The Eagles’ secondary struggled in 2023, which is why draftees Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean arrived at the perfect time.
The 2023 Philadelphia Eagles allowed 447 completions on 688 attempts for 4,927 yards, 38 touchdowns, just nine interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 99.0 — third-worst in the league behind the Commanders and Cardinals. That played out in their 32-9 wild-card demolition at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when Baker Mayfield lit that defense up like the proverbial pinball machine.
Darius Slay was still solid in coverage last season at age 32, but James Bradberry allowed 10 touchdowns in 2023, the most by any player in the NFL. And there was nobody to pick up the slack. So, as is is wont, general manager Howie Roseman attacked the most prevalent need with the selection of Toledo cornerback and Senior Bowl superstar Quinyon Mitchell 22nd overall in the first round. Then, the Eagles doubled down with Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean as their second-round pick, 40th overall.
This was the first time the Eagles had selected a cornerback in the first round since they did so with Lito Sheppard out of Florida in 2002. And in Mitchell’s case, it really is most about what he adds as a suffocating outside cornerback.
“He’s obviously got good movement,” new Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said of his new top man. “He’s got good size for a corner. He’s going to have to adapt to the NFL game, covering NFL receivers, NFL schemes in the passing game. There’s a lot to learn. We think he’s the right guy emotionally and mentally to do that. Hopefully he’ll pay dividends quickly rather than later. But he’s going to be one of the many competing.”
With the Rockets, Mitchell played more off than press reps, and he would occasionally be waylaid by receivers running angular stuff under his position. But as he showed at Toledo and in the Senior Bowl, he’s more than capable of locking guys down when he’s pressing and moving upfield. Last season, he allowed 27 catches on 62 targets for 290 yards, 67 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 51.1. In Mobile, he answered any questions anybody might have had about strength of competition.
But DeJean is where it gets interesting, and Fangio brought that up both with DeJean’s position versatility, and how he prefers to add those kinds of players to his defense.
“We have a system that is versatile, we like to think. It needs to be versatile because every week you’re facing different strengths of an offense, different schemes. So, what you play in one week 10, 15 times, you may not play at all the next week. You have to have a versatile system for the offenses today in the NFL. What we’ll eventually do is learn what our guys are best at.
“I like to throw a lot at them early because I think one of the worst things you can do is come Week 3, Week 5, ‘Man, we could really use this scheme,’ but it hadn’t been introduced to the players yet. Whereas if you introduced it to them in training camp and worked on it, when you pull it back out three, four weeks later, there’s recall. We’ll throw a lot at them in training camp to see what best fits for them, what they’re good at, and then try and whittle it down, but always keeping some stuff in the bank in case we need it at some point during the season.
Fangio doesn’t seem to see those growing pains as an issue for DeJean.
“You start them out at a primary position, and then you start giving them the secondary position, and you go from there. There’s a lot of players that physically are capable of being versatile. Where a lot of them get eliminated from being versatile is they struggle to learn the assignments and the techniques and the execution at a couple different positions.
“There’s a lot of guys that are versatile physically, but can’t do it mentally. And I don’t mean that — they’re not going to get — your reps are watered down the more you’re moving around — and other guys it comes easier for them than others, if that makes sense.”
DeJean can play everywhere from outside cornerback to slot to box to hybrid safety, and the play he detailed for me when I asked him at the scouting combine for his favorite NCAA rep showed his vision and range… which will place him in good stead wherever he lines up.
“I think a play that comes to mind is my first pick-six against Rutgers [in 2022]. Caught a ball over my shoulder, and took it back for six. I feel like that showed by ball skills and athleticism and all that.”
The Hawkeyes were in 2-Man coverage. Pressure caused quarterback Evan Simon to make an abbreviated throw on the play, and DeJean broke off underneath coverage to go up and take receiver Joshua Youngblood on the deep over. One acrobatic interception later, DeJean had his first pick-six.
Ideally, I could see Fangio running more man coverage with Mitchell and Slay as his boundary cornerbacks — it’s what he did in Denver when he had Patrick Surtain II as his primary. Perhaps DeJean’s starting spot is as a slot/hybrid guy, and Fangio can work it out from there.
