Philadelphia Eagles: 5 candidates to replace Malcolm Jenkins at safety
By Dan Parzych
3. Xavier McKinney
Over the years under Nick Saban, Alabama has seen plenty of amazing defenders go on to have successful NFL careers, and it seems like only a matter of time before Xavier McKinney finds his name on that list.
Similar to LSU, the Crimson Tide are expected to see a few of their star defenders go in the first round of this year’s draft, and McKinney seems like another prospect who could potentially help Philadelphia fill their need at safety for years to come.
McKinney has the kind of football intelligence that NFL teams are going to love, and one can only imagine the high level of excitement there would be surrounding Jim Schwartz if the Eagles were to make this move happen in April.
As previously mentioned, there has been plenty of speculation for months over the possibility of Philadelphia looking to the draft for help at safety since even if Jenkins was returning for 2020, the veteran still seems closer to the end of his career.
By considering McKinney, this could be another situation in which the Eagles set the defense up to be in great position for years to come, even if Philadelphia ended up having to be patient early on while he develops.