox slotted into the, um, slot? Could Kary Vincent Jr. be out of a job in only his second professional season?

Where does Kary Vincent Jr. fit with the Philadelphia Eagles?

Kary Vincent Jr. is a pretty interesting athletic prospect. Though he’s on the smaller side at 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, and performed in the 50th-or-lower percentile in nine of the eleven tests he took part in at the combine, his 40 time (4.36) and 20-yard split (2.52) both fall in the 82nd or higher percentile according to Mockdraftable.

What, you may ask, does this mean? Well, while Vincent isn’t particularly long, strong, or range-y, he’s very fast and can get up to that speed pretty quickly too.

A two-sport athlete at LSU who started in the slot during his third and final season in Baton Rouge back in 2019 – he opted out of the 2020 NCAA season – Vincent’s athleticism makes him a natural interior defender, either in the slot or back at free safety. While he’ll occasionally get beaten up on by bigger interior pass catchers, be they wide receivers or tight ends, Vincent’s lack of length can be hidden in traffic much more easily, and his speed should allow him to stick with shifty pass catchers who can weave through traffic with ease.

So, with that in mind, there are two positions Vincent could conceivably train at this summer and potentially stick around on the active roster for a second-straight season: Slot cornerback and free safety.

In the slot, Vincent would be competing with Josiah Scott, Craig James, and potentially Zech McPhearson, who could cross-train on the inside to better secure his value long-term. Assuming the Eagles keep six cornerbacks, which feels likely, Vincent looks like he could end up on the outside looking in of that grouping, as five of the corners, McPhearson, Tay Gowan, Avonte Maddox, James Bradberry, and Darius Slay, are basically locks to make the roster, and Scott feels pretty close to that level too.

And as for free safety? Well, that feels much more open.

Whether you want to call Anthony Harris a free safety and Marcus Epps a strong safety or vice versa – this is how I view them – the Eagles only have two other safeties, K’Von Wallace and Andre Charchare, who feel like locks to make the 53-man roster. If Vincent is allowed to take a try at safety, where his speed and experience in the box could prove valuable in Jonathan Gannon’s two-deep safety defense, he would just have to beat out players like Jared Mayden and Reed Blankenship to make the roster.

Assuming Vincent can contribute on special teams as well, that might just be his path of least resistance to a Week 1 paycheck.

Will Kary Vincent Jr. ever live up to his trade pedigree? Only time will tell; the decision to trade a sixth-round pick for the former seventh-round pick was certainly a head-scratcher at the time and certainly hasn’t aged well since. But for Vincent to become a fixture of the Philadelphia Eagles’ sideline this fall, a position change may be in order, as the cornerbacks room may simply prove too congested to find a roster spot, let alone a role, this fall.