Grades for every cornerback Philadelphia Eagles have drafted since 2010

123rd-overall selection (2012)

Here comes a controversial statement. The Eagles gave up on Brandon Boykin much too early. 2012 was one of Philly’s better drafts as they landed Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks, Vinny Curry, and Nick Foles. Their seventh-round selection of Bryce Brown is one that’s often forgotten about, but he was decent as well.

That brings us to Boykin, whom Philly took in the fourth round. He’s one of the guys Chip Kelly would ship off. What’s most disconcerting is there was no reason for him to do so. Boykin racked up 120 tackles, seven interceptions, four forced fumbles, 33 pass breakups, and a defensive touchdown in 48 career games as an Eagle.

One theory for his departure is Kelly’s biggest issues with Boykin were his height and weight. Boykin was five-foot-nine and weighed 173 pounds in his playing days, and Kelly liked his cover guys to be in that six-foot, 200-pound range. Well, you see how that worked out. Good old Chip wasted a lot of time and money trying to find one.

On August 1st of 2015, Kelly traded Boykin to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2016, and the Eagles have spent much of their time trying to find the type of production that Boykin gave them ever since.

He never equaled the success he had in Philly after he left. Over the course of his final four seasons in the NFL, he wound up on four different teams. Still, it would have been nice to see what he could have accomplished in an Eagles jersey. He couldn’t have been any worse than some of the other guys on this list or some of the guys they signed after his departure. Grade: C