What’s the Best Spot for Jalen Mills?

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said the team has better depth at safety and was the reason Mills was moved back to his former spot at CB, but could it last?

The Eagles needed an outside cornerback on Sunday night in Silicon Valley with Avonte Maddox and Trevor Williams out with injuries.

As usual Jim Schwartz unfurled a curveball to the slaves of the depth chart.

Instead of cobbling things together with slot CBs Cre'Von LeBlanc and Nickell Robey-Coleman, the Philadelphia defensive coordinator used the other end of his No. 2 pencil, erasing the 'S' next to Jalen Mills' name and inserting the veteran opposite Darius Slay on the outside.

Because Mills spent the first four seasons of his NFL career at CB before moving to safety this season, it shouldn't have been a surprise, and Mills played well in a 25-20 victory over the 49ers, albeit against backup quarterbacks.

“He embraced it, and I thought he did a really good job in that game," said Schwartz.  "Covered well and tackled well.”

Moving forward, the question for Schwartz, secondary coach Marquand Manuel and safeties mentor Tim Hauck will be putting together the best packages on the back end.

The positionless player narrative has been one the organization has stressed dating back to the offseason.

In practicality, Mills is the Swiss Army Knife, as seemingly the second-best player the Eagles have at both corner and safety so perhaps the real answer will lie with the other players.

The organization seems to like Maddox more than they should considering he wasn't all that effective in the first three games before going down with an ankle injury late in Week 3 against Cincinnati. Of the 112 CBs graded by ProFootballFocus.com this season, Maddox is near the bottom at No. 94.

On Sunday night, the team had packages for both Marcus Epps and K'Von Wallace at safety as Mills moved outside.

"I wouldn't consider one the starter over the other in the game. They were all just sort of starting in their own package and we sort of compartmentalized and spread the contribution around a little bit," said Schwartz when discussing Epps, a second-year player, vs. the rookie Wallace.

"Our depth was a little bit better at safety than it was at corner, and Cre'Von and Robey mean a lot to us when it comes to the slot and those kinds of things. We thought our best option there, not having Trev (CB Trevor Williams), not having Avonte, our best option, not having Craig (CB Craig James), our best option was Jalen Mills," said Schwartz.

The wild card moving forward is veteran safety Will Parks, who remains on injured reserve for now but is working his way back.

Maybe the best package the Eagles can put together is Mills staying at CB on the other side of Slay with Rodney McLeod at safety next to Parks and allowing Maddox to battle Robey-Coleman and LeBlanc for snaps in the slot.

The good news is the optionality. The better news would be settling on a path forward so players can get more comfortable in their roles.

"We’ll see," Schwartz said. "We’ll do what we think is best each week, depending on who we have available to the game."

Whatever happens, Mills has quickly developed into a team leader who will do whatever is asked of him.

"I thought (moving back to CB) was a really unselfish thing for him to do," said Schwartz. "He was still a developing player at safety, and making some plays there and also having some learning on the job, growing pains at the position.

"But when the team was in need and our corners were, you know, our corner position was way down and we ask him to do it, it was never even a hesitation. It was like, ‘Hey, whatever you need.’”

-John McMullen contributes to Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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