Is Trevon Moehrig on the Philadelphia Eagles draft board?
Athleticism is a term that gets thrown around during NFL Draft season. You won’t find a much better example than TCU safety Trevon Moehrig. As we covered in a recent prospect profile of Richard LeCounte III, the Philadelphia Eagles need safeties. Jalen Mills is a free agent this year and Rodney McLeod will be a free agent next year. While younger options like K’Von Wallace and Grayland Arnold have potential, it’s far from a guarantee that either of them will lock up a spot in the future.
2021’s safety class is deep with prospects such as Moehrig who the Birds should take a look at. Moehrig plays with the energy and swagger you want from a safety. He’s the type of guy you want in your locker room. Many admire who he is off the field. Just take a second and see what Melissa B. Triebwasser from Frogs O’ War had to say:
"Trevon Moehrig is a special person. You see that with his play on the field, by even more, you see it with his attitude off of it. This is a young man who plays with fire and passion, while emanating joy and respect after the game. In our first real chance to speak with him, I came away even more impressed with his character and personality than his play. I have a feeling he’s going to be a truly special Horned Frog."
Prospects can have all the physical traits a scout is looking for but if they don’t have the right attitude it can all come crashing down. Moehrig pairs his positive attitude with his crazy athleticism as mentioned earlier. For Eagles’ fans worried about the injury histories of prospects, Moehrig hasn’t missed a game the past two seasons. Scouts are going to fall in love with Moehrig’s game leading up to April.
What does Trevon Moehrig bring to the Philadelphia Eagles?
Speed is the name of the game in today’s NFL. Moehrig fits right in. The 21-year-old is a rangy safety who can cover the back end with ease. At TCU, he often played the field side in two deep sets. He’s also very capable of playing the single high role in Cover 1 or Cover 3. With a smooth backpedal and fluid hips, running downfield with receivers was no problem for him. In his last 22 games, he had six interceptions and 20 passes defended.
Moehrig possesses great size for the position (six-foot-two, 202 pounds). While he may not be the best tackler, he’s not afraid to play physical. While he wasn’t asked to blitz much in college, defensive coordinators could definitely use him occasionally as a blitzer at the NFL level. Versatility is key for any defensive back entering the draft.
Moehrig also plays well in run support diagnosing run plays quickly and taking good angles to the ball carrier (124 career tackles). Plenty of safeties struggle to take good angles to the ball and even when they do they try to go for the big hit rather than getting the ball carrier down. While Moehrig does play physical, he will at least slow up ball carriers and demonstrate good tackling technique. He just needs to improve a bit at wrapping up. Nonetheless, his passion for the game is contagious.
Traits are great but they mean nothing without football IQ. Rodney McLeod isn’t the biggest or fastest guy but he’s one of the smartest on the field. Moehrig was a leader in the TCU secondary. He made sure to communicate checks and adjustments to his teammates pre-snap.
If Moehrig does have a glaring weakness, it’s easily recognizing double moves. Often times, Moehrig will get too comfortable and bite on a route. He’ll turn his head to the quarterback to look for the ball. It’s too late once he realizes that it’s a double move. He got away with it at times in college because of inaccurate passes but that won’t be the case at the NFL level. He’ll need to stay disciplined. In general, he needs to have a little bit better of an eye for route concepts.
With the right coaches, he’ll be just fine. Since the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have a defensive coordinator or head coach, it’s unclear what kind of role he might be asked to play. Regardless, he’s a top talent in this draft. Expect him to be one of the first safeties off of the board but there’s a strong chance he falls to the second round. Philly would be lucky to have him if they had the opportunity to draft him.