Philadelphia Eagles must allow their cornerbacks to battle this summer

With the re-signing of Ronald Darby, it seems as though the Philadelphia Eagles will go back to the way things were before all of the injuries. That shouldn’t be the case at all.

Over the last week, the Philadelphia Eagles seemed conflicted about what they wanted to do regarding impending Free Agent cornerback, Ronald Darby. While Darby was a Free Agent for about five days, he made it clear that he was aware the Eagles wanted him back. While the Eagles were interested though, Darby ended up fielding multiple offers and even paid a visit to the Kansas City Chiefs. After getting some multi-year offers though, Darby decided to take a gamble, and sign a one-year deal with the Eagles. Now he’s back in Philly.

The loss of Darby wasn’t as significant as many would’ve believed. Without Darby, the Eagles could still be in reasonably good shape at the cornerback position. Strictly on the outside, they would have Rasul Douglas and Jalen Mills available. For the nickel, there’s Cre’Von LeBlanc, who impressed everybody down the stretch last season. Then, there’s Sidney Jones, who has played both, in the nickel and on the outside, despite fighting a hamstring injury all year. And there was Avonte Maddox who was all over the place in the nickel, outside, and even at safety.

So the re-signing of Darby wasn’t a must, but the Eagles went through with it anyway. At this point, we should all know that the Eagles view Ronald Darby as their number one guy. They traded for him two years ago and automatically made him the number one corner.

He suffered an injury early on, missed half the season, and by his return, he was given his starting spot right back. The following season, he started as well up until he got injured again. Considering that the Eagles are going to pay Darby over $8 million for this season alone, we can only assume he’s going to get the start when he’s healthy automatically.

Are the Eagles making a mistake by giving handouts?

Since the Eagles are paying Darby a pretty penny this season, we know he will get his spot back right away. Considering that he most likely won’t be able to participate in training camp this year as he’ll still be rehabbing, Darby won’t be involved in any cornerback battles this summer. However, the cornerback position on the opposite side of where Darby will return should be a wide-open battle between Jalen Mills, Rasul Douglas, and Avonte Maddox. If the Eagles hand the spot right back to Mills upon his return as well, they are making a major mistake.

Jalen Mills has had his flashes throughout his first two seasons, but his 2018 effort was far from impressive. As we’ve noticed the lack of pressure that the defensive line had up front throughout the first half of the season, offenses knew that they could throw in Mills’ direction and expose him. Guess what? They sure did. Outside of the red zone, Mills struggled big time in coverage. Whether it was getting beat deep, or committing pass interference, Mills was off to a rough start in 2018. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to redeem himself since he injured his foot.

The Eagles must have the corners battle it out

It’s quite apparent that Jim Schwartz has a special place in his heart for the Darby-Mills combination, but as Howie Roseman said at the NFL Combine last month – the Eagles need to see what they got in these young corners. With Mills, he’s shown in just about three seasons what he’s got. He’s an average cornerback, who plays well in the red zone. But you can count on him to get beat deep often, and you can hardly count on him to force turnovers. Over three seasons, Mills snagged three interceptions, which all occurred during the 2017 season.

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When Mills ended up leaving due to his foot injury, the Eagles defense went through a multi-game phase where they struggled since guys were in and out of the secondary with injuries on their own. Once it became Rasul Douglas on one side, and Avonte Maddox on the other though, the defense had their best stretch all season.

There’s no coincidence. It was clear that Avonte Maddox is much more than a nickel cornerback, which was initially the position where the Eagles wanted him. He may have a small sample size, but with what we saw, Maddox is more reliable in coverage than Mills. Many believe that Maddox should be pushed back to become the third safety since he did that well last season, but the Eagles shouldn’t just do that because they know they can. With Maddox, they could have a budding star on the outside, and they must issue him the opportunity to show that.

As for Douglas, he may not be the fastest guy, but he’s arguably the best tackler in the secondary after Malcolm Jenkins. And despite his speed, Douglas is still a ballhawk who had three picks last season, and two in the previous year when he was a rookie.

The biggest question mark right now is Sidney Jones who has proven one thing throughout his two years here – he struggles to stay healthy. Obviously, missing his first year was to be expected, but his second year was just a roller coaster full of injuries. Year three is a prove-it year for the former second-round pick. Considering that the Eagles drafted him so early knowing he was injured, it’s clear that they shouldn’t give up on him just yet. Like all of these other guys, Jones should have an equal opportunity to battle it out. No handouts shall be issued this summer.