Eagles Today

Eagles Rookie Gaining Recognition, But He Just "Scrolls Past" It

The Philadelphia Eagles' first-round pick continues to impress halfway through his first NFL season.

Ed Kracz

Eagles CB Quinyon Mitchell (27) goes through an indoor walkthrough practice leading up to a Week 4 game in Tampa vs. the Buccaneers.
Eagles CB Quinyon Mitchell (27) goes through an indoor walkthrough practice leading up to a Week 4 game in Tampa vs. the Buccaneers. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI
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PHILADELPHIA – Quinyon Mitchell is like so many athletes who use social media regularly, so he knows what he is doing this season and the numbers he has posted.

Pro Football Focus recently used X to show the top two coverage snaps for defenders who haven’t allowed a touchdown pass this season. At the top is Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon who hasn’t yielded a TD in 206 snaps. Right behind him is Mitchell with 283 snaps and no touchdowns surrendered.

Mitchell is aware, but he doesn’t dwell on it. In other words, he isn’t busy smelling himself despite his success halfway through his first season.

“I don’t pay attention,” he said, “but I’m on social media so it would be hard not to see, but I try not to feed into that stuff. I just want to stay in the moment and continue to work. I feel I have to get better each and every day.”

The rookie first-round pick also knows he doesn’t have any interceptions, but the defense is starting to get them. It’s just not the cornerbacks like Mitchell or Darius Slay who have gotten them. They have come from safeties Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and linebackers Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun.

Mitchell sees that stuff on social media. Again, he’s not dwelling on what is being posted.

“I don’t pay it any mind,” he said. “I just scroll past and stay locked in so I can get better every day.”

It’s not like Mitchell isn’t being tested. He has gone against some of the top pass-catchers in the league, from Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans to Giants rookie sensation Malik Nabers, to Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase. None have scored. None have hit so much as a big play on him.

Now comes the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb in a Sunday late-afternoon matchup in Dallas. Lamb is fourth in yardage this season with 660 yards on 45 catches and a 12.5 yards per catch average.

“He was at Oklahoma and has been doing his thing with the Cowboys, so, yeah, I follow him,” he said. “(But) every week I'll just be the same no matter whether I’m going against CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase, anybody. My preparation and how I approach the practices, and the game will always be the same no matter who I’m against.”

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Ed Kracz
ED KRACZ

Ed 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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