Philadelphia Eagles’ secondary will remain an issue in 2017
By Ryan Quigley
Passing against the Philadelphia Eagles will be, um, not very hard.
Watching the Philadelphia Eagles‘ secondary last season was not fun. Pro Football Focus ranked the team’s secondary as the worst in the NFL in 2016, and for good reason. Leodis McKelvin‘s presence didn’t exactly do Philadelphia any favors, but things were ugly for the Eagles’ group of corners last season.
Unfortunately, that probably won’t change this year.
At the moment, the Eagles are heading into the preseason with Patrick Robinson, who failed miserably in Indianapolis in 2016, Jalen Mills, a seventh-round pick in last year’s draft, and rookie Rasul Douglas as their top cornerbacks.
That’s, um, not very good.
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Of course, the Eagles could still make a move between now and the start of training camp to improve the secondary. After all, Darrelle Revis and Justin Gilbert (both of whom have been horrific as of late) are still on the market. It’s unlikely, but it’s at least possible the Eagles could bring someone in before the season.
As of now, though, the secondary is in horrible shape. While Mills showed some flashes of potential as a rookie, he suffered badly against faster receivers and got beat routinely on deep throws. Robinson? His career is on life support and likely needs a good season to even remain relevant in the NFL. And the Eagles wouldn’t throw Douglas to the wolves right away would they? We all know how that movie ends.
Granted, the Eagles have a very talented safety tandem in Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod. Unfortunately, they can only do so much. If the corners fail, the safeties will as well. And then this season will be 2016 all over again.