Twelve teams are still in game-planning mode as they prepare for the upcoming playoff run. The Philadelphia Eagles will not be one of those teams; they’ll be at home on the couch yelling obscenities at the referees just like the rest of us.
I guess that’s not really true. I suppose while the head coaching search continues to grab all the headlines, someone high enough on the ladder will be scouring through the free agent wire looking at players that could help the Eagles turn this around. Regardless of who comes in to coach, someone’s out there looking.
And I hope whoever that is, Jeff Lurie or Howie Roseman or whoever else, is looking long and hard at the safety group. I think the Eagles are going to desperately need one of them, and it’s for a backwards reason: the cornerbacks are just that terrible.
Yeah, that’s right, the Eagles need a safety because the cornerbacks are terrible.
Before any of this happens, the first thing the Eagles need to do is bring back Walter Thurmond. He played very well this season, stayed healthy, and proved he can be an asset. He can’t be let to walk out the door as he and Malcolm Jenkins are perhaps the only bright spots in that entire defensive backfield.
A lot of people were hoping Eric Rowe would become that solid second corner to go along with Byron Maxwell. But the truth is, uncomfortably so, that Rowe may never project to be a cornerback in this league. His cornerback/safety hybrid status really tilted more towards the safety half of that equation as the season went on, and if he’s going to be of any use to the Eagles, I really think it’s at safety.
It works out brilliantly, because both Thurmond and Jenkins can play corner. So moving Rowe to safety, then moving Thurmond or Jenkins to corner, really fixes two spots. The Eagles will have actual safety depth and a competent second starting cornerback, which could be considered their top starter if Maxwell is really a No. 2 guy.
But obviously you don’t want to count on Rowe as a starter right away, not after this season. If the Eagles keep Rowe as sort of a roaming depth guy, the third safety or the top outside corner backup, that’s the best place for him now. Hopefully he only needs one more year to pull it together, and there’s your need for a starting safety.
It doesn’t have to be a flashy guy like Eric Weddle or Eric Berry, or even a guy like Tashaun Gipson. The Eagles just need someone who can hold the position down. If they can find that guy, they can potentially stabilize three secondary positions all at once. Whoever is running the defense next year will have to love that outcome, because I know everyone else certainly would.
