Philadelphia Eagles: Avonte Maddox vs Sidney Jones, the CB2 debate

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Philadelphia Eagles: Avonte Maddox vs Sidney Jones, the CB2 debate

 

Philadelphia Eagles: Who should be the team’s cornerback #2?

In 2019, the Philadelphia Eagles defense gave up the 14th most passing yards, the 12th most passing touchdowns, and had the 11th fewest interceptions. PFF ranked their secondary as the 12th worst in the entire NFL, and every single cornerback on the roster who played meaningful snaps (8 total players) received a PFF grade of below 70.0.

It’s no secret the Eagles secondary was a disaster last year, and this all took place while the team received relatively above average play from both of their safeties (Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod). This means that the blame primarily fell on the corners, as they struggled to deal with opposing wide receivers all season long.

Former CB1 Ronald Darby is no longer with the team, longtime starter Jalen Mills has been moved to safety, Rasul Douglas has been mentioned in trade talks all offseason long, and guys like Craig James never should have left the practice squad in the first place.

With all that said, Howie Roseman was quick to act on this problem. He traded for former All-Pro corner Darius Slay, and snapped up standout slot corner Nickell Robey-Coleman on a cheap, team friendly deal. While there are now some question marks at safety following Jenkins’ departure, the cornerback room has no doubt improved this summer.

Now the attention has turned to that of the CB2 position, with two main candidates emerging. Avonte Maddox has been an integral piece to Jim Schwartz’ defense the last two seasons, while Sidney Jones has shown insane amounts of potential in limited action. Pretty much everyone in Philadelphia has an opinion on who should start opposite Slay, but now it’s time to break it down in its entirety.

https://section215.com/2020/07/12/philadelphia-eagles-cb-maddox-jones/

 

There's more within the link.

 

If Sidney has anything about him and can get anywhere near the player we all hoped when we drafted him then he should win this battle. 

 

Maddox can then transition to safety to be the long term replacement for McLeod. 

[Rob331]

40 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

PFF ranked their secondary as the 12th worst in the entire NFL

Sometimes the way we say things mislead people - on other words we were 21st in the league. Doesn't sound as bad, does it?

 

41 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

relatively above average play from both of their safeties (Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod).

Huh - Jenkins was a liability in the deep passing game where the Eagles consistently got burned. HE can't cover deep and the defense was adjusted to bring him closer to the line of scrimmage. 

Let's all remember, this is Sydney's contract year. 

 

[jsb235]

1 hour ago, Rob331 said:

Jenkins was a liability in the deep passing game where the Eagles consistently got burned. HE can't cover deep and the defense was adjusted to bring him closer to the line of scrimmage. 

I don't think is true at all. Schwartz primarily plays a cover 1 defense with a priority on stopping the run. He has said this over and over again. I need you to provide some evidence that he altered his entire defense to cover up for a weakness in Jenkins' game, because this is the first I am hearing of it.    

[PoconoDon]

If you can't consistently tackle opposing RB's, you don't win the job. I just can't envision Cindy Jones winning that battle.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

4 hours ago, Rob331 said:

Sometimes the way we say things mislead people - on other words we were 21st in the league. Doesn't sound as bad, does it?

21st in the league sounds bad yes. 

[Rob331]

23 hours ago, jsb235 said:

I don't think is true at all. Schwartz primarily plays a cover 1 defense with a priority on stopping the run. He has said this over and over again. I need you to provide some evidence that he altered his entire defense to cover up for a weakness in Jenkins' game, because this is the first I am hearing of it.    

The chicken or the egg. Schwartz plays a cover one because he only has one safety who can cover. Cornerbacks having balls go over their heads consistently for consecutive years is all you have to know about Jenkins ability to cover deep. If the Eagles had a safety to pair with McLeod deep they would have stopped the bleeding - they didn't and the corners got burned over and over again. 

[time2rock]

Quote

PFF ranked their secondary as the 12th worst in the entire NFL

There were 11 passing defenses worse than ours?   

 

[PoconoDon]

2 hours ago, time2rock said:

There were 11 passing defenses worse than ours?   

 

According to them there were. 

[jsb235]

4 hours ago, Rob331 said:

The chicken or the egg. Schwartz plays a cover one because he only has one safety who can cover. Cornerbacks having balls go over their heads consistently for consecutive years is all you have to know about Jenkins ability to cover deep. If the Eagles had a safety to pair with McLeod deep they would have stopped the bleeding - they didn't and the corners got burned over and over again. 

We will see this year. Parks has a lot of experience playing a deep safety in Denver's cover 2 scheme. If Schwartz wants, he can easily change our defense.

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

6 hours ago, jsb235 said:

We will see this year. Parks has a lot of experience playing a deep safety in Denver's cover 2 scheme. If Schwartz wants, he can easily change our defense.

 

But if he's putting Parks feel then he's putting 2 safeties deep in some situations? Feels a lot like a pickett fence defense that.