Flashback Friday: Philadelphia Eagles take Sidney Jones 43rd overall

On the week that Sidney Jones IV celebrates another year of life, we look back on the Philadelphia Eagles’ decision to take him in Round 2 of 2017’s NFL Draft.

You’ve got to be some kind of special when an NFL franchise drafts you, and they know full well that you won’t pay immediate dividends. That was exactly the situation when the Philadelphia Eagles addressed their cornerback needs by taking Sidney Jones 43rd overall.

That was a little over two years ago. On Tuesday, ’22’ celebrated another year of life as he turned 23 years young.

Philly issued a few birthday salutations courtesy of their social media pages. Take a look at this one:

As Jones, now, looks for material to include in another chapter of his own journey, so do the Eagles. The third season of Jones’ career doubles as another season in the history of the Eagles franchise.

That’s where this brew ‘The Birds’ are cooking can either barbecue or mildew. The upcoming NFL season,  in some ways, reminds us of what we saw in 2017. There was uncertainty at cornerback. There were expectations, but no one would have been surprised if Philly won the NFC East or missed the playoffs entirely.

This year, anything less than a deep playoff run would be seen as failure. For guys like Jones, and Derek Barnett, and Corey Clement, success came early. They couldn’t empathize with anyone who’s complained about playoff failure, at least not in the beginning, because the Lombardi Trophy came in Year 1.

Unfortunately, their second years in the league all ended in similar fashion. Each of them battled injury. Each had to watch their brothers in arms fail at defending their title, and there was nothing they could realistically do to help stop what ended up being a Divisional Round exit.

Now, each man will have to answer questions about uncertainty and expectation both with their words and with their play. 2019 will be a pivotal year for Jones. At this point, he hasn’t hauled in his first career interception, words like ‘inconsistent’ are used in conjunction with his name, and some will pay close attention to see if he’s injury prone or the guy Philly needs to invest in for the long-term.

That’s a few months away though. Today, let’s just join together in wishing one of our beloved ‘Birds’ a happy birthday. He deserves that. Party on Mr. Jones.