Philadelphia Eagles roundup: Does Sidney Jones have a new role?
The question is simple. Does Sidney Jones still have a role on this Philadelphia Eagles team? The answer may not be quite as simple.
The first question of Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz‘s press conference came almost as quickly as he took the podium. Fortunately, this one wasn’t about ‘anonymous sources’ or what Lane Johnson did or didn’t mean by his comments. This one was actually about football. In this case, Sidney Jones was the topic. Let’s talk a little history first though.
Most of you know the story by now. Jones gets drafted by the Eagles even though he ruptured his Achilles a little over a month before the 2017 NFL Draft. He was seen as a possible first-rounder but slides to the second. Philly’s willing to wait, so they take him anyway. He eventually gets on the field but ends up getting injured again in his sophomore campaign.
This time it’s a hamstring. That caused him to miss the final three regular-season games and Philly’s two playoff games to conclude the 2018-19 season. Here we are, approaching Week 8 of the 2019 regular season, and it’s more of the same. Jones often can’t get on the field. He looks awful when he is out there, and versus the Dallas Cowboys, despite being healthy, he was ignored as Philly went with Orlando Scandrick. Then, they cut Scandrick on the following Monday.
light. Related Story. Pederson, Jenkins respond to Lane Johnson’s comments
That brings us back to Schwartz. With Philly’s cornerback grouping seemingly in a state of flux, and with guys coming and going like this is a fast-food chain, it’s been a long time since Eagles fans have had to pull up the roster this much. It’s getting hard to keep up, and it’s getting harder to identify what Jones’ role is. Schwartz was asked. Here is what some of his response was.
"He was backing up the nickel in that game. We had an injury on the outside for a couple of plays. (Craig James) was backing up the outside, and (Jones) was backing up the inside so he still had a role out there."
When asked if that would be Jones’ role moving forward, Schwartz said he didn’t want to be pigeon-holed into anything and that Jones and Malcolm Jenkins can both hold down the role of nickel corner, but he reiterated the fact that he and the rest of the Eagles coaches have confidence in whoever they put in there.
Now, if we could just take that confidence and convey that to the rest of the team, the media, and the Eagles fan base, we should all be in business.