There were a few Philadelphia Eagles players from the secondary who didn't particularly play well in their 34-27 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night.
All eyes were first on Adoree' Jackson and Kelee Ringo, who are both fighting for the CB2 job. Let's just say Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase created some issues for the Eagles in training camp.
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was left with trying to figure out if there was anyone else at cornerback who looked good enough in the game that they should be given a legitimate shot at CB2. There was one cornerback who was far from proving his worth to the point that he might have signed his own pink slip out the door.
Parry Nickerson just dug his own grave with poor showing against the Bengals
For those who like looking at the stat line to see if it tells the whole story, Nickerson had three tackles in the game. That's about it. Not much to share from that.
Two separate plays demonstrated that Nickerson has a problem on his hands with making the roster. On the first Bengals offensive drive of the fourth quarter, the Eagles were about to force a three-and-out, but Nickerson was called for defensive pass interference, which gave Cincinnati 11 yards and an automatic first down. He was lucky the defense still forced a punt just a few plays later.
Later in the fourth quarter, the Bengals got their comeback sparked by a 48-yard completion from Desmond Ridder to Jamoi Mayes. Nickerson was on the coverage and got burned. There could be an argument that since Nickerson was in man-to-man coverage, the safety on the play should have been there to support, but fans would like to see him do a better job. The Bengals would score and make it a one-possession game at 34-27.
It was an opportunity for Nickerson to try to throw his name in the hat to be CB2, and he couldn't get the job done. If there was any backup cornerback who made the most convincing argument, it was Eli Ricks with his two pass deflections.
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After Eagles general manager Howie Roseman traded for cornerback Jakorian Bennett from the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the week, it became clear that Nickerson was going to have to have a flawless training camp to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. His performance against the Bengals might have just buried him on the depth chart, with his time ending in Philly inching closer.