{"id":307300,"date":"2025-08-22T01:14:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T01:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/307300\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T01:14:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T01:14:16","slug":"eagles-mailbag-what-is-the-plan-at-cornerback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/307300\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagles Mailbag: What is the plan at cornerback?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eagles are two weeks away from raising a banner in front of the hated Dallas Cowboys and kicking off the 2025 NFL campaign. Before the Birds attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champions, I\u2019m here to answer some mailbag questions about the team I fielded on both X<\/a> and Bluesky<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get after it and talk some Eagles football\u2026<\/p>\n

@HeavyEdit<\/a>: What is the plan at CB? And what SHOULD be the plan at CB?<\/p>\n

From a national perspective, the consensus appears that the Eagles are set for years to come at cornerback. On the surface, that makes sense. The Eagles absolutely nailed their first two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft in immediate stud Quinyon Mitchell and Super Bowl hero Cooper DeJean. For those ingrained in the daily Eagles discourse, however, it\u2019s not that simple.<\/p>\n

My assumption is that the Eagles wanted Kelee Ringo go out and win the CB2 job opposite Mitchell on the outside this summer with DeJean once again doing stellar work in the slot and perhaps safety at times. From all indications from reporters at camp and what we\u2019ve otherwise seen in the preseason, that just didn\u2019t happen for Ringo. If I had to bet, I imagine the veteran Adoree\u2019 Jackson, entering his age-30 season, gets the immediate nod there at CB2.<\/p>\n

As for what the plan should be at corner, is it too late in the summer for Ronald Darby trade 2.0 so to speak? The Eagles continue to wheel and deal, as seen with the John Metchie III trade over this past weekend. Howie Roseman is armed with a boatload of picks in next spring\u2019s NFL Draft. I have no doubt that Roseman is always working the phones and trying to upgrade the roster, but he should give an extra emphasis on potentially prying away a cornerback from a different team ahead of cutdowns.<\/p>\n

@bigguardszn<\/a>: Always easy to say \u201cx was a mistake\u201d with hindsight – but given the struggles at CB, do you think they\u2019ll come to regret letting Isaiah Rodgers go for what looks to be a pretty reasonable deal?<\/p>\n

This relates to the previous question about the cornerback situation. At the time, I had no qualms with letting Isaiah Rodgers walk this offseason. Rodgers landed in Minnesota on a two-year deal worth $15 million with $8 million in guarantees.<\/p>\n

I imagine that\u2019ll be a big talking point this season, regardless of how Rodgers performs with the Vikings, whenever a non-Mitchell\/non-DeJean cornerback gives up a big play this season. \u201cThey should\u2019ve kept Rodgers!\u201d If that\u2019s the Eagles\u2019 biggest mistake this offseason, I think they\u2019ll survive well enough, but right now, the CB2 spot is a bit of a cloud over what was a tremendous defense in 2024.<\/p>\n

@Arkansas3657<\/a>: Is Joe Flacco Elite?<\/p>\n

What a wild career for the local fella!<\/p>\n

Joe Flacco had way more consistent regular season success, but Flacco\u2019s playoff heroics on the way to a 2012 Super Bowl win with Baltimore remind me a bit of Nick Foles going supernova with the Eagles in 2017. Flacco is 40 doing this though and still letting it rip and will be the Week 1 starter for Cleveland. That\u2019d be the equivalent, age wise, of Foles being a competent starter for a random team in 2029.<\/p>\n

I know the whole \u201celite\u201d bit about Flacco from forever ago, but I\u2019d say he\u2019ll have a great spot in the fictitious \u201cHall of Very Good\u201d one day.<\/p>\n

@3_AV_Crue<\/a>: Is Nick Sirianni already the best coach in Eagles history? (Yes)<\/p>\n

If you would\u2019ve asked me this question after Week 4 of the 2024 season after the Birds were slaughtered in Tampa, I would\u2019ve laughed in your face. What a difference a year makes!<\/p>\n

The answer is definitely yes.<\/p>\n

Nick Sirianni: Super Bowl LIX championDoug Pederson: Super Bowl LII championGreasy Neale: 1948 and 1949 NFL championAndy Reid: lots of wins and lots of disappointmentDick Vermeil: changed the culture of the franchise and the place of football in the city<\/p>\n

Sirianni has made the playoffs every season of his head coaching career, has two Super Bowl appearances to his name, has a ring and isn\u2019t close to being done yet.<\/p>\n

@btoporek.bsky.social<\/a>: Who are your top five most beloved Eagles in your lifetime? (Not necessarily the best players, but the ones you feel the most attachment to?)<\/p>\n

Most of these are rather obvious:<\/p>\n

Brian Dawkins: He\u2019s everyone\u2019s favorite! I\u2019ve interviewed him a few times over the years and he\u2019s an awesome dude.Nick Foles: Foles changed Philadelphia forever and, really, my life overall. As has been well documented, I met my wife at the 2018 Super Bowl parade, so, yeah, I owe him a lot.Brandon Graham: Graham\u2019s Super Bowl strip sack is the greatest play in the history of Philadelphia sports. Graham also recorded a congratulatory video for my wife and me when we got engaged several years ago, so that certainly adds to to things, too.Brian Westbrook: My favorite Christmas gift ever was receiving a black Westbrook jersey in 2003, his breakout season. I still have it and can picture opening up the box with it to this day.Bobby Taylor: A talented, historically under-appreciated cornerback who had a monumental pick-6 in the 2002 NFC Divisional Round matchup with the Falcons, the Eagles\u2019 last win at Veterans Stadium.<\/p>\n

How about, to add some pizzaz, we go with five more unheralded players that fit that billing as well?<\/p>\n

Correll Buckhalter: Injuries derailed what could\u2019ve been a really promising career. He balled out in the 44-6 game, which gives him a legacy boost among Reid-era supporting characters.Damon Moore: Moore made a game-saving tackle on New York\u2019s Ron Dixon in Week 16 of the 2001 season to help the Eagles win the NFC East for the first time since 1998. It\u2019s the first Eagles game I have concrete memories of watching. If he doesn\u2019t make that tackle and the Giants score on an improbable last-second play, that\u2019s one hell of a \u201csliding doors\u201d moment for the Reid era and my relationship with this team.Blaine Bishop: I thought him saying, \u201cBlaine Bishop, Old School\u201d during primetime introductions was so cool as a kid.Cecil Martin: I have vivid memories of his touchdown catch against the Bears in the 2001 Divisional Round upset win in Chicago that would advance the Eagles to the NFC title game for the first time in my life.Leonard Weaver: Did you know he was a First-Team All-Pro fullback in 2009? You should!<\/p>\n

@spookyst3ve.bsky.social<\/a>: Who on the Eagles roster do you think has a Letterboxd account?<\/p>\n

For those who might not know, Letterboxd is a movie reviewing app that I am rather addicted to. I love cinema!<\/p>\n

The obvious answer here is \u201cno one,\u201d but a certain former Eagle popped into my head for this. How about Nnamdi Asomugha? He\u2019s a had a post-NFL Hollywood turn. Maybe he\u2019s still out there eating lunch in his car to this day, leaving five-star reviews of Paul Schrader films.<\/p>\n

@irisheagles.bsky.social<\/a>: Any concern about the AJ injury?<\/p>\n

@SwaggyMitch<\/a>: How healthy is AJ Brown ?<\/p>\n

A.J. Brown is always somewhat banged up it seems, but he\u2019s a warrior. I could see people thinking that the Metchie trade is a sign that Brown may not be ready to start the year. Maybe I\u2019m foolish, but I will not be concerned until I see for myself that Brown isn\u2019t suiting up against Dallas in 14 days.<\/p>\n

@nsmurfy.bsky.social<\/a>: How much will we overreact to a Week 1 loss to the Cowboys?<\/p>\n

The heat death of the universe might commence.<\/p>\n

10 Comments<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eagles are two weeks away from raising a banner in front of the hated Dallas Cowboys and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,106],"class_list":{"0":"post-307300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-philadelphia-eagles-roster"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115069771762254491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}