Jim Schwartz had no clue who Cre’Von LeBlanc was when the Eagles signed him
Just like the rest of us, Jim Schwartz had no idea who Cre’Von LeBlanc was when he signed to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Keeping up with NFL players is tough when there are so many guys in the league. Sure, there are big names that are hard to forget. But all of those players that bounce around from team to team, and on and off practice squads are typically unknown unless they make some sort of impact. For the Philadelphia Eagles, they needed to bring in a ton of unknowns throughout the year. When you suffer so many injuries, you’re bound to get stuck with guys who usually wouldn’t make a final 53-man roster.
A couple of months back, the Eagles were desperate for players on defense in the secondary. Safety Rodney McLeod was ruled out for the year, while Chris Maragos never even had the opportunity to play in 2018. And as for the cornerbacks, well, their situation wasn’t much better. Both starters, Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby, suffered season-ending injuries, while Sidney Jones was on and off the field with hamstring issues for at least half of the season.
Let’s also not forget the couple of injuries that occurred to Rasul Douglas and Avonte Maddox as well. So yes, at one point, the Eagles had five injured cornerbacks around, which forced them to bring in some no-names. One of those no-names happened to be Cre’Von LeBlanc. At first, nobody knew who Cre’Von LeBlanc was. Not even Eagles defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz.
LeBlanc went from a zero to a hero
Jim Schwartz said he had never even heard of Cre’Von LeBlanc before the Eagles claimed him on waivers.
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) January 8, 2019
During his press conference on Tuesday morning, Jim Schwartz admitted that when the Eagles signed LeBlanc from the Detroit Lions practice squad, Schwartz had no idea who he was. Fast forward to now, and Schwartz claims that the signing of LeBlanc might’ve been the key to saving the season when it comes to the defense. And after watching LeBlanc ball out in the nickel for the last few games, playoffs included, it’s kind of hard to disagree with that.
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Is the current set of defensive backs stronger than what the Eagles started with? You wouldn’t think so, but man, it’s close. Earlier in the year, the Eagles secondary was getting torched on a weekly basis for the most part. Now, teams attempt to pick on these guys, but you bet they have been up for the challenge. And as for LeBlanc, well, he’s proving that he’s fed up with bouncing around on practice squads. This guy wants a starting spot, and he’s been showing that he is deserving of one somehow, some way.