The Philadelphia Eagles' GM sounds like he would like to keep his draft pick from two years ago in the slot, so where might he turn for outside help?
Cornerbacks will take the workout floor inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Friday at 3 p.m. as the NFL Scouting Combine ramps up. Pay attention. Howie Roseman will be. The Eagles general manager didn’t reveal his shopping list for when the three-day draft begins on April 23, but he sounded like a cornerback will be on it, and this is a good year to get one to add to the All-Pro mix of Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
It is a deep draft for cornerbacks, and perhaps it is a position that cannot be discounted in the first round with the 23rd overall pick and why Clemson’s Avieon Terrell is their pick in many early mock drafts. But, because it is so deep, a second-day corner seems more likely, and the Eagles have three second-day picks, so perhaps a player such as Indiana’s D’Angelo Ponds, San Diego State’s Chris Johnson, Miami’s Keionte Scott, or Texas’ Malik Muhammad will be to their liking. Obviously, the higher they take one in the draft, the better the chance to make a rookie splash. The Eagles drafted Mac McWilliams in the fifth round last year, and he rarely saw the field.Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell goes through a drill during a Week 5 practice. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI The Eagles spent their first two picks on that position two years ago, and that turned out as well as could be expected with Mitchell arriving as the 23rd overall pick and Cooper DeJean coming with the 40th pick. Roseman can thank the NFC East rival Washington Commanders for DeJean, since they traded back with the Eagles, allowing them to take DeJean. Roseman gushed about both during his 15 minutes on the Combine podium Tuesday afternoon. As for DeJean, the GM sounded like the Eagles would like to keep him in the slot, which means his shopping list will be for a cornerback who can play outside, and perhaps have the versatility to move inside. “Really, Coop can play anything,” said Roseman. “He can play outside corner, he can play nickel. He can play at an All-Pro level anywhere. So having him gives you some flexibility.” This is where Roseman sounded like the Eagles would like to keep DeJean in the slot after Vic Fangio rotated him outside in his base defense. “Elite player at the nickel position, so when you have someone who’s elite at something, and you move him, he could be elite as an outside corner, too, but how he’s able to effect the run game, how he’s able to affect the pass game, the screen game from there and you just see the difference that he makes in that role,” said the GM. “Then, when he plays outside, very little separation. He has size, speed, unique athletic ability. I joke he could be an elite receiver; he could probably be an elite quarterback, too. I’ve seen him throw the ball. So, just an elite athlete with elite character and just happy he’s a Philadelphia Eagle.” Roseman could choose to go the free agent route again at cornerback, perhaps bringing Adore Jackson back on a second one-year deal. “Adoree did a really nice job for us last year and got better throughout the course of the year, so just like any other position, he’s a free agent and we’ll just kind of see how the offseason plays out,” said Roseman. Other band-aid options could include Jamel Dean , Riq Woolen and former Eagles undrafted free agent Josh Jobe , Jaylen Watkins , Alontae Taylor and former Eagle draft pick Rasul Douglas . Maybe even Darius Slay, if he still wants to play and has anything at all left, could be in the mix. Buffalo stubbornly refused to release him after they claimed him following his late-season release from the Pittsburgh Steelers, while Slay wanted to return to Philly.PublishedEd Kracz has been covering the Eagles full-time for over a decade and has written about Philadelphia sports since 1996. He wrote about the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series, the Flyers in their 2010 Stanely Cup playoff run to the finals, and was in Minnesota when the Eagles secured their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2017. Ed has received multiple writing awards as a sports journalist, including several top-five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.
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