Daily News | Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson will challenge the Eagles defense to find (and stop) him
While Nick Sirianni prepares for the Minnesota Vikings, he can’t help but think about the first time he saw Justin Jefferson play football.
“I remember putting on the tape and going, ‘Man, this Justin Jefferson guy is really, really good,’” Sirianni said Thursday. “Like he’s really quick. He’s got great hands. He runs really good routes. It made the game a little bit more enjoyable for me. I put the game on, we’re watching the game ... and he catches the ball and he puts his foot in the ground quick and you get the zoom up of it on the TV camera and it was like, ‘OK, he’s exactly what I thought. He does have all that quickness.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon also employs a heavy amount of zone. To avoid the same fate Green Bay’s secondary suffered, the Eagles’ secondary will have to be on the same page passing off receivers. The Eagles reworked their secondary in the offseason, adding veteran cornerback James Bradberry via free agency and trading for safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson earlier this month.
He did damage from three of the four alignments. He caught three passes out of the slot for 91 yards, three passes out of the “Z” alignment for 36 yards and a touchdown, and had two catches for 57 yards and a touchdown as an “X” receiver. He caught one pass out of the backfield for no gain. Even though the Eagles are a zone-heavy team under Gannon, there have been occasions when Slay has followed No. 1 receivers to match up in man coverage throughout the game. The 31-year-old corner developed a reputation for sticking top wideouts earlier in his career, but it might not be an option for the Eagles because of Jefferson’s varied alignments.
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