Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

What Eagles training camp has revealed about the No. 2 cornerback competition | Early Birds

The front-runner for the cornerback job opposite Darius Slay is becoming clearer based on first-team reps in training camp.

Eagles cornerbacks Darius Slay (center) and Avonte Maddox laugh during training camp Monday.
Eagles cornerbacks Darius Slay (center) and Avonte Maddox laugh during training camp Monday.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Good morning, Eagles fans. It’s an especially good morning, too, considering the Eagles are back on the field for their third day of true, padded training-camp practices. The first two days of camp have been the closest this offseason has gotten to normal since the onset of the pandemic.

The practices have been competitive, and the intensity should only ratchet up more as the season opener nears without any preseason games to get guys ready. Partly thanks to the mild weather and to the length of practice, the sessions haven’t exactly been arduous for the players.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he’d hold two live-contact practices over the next few weeks, but it’s unclear when they’ll happen. Those practices will likely be the most important days for players battling for roster spots, although there’s a fine balance between making sure the starting units are ready and evaluating the 53rd guy on the roster.

If you like what you’re reading, tell your friends it’s free to sign up here​. I want to know what you think, what we should add, and what you want to read, so send me feedback by email or on Twitter @EJSmith94.

EJ Smith (earlybirds@inquirer.com)

Full coverage

Jim Schwartz is on the market for a second outside cornerback to start opposite Darius Slay.

During the previous phase of training camp last month, the Eagles defensive coordinator said there’d be an open competition for the spot vacated by Jalen Mills’ move to safety. The Eagles have a handful of players in the running, although Avonte Maddox has taken the majority of the snaps with the first team.

The 5-foot-9 corner was the front-runner heading into camp, and it’s starting to look like the competition will be his to lose, just don’t tell him that.

“Every day we’re out there competing,” Maddox said. “We have a great group. It’s just there, and we go out there and compete. We always work to help each other and get better. Right now, it’s not about whose position it is [to lose], it’s just about going out and getting better each and every day and working as one unit. Everyone’s going to play, you’ve seen that in the past few seasons.”

Maddox has played slot cornerback, safety, and outside corner for the Eagles. The team reworked the secondary this offseason with players able to operate out of different positions to allow Slay to follow the opposing team’s best receiver.

Maddox fits that bill, Schwartz said.

“We like the flexibility of guys that can go inside and outside,” Schwartz said. “[Maddox] has got some of that background that helps him play all of those different spots. [LeBlanc] has sort of been an inside player for the most part for us, but he’s played outside.”

The third-year defensive back played 400 snaps as a slot cornerback and logged 136 out wide last season, according to Pro Football Focus. During his rookie year, he even played safety for a handful of games.

While the transition on the outside may appear daunting, especially for a 5-foot-9, 184-pound corner, Maddox said his college experience covering outside has made the switch more comfortable.

“I’ve been playing corner in college for four years straight,” Maddox said. “It’s not really new, I’m just getting back to the feel of it moving back from the inside and in the back at safety, but I’m very used to it, once I get the feel back.”

What you need to know about the Eagles

  1. The practices over the next few weeks are more important than ever, so be sure to study Jeff McLane’s observations during Tuesday’s session.

  2. Jalen Reagor and Carson Wentz appear to be developing a solid connection, something that could becomes vital, as Les Bowen explains in Tuesday’s main story.

  3. Derek Barnett is on the shelf yet again with an ankle injury, but Schwartz hasn’t lost confidence in this being the edge rusher’s breakout season. Bowen has the story and more in Tuesday’s notes.

  4. Javon Hargrave will miss multiple weeks with a strained pectoral muscle, as detailed by yours truly.

  5. Marcus Hayes explains why Hargrave and Barnett missing time could hamper the defensive line for the season opener, even if the two return.

  6. Corey Clement is back healthy and impressing his teammates. As Paul Domowitch reports, the running back has an all-out approach to this training camp.

  7. Reagor had a solid first day of padded practices, Dallas Goedert had the catch of the day Monday, and more from McLane’s Day 1 observations.

  8. Wentz and Reagor have sparked some early chemistry, but they’re still making up for lost time, Bowen writes.

  9. We finally have images of the 2020 Eagles suited up. Review Yong Kim’s photos from Monday’s practice here.

From the mailbag

How is Davion Taylor looking in camp? Hearing a lot about Sean Bradley and crickets with Taylor. — from 10 Second Spin (@BullyPullpit) on Twitter.

Good question, 10. The short answer is Taylor hasn’t popped much, if at all, so far. The reason you’re hearing about Bradley more is because he’s not only been ahead of Taylor on the depth chart in these early days, but also because he’s made a few plays in the last two practices. Bradley is a year older and has an extra season of college experience over Taylor, and that’s not accounting for the disparity in high school experience, with Taylor playing just one varsity game.

Here’s what Jim Schwartz said when my fine colleague Paul Domowitch asked if the defensive coordinator expects Taylor to progress quickly enough to play more than just special teams this season.

“That’s yet to be seen, but I will say this: Linebacker and safety are two of the most difficult positions for guys to get up to speed with, that’s including having a full offseason program for rookies, OTAs, minicamps, a full preseason schedule and preseason games. So their learning has to be accelerated. [Taylor, Bradley, and safety K’Von Wallace] are really smart guys and have adapted well, now it’s just as a matter of accumulating as many reps as we can get, and when we do have those heavy contact practices, those are going to be really important in our evaluations.”

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Taylor will be destined for special-teams duty for at least the beginning of the season. If he dominates on the days the Eagles go live contact, maybe he could expedite the process, but otherwise I’d think he’d be behind Nate Gerry and T.J. Edwards before even factoring Bradley in. He was an athletic, developmental prospect, so it shouldn’t be a major concern to see him take a season or so to compete for a starting spot, especially considering the way this offseason went.