Eagles Position Change: Explaining New Roles in Secondary

The Philadelphia Eagles are testing the waters when it comes to changing the roles of two young players.

PHILADELPHIA – Things aren’t exactly locked in on June 1 in the NFL but that doesn’t mean things are completely meaningless either and the Philadelphia Eagles made a couple of interesting tweaks when it came to their depth on the defensive side of the football during the first OTA practice of the spring open to reporters.

The more significant move was shifting third-year cornerback Zech McPhearson inside to the slot after his first two seasons were spent being the top backup outside the numbers, first to Darius Slay and Steven Nelson, and then to Slay and James Bradberry.

Because the Eagles’ top cornerback duo in both 2021 and 2022 stayed relatively healthy McPhearson, a 2021 fourth-round pick out of Texas Tech via Penn State, played a total of 278 snaps over his first two pro seasons, 179 as a rookie (16 percent of the team’s total), and 99 last season (nine percent).

It was hardly a consensus but more scouts than not projected the 5-11, 191-pound McPhearson inside than out when projecting the Baltimore native to the next level but the Eagles had significant depth issues after Slay back in 2021 to the point the organization even contemplated throwing McPhearson, now 25, into the deep end of the pool opposite the veteran Pro Bowl corner as a rookie before securing Nelson days before training camp was set to begin.

When Nelson, a steady if unspectacular player, got a two-year deal in Houston after the 2021 campaign, it was again penciled in as Slay and McPhearson for the start of the offseason before Bradberry was signed on May 18 of last year.

With Slay and Bradberry, a second-team All-Pro last season, running it back for 2023 and the Eagles’ adding depth on the outside in the form of 2023 fourth-round pick Kelee Ringo and free-agent pickup Greedy Williams, players with the natural length teams look for outside the numbers, Philadelphia feels more comfortable sliding McPhearson inside where he will backup Avonte Maddox.

One of the better slot cornerbacks in the league, Maddox is coming off an injury-plagued season that limited him to nine regular season games and playing hurt in both the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LVII.

With Maddox still rehabbing from offseason surgery Thursday, McPhearson got the first-team reps in the slot during 7-on-7 drills, while second-year cornerback Josh Jobe and Williams both got reps in place of Bradberry, who did some individual work but skipped the 7-on-7s, outside.

Last season when Maddox was out of the lineup, opposing teams targeted backup Josiah Scott. The dip to McPhearson wouldn’t be as steep so as long as one or two of the younger outside cornerbacks can carry their own water, expect this move to be a permanent one.

At worst case McPhearson could toggle between the outside and the inside depending on where he’s needed while waiting on the talented Ringo to develop.

“We try to get some guys to be flexible with their positions, to platoon them a little bit and that’s what we’re doing with him because he is a good cover guy,” secondary coach D.K. McDonald said of McPhearson. “Then you go back and watch his college film, too, that’s what he did. He played a little bit of nickel in there. So, just trying to create more opportunities, one for him to get on the field, but two, just to make sure we have guys ready to go there."

McDonald believes McPhearson could handle even a dual role.

“Playing corner, he has quickness, he has a high football IQ, he’s able to move and do all the things that you ask a guy in the nickel to be able to do, just like we ask Avonte to do," McDonald said. "He has a really good chance to go in there and compete and still play on the outside, too.”

The lesser tweak on Thursday was moving undersized edge rusher Kyron Johnson to off-ball linebacker, a position of need for Philadelphia.

The depth chart on the edge for the Eagles is a murderer’s row with Hasson Reddick, Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, rookie first-round pick Nolan Smith, Derrick Barnett, and Patrick Johnson all ahead of Kyron Johnson.

The depth behind Nakobe Dean and Nicholas Morrow at linebacker is much less awe-inspiring and the 6-foot, 235-pound Johnson, a 2022 sixth-round pick, played off-ball linebacker at Kansas before shifting to more of an edge-rushing role and his size is obviously a better projection off the ball at the second level.

The true path to relevancy for Johnson with the Eagles, however, is special teams and this move seems to be more of an attempt to find a 53-man roster spot for Johnson so he can help Michael Clay’s coverage units more than assuming he might push for playing time on the defense.

---

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Philadelphia Eagles? Click Here.

Want even more Philadelphia Eagles news? Check out the SI.com team page here

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen