Why Eagles thought Quinyon Mitchell could play nickel corner originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles didn’t know if Quinyon Mitchell would be able to play nickel corner.
How could they?
“Because he only played one position and one defense his whole college career, (we) didn’t really know what his football acumen would be, the overall aptitude that he can reach,” defensive backs coach Christian Parker said on Sunday.
“But we kind of noticed that he could handle a lot in a short amount of time and we decided this is something we want to explore.”
The Eagles drafted Mitchell with the No. 22 pick out of Toledo in April, making him the first cornerback off the board. They drafted him to be an outside corner. They drafted him to eventually become the CB1 for what they hope will be a long career.
But the Eagles suddenly have good depth at corner.
Darius Slay is back for his 12th NFL season and hasn’t slowed down, while Isaiah Rodgers and Kelee Ringo are having a spirited battle for the other outside corner job.
So the Eagles had to get creative to find a role for Mitchell.
And in recent weeks, he’s been the top option at the slot cornerback position with the first-team defense. He has taken over that role from incumbent Avonte Maddox, who has mostly been playing safety recently. Despite his relative inexperience playing inside, Mitchell has looked natural, often facing off against DeVonta Smith when the star receiver plays in the slot.
The Eagles weren’t sure that Mitchell would be able to play the nickel but they suspected he could based on what they saw from him this spring.
What did the Eagles see from Mitchell in OTAs to make them think that?
“Just overall football awareness,” Parker said. “Whenever you see guys that have good spacial awareness, splits, and an awareness of things around them from an offensive and defensive perspective, you try them in there and see if it works. And it has. So kind of had that thought in the spring and…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-eagles-thought-quinyon-mitchell-110000433.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-08-20 11:00:00
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