5 Philadelphia Eagles who should bounce back during 2020’s NFL season

Now in his third year, the 2020 Philadelphia Eagles season could be a make-or-break year for Mr. Maddox.

If you don’t know how to evaluate Avonte Maddox heading into Year 3, don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. None of us do. At certain points of his rookie season, it seemed like there was some versatility there and we were looking at the birth of a young Eagles star on defense. In Year 2, despite the fact that he had better numbers, it felt like we watched a regression as he seemed to take a step backward and got embarrassed by the likes of Davante Adams and others.

Playing in one fewer game than he did as a rookie, Maddox’s total number of tackles increased from 35 to 47. He even improved his sack and pass breakup total from a half a sack to a full solo sack and from four pass breakups to ten. He didn’t register a single interception during his 12 in-game appearances after snagging two as a rookie though.

From a numbers standpoint, it seems as though Maddox took a step forward in his sophomore campaign. If we rely strictly on the eyeball test, it would seem as though he wouldn’t be half bad if he was sturdier in coverage and a better tackler, so the questions about Maddox remain.

If the season were to start today, he’d start at cornerback opposite Darius Slay, so why does it feel like that would have been a better idea in 2019 than it is heading into 2020? You’d have to be an Eagles fan to understand why that makes sense.