Eagles Draft: Making a case for Chauncey Gardner-Johnson in round one
By Conor Myles
A current look at the secondary…
An area of concern is Philadelphia’s lack of quality safety depth behind McLeod, who returns from serious injury, and heavily relied on 31-year-old Malcolm Jenkins. Graham’s 792 total snaps need to be replaced, and the team may have done so by adding Andrew Sendejo in free agency to a one-year pact. But the 31-year-old has his fair share of injury concerns while also not being a complete lock to make the team’s 53 man roster.
What factors into Sendejo’s bleak roster status is the fact he threatens their compensatory draft pick formula by canceling out a fourth-round compensatory pick Philadelphia is slated to receive from the departures of Hicks and Golden Tate in free agency.
Mills, Darby, McLeod, and LeBlanc are all slated to become unrestricted free agents in 2020. It’s doubtful all four make a return to Philadelphia past this upcoming season. The potential departures warrant reasoning as to why the Eagles are investigating the top-tier players of the 2019 NFL defensive back group.
One player entering the 2019 NFL Draft makes the most sense for the team while giving them a boost in coverage at both nickel cornerback and safety — that player is University of Florida defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.