Nickel Cornerback Still a Sore Spot for Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are heading into the 2015 regular season firing on all cylinders. The offense looks unstoppable. The defense seems to be improved. There are few glaring holes along the 53-man roster, particularly toward the top of the depth chart.

There is one obvious issue, however, the magnitude of which is yet to be determined.

The Eagles themselves were forced to admit they don’t know who their nickel cornerback is with meaningful NFL football less than a week away.

The good news is there are plenty of options to plug in that role. The bad news is none has looked like a particularly great solution thus far.

The wound was largely self-inflicted. The Eagles traded slot specialist Brandon Boykin to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the onset of training camp for a conditional fifth-round draft pick that can become a fourth. Less than a week later, sixth-round rookie JaCorey Shepherd—the early favorite to replace Boykin—suffered a season-ending torn ACL.

YR	GMS	TKL	PD	INT	FF
2014	16	42	9	1	1
2013	16	47	16	6	2
2012	15	31	7	0	1

And here we are.

Boykin was to become a free agent at the end of the year and was unlikely to re-sign in Philadelphia, so getting something back from his impending departure made sense. However, the move meant surrendering one of the best nickel corners in the league.

Now the Eagles aren’t sure what they’ll do on a week-to-week basis, as defensive coordinator Bill Davis explained to Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice:

"

We'll go over a lot of scenarios, and sometimes it may be, 'How big is that guy that's in their slot?' That's one of the benefits of training multiple guys. If you have to cover [a guy like wide receiver] Jordan Matthews, then you want a taller corner in there, like [the Seattle Seahawks] put [Byron Maxwell] in there when they had to cover him. So it depends who they are, but we'll come up with a nickel to start with.

I would say [there will be multiple options] to start, unless someone just takes it and owns it... But right now, let's see who we have to make this work with.

"

That was after the preseason finale, prior to the Eagles cutting down to a 53-man roster. Now we know exactly what Davis has to work with, and there are still plenty of question marks.

Maxwell, of course, signed with the Eagles as a free agent during the offseason and instantly became the club’s No. 1 corner. While the Seahawks may have moved him inside, they also have All-Pro Richard Sherman manning the perimeter, which gave them a lot more flexibility.

Unless an opponent's best receiver is lining up in the slot, which is unusual, that probably won't be Philadelphia's approach.

Nolan Carroll, Eric Rowe, E.J. Biggers and Denzel Rice round out the Eagles’ depth chart at cornerback.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Some combination of Carroll and Rowe seems likely. Carroll won the starting job opposite Maxwell hands down during OTAs and training camp. However, Rowe—a second-round rookie—had never lined up in the slot until this summer, and frankly, it showed.

What could happen is Carroll moves inside and Rowe takes his place when the offense goes three wide.

Carroll at least has some experience in the slot, both for the Miami Dolphins and last season in a hybrid role of sorts in the Eagles’ dime package. Rowe is clearly more comfortable on the outside.

Rowe hasn’t looked particularly great there, either. That’s not meant to pick on the 22-year-old out of Utah. It’s natural for rookie cornerbacks to struggle, and the positive to take away from Rowe’s education is he’s battling out there.

However, it may make more sense to go with Biggers, if only for the first few weeks of the season. The seventh-year veteran has played inside and outside, not to mention safety—although none of them particularly well. Still, if the game looks too big for Rowe right now, Biggers might be the Eagles’ best bet.

Rice is an undrafted rookie out of Coastal Carolina. He had a strong camp but is essentially a complete unknown heading into the regular season.

PLAYER	AGE	GAMES	STARTS	YEARS
E. Biggers	28	76	31	7th
N. Carroll	28	74	27	6th
J. Couplin	24	8	0	2nd
M. Jenkins	27	87	79	7th
C. Maragos	28	62	0	6th
B. Maxwell	27	47	17	5th
D. Rice	22	0	0	R
E. Rowe	22	0	0	R
W. Thurmond	28	36	9	6th

There is one other possibility, which Davis allowed for earlier during training camp, and that is safeties Malcolm Jenkins or Walter Thurmond seeing more work in the slot. The Eagles’ scheme already deploys their safeties against slot receivers with some frequency anyway and both are converted corners to begin with, so it’s not a stretch.

If worst comes to worst, Thurmond could even take over as a full-time slot specialist, the role he is most known for in the NFL. He helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl doing primarily that job in the 2013-14 season.

Fortunately, that may not be necessary. There’s still some question as to how vital Boykin was to begin with.

According to Football Outsiders, Boykin was only on the field for 42.7 percent of the defensive snaps in 2014 and 51 percent in 2013. Opponents may attempt to spread the Eagles out more often with Boykin gone, but it’s been far from the most prevalent position on the field.

None of which is to downplay the absence of a defined nickel cornerback. From time to time, the Eagles are going to need three or as many as four corners on the field, and the defensive backs who are proven and stable in the slot are...well, aside from Maxwell and the two safeties, there are none.

It’s a dilemma, to be sure—one opposing offenses would be wise to target early and often this season.

All camp observations and quotes are author's.