How will the Eagles' secondary line up in 2020?

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The Eagles’ starting secondary on opening day last year consisted of Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod at safety, Rasul Douglas and Ronald Darby at corner and Avonte Maddox in the slot.

That secondary is going to look very different in 2020.

Jenkins is a Saint, Darby’s a free agent, Douglas doesn’t appear to figure in the Eagles’ long-range plans, Jalen Mills is now a safety and newcomer Darius Slay is now the highest-paid corner in NFL history.

The Eagles haven’t been settled in the secondary for a long time, but it’s clear from Howie Roseman’s first series of moves — re-signing Mills and McLeod, cutting ties with Jenkins, making Slay the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback — that rebuilding the secondary was his biggest offseason priority.

How will it all fit together when the Eagles play again?

It’s an interesting question and there are a bunch of possible answers.

Who starts opposite Slay? 

Obviously Slay will hold down one cornerback spot. But who’s the other outside starter? There are several candidates on the current roster, including Sidney Jones, Rasul Douglas, Avonte Maddox and Cre’Von LeBlanc. You can even throw Mills’ name in there because it’s certainly not a lock that safety will work out. 

The Eagles would love for Jones to finally pan out. He was the 43rd pick in the 2017 draft and when you make that kind of investment in a player, you need him to be a big-time contributor. Jones has had trouble staying healthy and didn’t even get on the field in the playoff loss to Seattle. 

Maddox and LeBlanc are both better in the slot, although Maddox has played outside at times. But it hasn’t gone real well. Douglas has started 18 games over the last three years but hasn’t shown he can be a consistent starting outside corner.

What if they draft a corner? 

The Eagles could draft a corner and hope he can be an immediate starter. Assuming they go wide receiver in the first round – which they pretty much have to do – they could have some decent options in the second round at No. 53, such as UCLA’s Darnay Holmes, Ohio State’s Damon Arnette, Alabama’s Trevon Diggs or Utah’s Jaylon Johnson.

It’s a very good cornerback draft, and there should be good value in the second round. But the last rookie who was a regular outside starting cornerback for the Eagles was Bobby Taylor in 1995.     

It’s a lot to ask. Especially considering the defensive backs Roseman has taken in the first three rounds as a GM are Jones, Douglas, Curtis Marsh, Jaiquawn Jarrett and Nate Allen.

Can Mills play safety? 

On paper, he should be able to. He’s a physical corner, not afraid of contact, an above-average tackler. Mills doesn’t have the speed to ever be an elite outside corner, although you can’t question his effort or his red-zone ability. But safety is a different position, and Mills hasn’t worked there at all in four NFL seasons. So it’s no lock that he can do it, especially following a three-time Pro Bowler in Jenkins.

One thing Mills has in his favor is that he’s played alongside McLeod for much of the last four years. At least when both were healthy. So it’s not like he would be starting over at a new position playing with a newcomer at safety. Mills knows Jim Schwartz’s defense, he has a good feel for McLeod’s game and his strengths and limitations, and he’s played a lot of football with McLeod over the years.

If the safety experiment with Mills doesn’t work out? The only other safeties under contract right now are Marcus Epps and Rudy Ford.

Who’s in the slot? 

The candidates at this point are LeBlanc and Maddox, who are both pretty good inside corners. When they’ve had to play both - like in the playoff loss in January - the Eagles have used LeBlanc in the slot and Maddox outside. 

Maddox’s level of play dropped a bit last year, and the Eagles might want to go with Slay and someone else outside, LeBlanc in the slot and then use Maddox as a swing guy who can play any cornerback spot or free safety, all of which he’s played. LeBlanc is talented and you get the feeling the Eagles really want him on the field.

Prediction: I do think the Eagles will draft a corner in the second or third round, and I do think they’ll try to make it work with Jones. But I think it’s most likely that on opening day they’ll start out with Slay and Maddox outside, McLeod and Mills at safety and LeBlanc in the slot. And that’s an upgrade. A big one.

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