The scary state of Eagles' secondary heading into NFL Draft

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

The Eagles’ plan to rebuild their secondary so far has consisted of letting Rodney McLeod sign with the Colts, letting Steven Nelson sign with the Texans and bringing back Anthony Harris when he didn’t get any big-money free agency offers.

There’s still 4 ½ months till opening day and a draft coming up in two weeks, but it has been a surprising offseason when it comes to the Eagles’ secondary.

Conventional wisdom coming out of last season was that the Eagles were more likely to bring back McLeod for a seventh season than Harris for a second season, especially after McLeod’s strong second half, that Nelson had played well enough at corner opposite Darius Slay to return, and that finding a starting safety was a big free agency priority since that’s one position the where may not be fill in the draft.

So much for conventional wisdom.

As we sit here today, a month into free agency, Slay and Harris are projected starters, and Avonte Maddox is your nickel.

Beyond that? 

Zech McPherson, a 4th-round pick out of Texas Tech last year, would probably be the top guy right now at CB2, and Marcus Epps, a 2019 Vikings 6th-round pick, is the leading candidate across from Harris.

But can they really be answers?

McPhearson only got 179 snaps on defense as a rookie, 56 of them in the meaningless regular-season finale against the Cowboys. He wasn't terrible. Didn't make plays. Didn’t make much of an impression either way as a young rookie.

Epps has started eight games over the last couple years and was fairly active in spot duty behind Harris and McLeod – he played about half the defensive snaps  and did OK. But it’s a big leap from that role to full-time starter.

The only other safeties on the roster are 2020 4th-round pick K’Von Wallace, who’s played 386 snaps the last two years, and street free agent Jared Mayden, who’s played 38 career snaps.

And the only other corners on the roster are a bunch of youngsters with plenty of speed but limited experience: Josiah Scott, Tay Gowan, Mac McCain, Kary Vincent, Andre Chachere. If you remove their snaps in that Dallas game, the entire group has a combined 193 career defensive snaps. So who knows.

Now, the Eagle have a history of bringing in capable defensive backs later in the offseason. 

The first week of training camp in August 2017, they signed Corey Graham and acquired Ronald Darby in a trade with the Bills, and both were a big part of the Super Bowl defense. They got Cre’Von LeBlanc off waivers in the middle of the 2018 season, and he played very well down the stretch. Epps was a midseason waiver claim in 2019, and Nelson didn’t sign here last summer until the end of July.

They’ve been linked with veteran free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu, and the first round of the draft has several intriguing cornerback options who should be available, including LSU’s Derek Stingley Jr., Washington’s Trent McDuffie, Clemson’s Andrew Booth and likely in a trade-up scenario Cincinnati’s Sauce Gardner.

So there are options out there.

Finding a starting safety in the draft could be trickier. Without a major trade-up for Kyle Hamilton, which isn’t likely, the Eagles would have to take their chances with a day 2 pick, and there are some good prospects there – Penn State’s Jaquan Brisker, Baylor’s Jalen Pitre -- but your odds of landing a plug-and-play starter aren’t great.

Slay has started 124 career games, Harris 61 and Maddox 28. The nine other DBs on the roster have started a combined 17 games – four of those in that Dallas game.

Upgrading the pass rush, which the Eagles have  done with Haason Reddick and could continue to do in the draft, will definitely help a secondary that allowed the 13th-highest opposing completion percentage in NFL history last year – although they were 11th in passing yards allowed.

But the Eagles finished last year with one elite defensive back and a very good nickel corner, and sitting here in mid-April they still have one elite defensive back and a very good nickel. And a lot less experience.

And a lot of work still to do.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/nfl-free-agency-2022-scary-state-eagles-secondary-heading-draft

There's no doubt Howie is going to make moves to address the secondary. 

3 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

There's no doubt Howie is going to make moves to address the secondary. 

I think he has little choice at this time.  But in all honesty, I was hoping to address the secondary more so through the draft than with overpriced vets in free agency (especially those long in the tooth).  Just have to hope and pray we hit on whoever he ends up picking.  

17 minutes ago, time2rock said:

I think he has little choice at this time.  But in all honesty, I was hoping to address the secondary more so through the draft than with overpriced vets in free agency (especially those long in the tooth).  Just have to hope and pray we hit on whoever he ends up picking.  

Yeah I mean you've got to think they are seriously considering a CB in the first right? They've used a number of visits on CBs, they have ammo to move up should they want, they have a need at the position. I mean they may like McPhearson but they can't go another year without addressing the position. I mean they can't even really band aid it this year. 

1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Yeah I mean you've got to think they are seriously considering a CB in the first right? They've used a number of visits on CBs, they have ammo to move up should they want, they have a need at the position. I mean they may like McPhearson but they can't go another year without addressing the position. I mean they can't even really band aid it this year. 

IDK top 30 only 2 Sauce(and we're not getting him unless we move up ALOT) and Booth. Those are the only 2 I see with top 30 visits. I know we like Pitre at S(round 2)

4 hours ago, GreenbleedinNC said:

IDK top 30 only 2 Sauce(and we're not getting him unless we move up ALOT) and Booth. Those are the only 2 I see with top 30 visits. I know we like Pitre at S(round 2)

Huge Booth fan.  Kinda feeling Sauce and Stingley will go 8/9 range (like Horn and Surtain last year) … if so would absolutely be thrilled to get Booth at 18.  Hoping for DE or DT with 15 (or with slight trade up).