Inside the Iggles
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Philadelphia Eagles Makeshift Secondary Crushing Aspirations

By Dave Searles

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Dec 14, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant (88) catches a pass for a touchdown as Philadelphia Eagles strong safety Nate Allen (29) and cornerback Bradley Fletcher (24) defend in the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a strange year for the Philadelphia Eagles where even if they can win ten games for the second year in a row (in just as many years under head coach Chip Kelly), the year still feels like a complete letdown.

Just a few weeks ago, homefield advantage was not only in the conversation, but within the Eagles hands as long as they were able to take care of business when it counted. A major reason for the team’s downward spiral, though not the sole factor, has been a fundamental flaw in philosophy that Jim Johnson would be aghast at — neglecting the secondary.

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I took a look at three top NFC teams that the Eagles lost to this year to see if there’s a common pattern between the success of their secondaries opposed to Philadelphia’s, besides none of the other teams fielding Bradley Fletcher.

There actually are a few things that stick out, though. Who knows how much it means, as at the end of the day it’s not the selection spot but the effort to select the correct player for your team. That said, let’s see what we can find.

Here’s Philadelphia’s secondary, broken down by postion/name (round, year). Free agent signings (not originally acquired by the team) are in bold.

Philadelphia Eagles

The first team I looked at was the Arizona Cardinals, and after seeing their secondary the main selling point was the sheer firepower they’ve put into making sure they have big-time talent.

Arizona Cardinals

Three first round picks, two third round picks, a solid free-agent signing, and one undrafted player making up one of the most intimidating secondaries in the league. Surely, each team has the same amount of investment into their defensive backs?

Enter Green Bay. The Packers may not have the strongest secondary in the NFC, but they’ve done an incredible job harvesting and building the talent they’ve gotten. Both of the Packers starting cornerbacks were originally undrafted, and the highest selection came in 2014 when Green Pay took Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with the 20th pick.

Green Bay Packers

So, as long as you have a good amount of secondary players in the top three or four rounds, you’re set…right? Waltzing in to throw another theory away, the defending champion Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle Seahawks

Before we go any further, let’s just admit that it’s highly unfair the amount of luck that Seattle has had — but it’s not all luck. It’s cold, calculated decision-making and taking players that fit exactly what they want to do.

Surely, they got away with a few lucky bounces (nobody could have predicted that former Stanford WR Richard Sherman would become a top cornerback in the NFL), but you can’t deny the coaching dividends have paid off in spades. The only player selected in the top four rounds was former almost Philadelphia Eagles safety Earl Thomas.

After realizing my theories of needing high picks and millions of dollars invested in a secondary hit the ground harder than New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning seeing Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Connor Barwin chasing after him, it hit me.

The Eagles have not one, not two, but three starting defenders (both cornerbacks, one safety) in the secondary that were acquired by free agency, and another key depth signing from elsewhere too.

I’m not saying free agency is bad, but it’s no way to build one of the most important units on the field that rely on chemistry. It doesn’t help that the signings have been largely fliers on unheralded talent (though a certain former Raiders cornerback has shown us all that names mean nothing). Even Malcolm Jenkins, the top free agent of the 2014 class, was a gamble at best. Thankfully, that has seemed to go in the Eagles favor for now.

In order for the Philadelphia Eagles to contend for a Super Bowl, they need to make a seismic shift in how the secondary is viewed. For as long as the Eagles brass is content throwing the occasional mid-round pick at the secondary despite no legitimate reasons to wait that long and telling fans that “they tried to address it”, they’ll continue to get beaten by teams who figured out that it takes more effort to build a winner.

If that fails and there’s no defender out there who can do what Chip Kelly and Billy Davis are looking for, then maybe it’s time to adapt the defensive scheme to allow for players that aren’t so specialized in skillsets. That would never happen, though, it would make too much sense.

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