Is Cornerback a Position of Need for Eagles Anymore?

Whether or not you agree that Byron Maxwell was worth his contract, he was the Philadelphia Eagles‘ No. 1 cornerback last year.

With free agency essentially done and Maxwell gone, is the position still one of need?

As of now, the following cornerbacks are on the roster, in order of general skill: Nolan Carroll, Eric Rowe, Leodis McKelvin, Ron Brooks, JaCorey Shepherd, Denzel Rice and Randall Evans. With seven guys on the team at the position with a nice variety of experience and skill, I understand the argument that they don’t need another top guy at the position. However, that’d be assuming that either McKelvin or Rowe would jump in as a stater this year. Is that going to happen?

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We’ve already seen that Carroll is more than just serviceable as a starter, as he played really well last year until he got hurt. He finished with a career-high 57 tackles despite a career-low 11 games. He also had two interceptions and 10 passes defensed, both of which were the second most in a season in his six-year career. I think Carroll is generally a lock as one of the two starting slots unless something goes terribly wrong between now and August.

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Despite Rowe’s disastrous performance against the Lions last year, he was solid down the stretch after Carroll went down with an ankle injury, finishing with 31 tackles, one interception and five passes defensed. I think he could probably start and do reasonably well, but I’m not sold that he’s immediately ready to be a top-notch corner.

I think the Eagles will give McKelvin, who spent the last eight seasons with the Bills, a shot to win the starting job. McKelvin is getting old, but he still has been solid over the last few years in Buffalo, including four INTs in just 10 games in 2014, the year Jim Schwartz was the Bills’ defensive coordinator. The biggest issue with him is injuries, as he hasn’t played all 16 games in a season in the past four years. If he gets an injury in training camp or preseason, it could completely derail his chances of becoming a starter.

Either way, I still think McKelvin has some juice in the tank and could be solid depth even if he doesn’t end up starting. That would be a really nice trio of cornerbacks where if one got hurt, the other two could form a solid duo that could at least keep the secondary afloat. Are they one of the better duos in the league? No, probably not, but I’d take any two of those guys before the tandem of Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher.

Brooks will also be a good depth guy who already has experience working with Schwartz and can help him transition to Philadelphia. He likely wouldn’t be more than a third or fourth guy on the depth chart, depending on injuries, but he’s still not a bad option. And then the three young guys in Shepherd, Rice and Evans should make a good camp battle. Shepherd probably has the best chance of making the team based on how high the team was on him last year, and Evans probably has the least chance to make it because, well, he just wasn’t really impressive.

Even with seven cornerbacks already on the team, I still think the Eagles should look to add a cornerback through the draft. The position is no longer a dire need for the team, but getting a cornerback in the first round would help the team, as that rookie could easily become a starter depending on how he looks in preseason and training camp. So in case you’re wondering, yes, I would be in favor of the Eagles drafting Vernon Hargreaves with the eighth pick.

McKelvin isn’t a long-term option, and Rowe could always be moved to safety at some point, so drafting a cornerback would give Schwartz a potentially great player to work with from Day 1. Even if they don’t take Hargreaves, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go after a cornerback with one of their other picks.

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