After starting off my Eagles preview with the WR/TE group, we will now move on to the crew in charge of guarding those positions, the defensive backfield.
The format for all these previews will be the same: Depth Chart / Most Important Player / Biggest Question / Division Rank / Final Thoughts
Depth Chart
The corner slot across from Asante Samuel could go to either Ellis Hobbs or Joselio Hanson, with the other player becoming the nickel back. Right now it is Ellis Hobbs’ job to lose. Trevard Lindley has apparently looked very good in training camp, but based on his poor senior year in college, I’d say it’s a little early to get all that excited about him.
At Safety, Nate Allen and Quintin Mickell are pretty much set as the starters. Demps and Coleman are the back-ups, but I don’t think I would call them “quality” back-ups.
Macho Harris is a wild card that could probably play corner or safety as needed. My hope is that he converts full-time to CB.
Most Important Player
Ellis Hobbs. My personal opinion is that whoever takes the 2nd corner spot will be a downgrade from the traded Sheldon Brown and could potentially be a problem in a division with so many good QB’s and WR’s. I also think the player that will win that spot is Hobbs. We all know that he and Asante Samuel were the starting corners for the 16-0 Patriots in 2007. Hobbs is still only 27 years old. He is capable of stepping up and playing to the level that Brown played last year (not Pro Bowl, but above average), but it is not a given. If he can play well, our secondary could be a strength this year. If not, or if he can’t stay healthy, the lack of depth could make it a crutch.
Biggest Question
How will Nate Allen’s rookie year go?
Last year, Sean McDermott put the unenviable task of “replacing” Brian Dawkins on the shoulders of a 5th round pick, Macho Harris. Needless to say, by mid-season it was pretty much unanimous that Dawkins was both not over-the-hill and very much needed in our secondary.
This year, he gets another shot. Again with rookie. But this time it’s with a 2nd rounder and a player who actually played safety in college. I was extremely excited with the Nate Allen pick. The scouting report on him is as follows…
- Outstanding instincts and awareness
- Uses those instincts to make big plays
- Not a big hitter, but a solid tackler
- Needs to improve angles he takes to the ball
- Outstanding work ethic
- Solid, not great, in coverage
- Not an elite athlete
I think Allen will be a starter for us for many years, and might even make a Pro-Bowl or two. He has clearly impressed the coaches who didn’t waste much time announcing him as the starter.
But how will he do this year. You have to think there will be some growing pains, and Allen is being thrown right into the fire. I think he’s ready, and hope that he can make some of the big plays we missed last year with B-Dawk in Denver.
Division Ranking
This is a real tough ranking. You could probably make an argument for almost any variation of ranking. I did mine by ranking the 4 teams how they did last year in 5 categories (Passing yards against, Passing Yards/Att., Passing TD against, Interception and Passer Rating against) and then factored in whether or not they should be better or worse this season.
1. Philadelphia
Surprised? So am I. The Eagles secondary was 1st in Y/A, Int and passer rating against among the NFC East last year. Football outsiders also rated our pass defense efficiency as the best in the division by far. The Eagles did this while battling all sorts of injuries and playing with a gaping hole at safety. They should see a bit of a downgrade at corner this year, but I’m expecting a big upgrade with the addition of Nate Allen.
2. Dallas
Dallas has the best CB tandem of this group, and I’m expecting Mike Jenkins to really have a great year this season. However, their safeties are average at best, regardless of what Dallas fans might tell you.
3. Washington
Big names all over the place here with 4 of their 5 main guys as former 1st rounders. The problem for them is that none of them have actually played like 1st rounders and have 0 pro-bowl appearances among them as Redskins. I apologize for misspelling DeAngelo Hall’s name in the graphic.
4. New York Giants
The Giants secondary was horrible last year, and they provided some upgrades in the off-season by overpaying Antrel Rolle from the Cardinals and drafting Chad Jones in the 3rd round. Unfortunately, Jones was involved in a horrible auto accident and will likely never play football again. Rolle is a nice player, but he’s a big overrated due to where he was drafted and his last name, and the Giants need more help them him.
Final Thoughts
I went into this part of the preview down on the secondary but become more hopeful as I researched. I think that Ellis Hobbs will do a respectable job and we know Joselio Hanson is a decent nickel back. I’m very excited about Nate Allen and Quintin Mikell is now officially a pro-bowl level safety. The big concern for me here is injuries. We do not have quality depth here, and one big injury could put a serious hurting on our season. Really, really, really need to stay healthy, but if they do, this could be a promising group.
This is the unit on the team I’m most concerned with this season, mainly cornerback. I feel like after Asante, we have a bunch of nickel backs, and no other true starting corners. I hope I’m pleasantly surprised, but I have my doubts. I will say, however, that for all the flak Asante gets for his tackling (and deservedly so), he is a very good cover corner and has the ability to make game-changing plays.
Safety, in my opinion, will be a big improvement over last year. Last year was a mess, and I have to think, even though he’s a rookie, that Nate Allen is better than whatever we put out there last year (Harris, Jones, Demps). I’m excited to see him play, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about him so far in camp.
It would be huge if Lindley or Harris can be quality back-ups this season.
Reid has been talking up Hobbs big time, hopefully he’s not as delusional there as he is about the OL.
Interesting position. I think they could have major ups and downs. They have some good, aggressive ball hawks- but could also get burned. Probably their overall success or failure will have more to do with health and whether the rest of the defense generates pressure and controls the line of scrimmage.
Of course you can say that about 95% of the DB’s in the league- but the Eagles from 2000-2008 had reliable DB’s that were effective regardless of how the rest of the defense fared. The current team is more back to the NFL norm.
The D-backs will be fine. I’m surprised they finished as well as they did statisically because I can remember many missed tackles and poor secondary play.
The thing that’s important to remember is the success of the D-line will directly impact the success of the D-backs. Graham and Trent Cole should wreak havoc. If so, the d-backs will all have more success. Pressure throws tend to end with interceptions.
As far as I can remember, the years our undersized corners had the most success were the same years we had strong capable blitzing.
The more pressure on the QB, the less these guys will have to cover.
And I think if the D-line succeeds, we should expect big years from the secondary, as a whole. However, if the D-line does not improve, if Graham isn’t a force, this could be another brutal year for a relatively young defense.
Get ready for the roller coaster ride of 2011.
And the O-line is way more important this season and could be in serious trouble. Donovan’s success came behind a very talented, very strong, very mean, very dirty group of guys who played together for a number of seasons. It doesn’t matter who’s in the throwing the ball, if the O-line doesn’t work it’s issues out, it will be a long, long season.
And the schedule is crazy tough.
Tk76, I agree with most of what you said, except I think the DB’s from 2000-2008′s were more a product of Jim Johnson’s system. They were reliable but the blitz package’s were very succesful. Accordingly, the DB’s looked great. We cycled a lot of guys through the system and they all found success. Maybe they were talented/reliable, maybe they were products of the system. It’s easier to play corner, when you the know the QB has 2 seconds to throw the ball.
What impressed me about the JJ defenses was their ability to generate sacks/pressure and yet rarely get burned by the big play.