NFL Draft expert offers trade options for Eagles, Rasul Douglas, reactions

Let’s get a quick history lesson right here.

Douglas, one of the game’s slower corners, isn’t one of those guys that you see mentioned in one of those cool Pro Football Focus graphics very often. As a matter of fact, on January 13th, PFF’s Solomon Wilcots ranked every NFL secondary from best to worst after 17 weeks of football, and Philly came in at 21.

Does that number sound familiar? If not, it should. Here’s a quote from Wilcots on how he arrived at that theory.

"Due to the numerous injuries that were sustained throughout the year, eight different cornerbacks played meaningful snaps for the Eagles throughout the regular season, and all of them earned a grade below 70.0. Through 17 weeks, the Eagles played a zone coverage shell on 58% of their snaps to better protect their ever-changing lineup of players. The high volume of zone coverage enabled the Eagles’ secondary to allow the fifth-lowest completion percentage (59.4%), and because zone coverages allow defenders greater vision and a faster break on the ball, the side also forced the most incompletions (58) in the NFL. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz would love to have a healthier rotation of players, but his use of multiple zone schemes served as the right band-aid to help capture the NFC East title."

Ouch. While Wilcots is right about much of what he’s saying and while Philly battled injuries early and often, which probably led to some of that, Douglas seemed to fall out of favor towards the end of the season as mentioned earlier. He’s not an elite cornerback by any means, but as the Eagles battled injuries in the secondary early and often, the secondary struggled.

No, Douglas wasn’t the only reason for that, but being one of the game’s slower corners made for some very difficult moments, especially when the Eagles shared the field with elite level receivers. Often, with much of the world watching, Douglas struggled immensely.

The 2020 season is upon us, and don’t look now but Jones and Douglas are in contract years. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, on March 21st, released a story stating that Philly was actively shopping Douglas. The initial theory might be that there’s no market, but a closer look might surprise you. Might there be a buzz growing for Rasul Douglas as we near the annual selection meeting?