You need another unicorn. Plain and simple. This offseason, the Eagles face a long list of decisions that will determine if they can complete the mission they began last season. Only one of them is do-or-die. It comes out on April 27th.
They need another Fletcher Cox or another Lane Johnson. It would be nice if he competed at cornerback.
This year’s draft will be crucial for the Eagles. Howie Roseman deserves all the credit in the world for magically making his way to 10th overall. Now he has to strike. And he has to hit big.
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This is more of a theoretical argument than an individual player argument. I’m not going to sit here and put gel in my hair and pretend I’ve seen enough Devon Witherspoon or Christian Gonzalez or Joey Porter Jr. videos to decide which of them fits or if any of them fit. Also, we are entering two of the most important months of the scouting calendar. My point is more macroeconomic: With a number of key contributors poised to hit free agency and a quarterback headed for a contract extension that will drastically limit their ability to compete in that market, the Eagles are at one Point at which they have to rely on their scouting keenness to find premium players. And right now they have a glaring need for one of the best positions in the game.
It’s been a long time since the Eagles designed and/or developed a blue chip game plan on the corner. Since the Sheldon Brown/Lito Shepard era, they’ve mostly relied on short-term fixes, most of which have solved nothing. Darius Slay has shown it can work, as has Asante Samuel. But Slay will be three years older than Samuel in his final Pro Bowl season and two years older than his last season with the Eagles. Your position is aging quickly. Once lateral quickness decreases, effectiveness is completely lost.
With Slay entering his 32-year season and James Bradberry getting a free hand at nearly 30, the Eagles have a cornerback situation that can easily turn into one that sinks them. It takes two corners to tango in the modern NFL.
Sure, you can do that elsewhere. The Eagles and Giants both nailed it with their pass rush the last time they won Super Bowls. The Seahawks did this by building a cover system around two worldwide safeties. But quarterback and tackle aside, there’s no position on the soccer field that offers more value than an elite corner. And again, the Eagles are at a point where they need to maximize value.
The most recent example came last season. Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas may have saved their jobs last May when they drafted Sauce Gardner at No. 4 from Cincinnati. With Zach Wilson at quarterback and a defensive head coach whose defense ended dead in his first year at the helm, their seats had to be hot. Last year, when Gardner shut down half the field and earned All-Pro honors as a rookie, the Jets finished fourth in points allowed. Somehow they won seven games.
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You can certainly find a top cornerback outside of the top 20. The Patriots made it in the third round last year with Marcus Jones. The Bills’ Tre’Davious White remains one of the best draft picks of the decade at #27 overall in 2017. For the most part, though, elite talent is found early. Two years ago, the Broncos secured a potential generational cover corner with Patrick Surtain at No. 9. In 2018, the Packers picked Jaire Alexander at No. 18. The year before, the Saints snagged Marshon Lattimore in 11th place. That same year, the Ravens took out Marlon Humphrey at No. 16. Two years earlier, the Chiefs took out Marcus Peters at No. 18. Jalen Ramsey (No. 5 in 2016), Denzel Ward (No. 4 in 2018) — these are the caliber of the player I am talking about.
The problem is that the Eagles are at the mercy of available talent. There’s a reason everyone in the league is looking for a different corner. You can’t just turn Witherspoon or Gonzalez into Gardner by calling him up at #10. In a draft said to be brimming with talent, this might end up being the better way to build your passing defense future.
However, the Eagles are in a place where they need to find a game in a premium position. If all goes according to plan, they won’t come close to being number 10 in the coming years. You need to find a game changer. You have two months to find out who it is.
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