Vic Fangio may have revealed the Eagles plan for deploying Quinyon Mitchell
It's still hard to believe some of what we see when we look at this Philadelphia Eagles team on paper. Saquon Barkley is the RB1. Devin White traded a pewter Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey for a midnight green ensemble. During the NFL Draft, the Birds added two of the top five DBs in the class.
Had you polled any Birds fans before last April's NFL Draft, they probably would have told you that adding Quinyon Mitchell was impossible. They also may have said they'd be satisfied with Cooper DeJean. Somehow Philly landed them both.
Before Philly's first training camp practice, we knew DeJean would miss time because of an injury. Quinyon has had himself quite the summer. His stock has been soaring since Philly's first preseason game. The questions now are about what comes next.
Vic Fangio's recent presser sheds some light on the Eagles' plans for Quinyon Mitchell.
With three weeks of training camp in the books, Philly opened their 11th practice with a Vic Fangio sit-down with the media. As you might imagine, part of the discussion was about Quinyon MItchell.
“I thought he did well. He played both nickel and outside corner. He’s a good player and he’s going to be a good player. We just have to be careful not to overload his plate too much because nickel is a full-time position as well as corner is, and he’s having to learn both right now and they are two drastically different positions.”
Those were the words of Philly's defensive coordinator, In other words, the plan is to let Quinyon focus on playing one primary position.
“We may have to play him at nickel.”
#Eagles DC Vic Fangio on Quinyon Mitchell on cross-training at outside and slot CB. He was asked if he wants him to major in one position:
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 11, 2024
“That would be ideal. It may not be practical. We may have to play him at nickel.” pic.twitter.com/EUg0HpnWho
Fangio went on to say that playing Mitchell at nickel might be a need, but there's also a possibility that placing Mitchell at the slot cornerback position might be the best way to get the best combination of players on the field to start all at once.
“Nickel essentially is really a linebacker position. You know, if you go back to the traditional 4-3, if you stayed in a 4-3, a linebacker would be walked out on that slot. Well the linebacker leaves the game and now you’re in nickel and the nickel is on that slot.
So essentially when you pare it down, he’s playing linebacker-type zones more involved at the run than a corner is. So, it’s a drastically different position.”
It makes sense. They have to get a first-rounder on the field, correct?
Check out Vic Fangio's full presser before the Eagles' 11th training camp practice below.