Avonte Maddox was really good in coverage for the Eagles last season

Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie cornerback Avonte Maddox was one of the best cornerbacks in coverage last season when healthy.

The Philadelphia Eagles head into the 2019 NFL Season with a ton of depth at the cornerback position. Some would say it’s almost too much. Seeing as though they suffered a ridiculous amount of injuries in the secondary last year, too much depth isn’t enough depth. While the Eagles don’t have a problem regarding depth, they do have a bit of an issue on their hands. It’s going to be challenging to figure out who to start on the outside at cornerback next season.

We can all probably assume that Ronald Darby has a starting spot locked up. It’s understandable that players can lose out of their position if they aren’t the best performer, but the Eagles aren’t paying Darby over $6 million to ride the bench for one season. When he’s healthy, he will get his starting spot on the outside back. So that leaves the other side open for a battle.

Some would say that Jalen Mills deserves the other spot back when he’s healthy. But there are numbers out there that prove the Eagles shouldn’t just hand Mills his place back even though he’s started on the outside for the last two seasons. Eagles’ 2018 fourth-round draft selection Avonte Maddox has the numbers to prove why he deserves every opportunity to be a starter on the outside for next season. Check out how Avonte Maddox ended up doing in coverage during his rookie season in 2018, per Pro Football Focus.

As it turns out, Maddox is pretty good in pass coverage

Out of 128 cornerbacks with at least 150 coverage snaps last year, Avonte Maddox forced the fourth-worst passer rating when being targeted (which is good). He was the second-best in yards allowed per-coverage-snap. And he was the best in the league for coverage snaps per-reception-allowed. Now, don’t let the numbers tell the entire story for the sake of a positively spun narrative in Maddox’s direction.

He didn’t play all 16 games this season, as he was injured for three weeks. Also, he didn’t play cornerback for the entire year, since the Eagles needed help at safety and Maddox was the guy who was ready to step up for the job. But these numbers shouldn’t go unnoticed. The Eagles just cannot issue another veteran on the roster the outside corner job without considering Avonte Maddox as one of the outside starters for next season.

Sure, there were times where Maddox struggled, but name a cornerback who doesn’t? It’s impossible. It’s a fact that the Eagles secondary improved when Maddox returned from his injury and was placed on the outside, rather than in the nickel or at safety. Could Maddox return to the slot inside? It’s a possibility. But right now it seems like the Eagles are more intrigued with having Cre’Von LeBlanc and Sidney Jones battle it out there.

There’s a possibility that the Eagles throw Maddox back into the mix at safety, but that would be a mistake. Maddox has proven in a short amount of time that he can be a legitimate force to be reckoned with at outside cornerback. So there’s no reason why the Eagles stunt his growth in the secondary unless they have plans for him to take over at safety like Malcolm Jenkins once did. Maddox should be viewed as a top cornerback heading into camp based off of these numbers alone. The game film backs it up, but as they always say “the numbers don’t lie.”