Philadelphia Eagles: Already burned at cornerback, again

The Philadelphia Eagles have had plenty of issues at cornerback and they are burned yet again at cornerback before the 2017 season kicks off.

Before the 2016 season kicked off, I wrote an article titled, “Philadelphia Eagles: Already Burned At Cornerback“. The article talked about how the Philadelphia Eagles had the worst group of cornerbacks in the NFL, and they had nothing to lose by starting their young defensive backs.

One of those defensive backs was Eric Rowe, but he was traded to the New England Patriots before the year started. The other was 2016 seventh-round pick, Jalen Mills. Mills did get a lot of playing time, but failed to show that he will be a legitimate starting cornerback in the NFL.

Philly also had Leodis McKelvin, who I called the worst offseason move in 2016. McKelvin was terrible and another injury riddled season helped him get booted out after just one year. Nolan Carroll started all 16 games for Philadelphia in 2016, but they let him walk in the offseason. He signed with the Dallas Cowboys, but after a one interception season and poor play, that may benefit the Eagles more than the Cowboys.

Ron Brooks returns from last season, though, Brooks is coming back from a season ending injury. Before he suffered the injury, Brooks did not do much to get you excited for his return.

It was clear that the Eagles needed to fix their cornerback problem this offseason, and well, they failed to fix it for 2017. The key words are “for 2017”, because they did draft the best cornerback in the 2017 NFL Draft, Sidney Jones.

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The only problem is that Jones was available in the second round because he suffered a pre-draft injury that will likely force him out the entire season. And that doesn’t help the Eagles this year, but it will be huge in 2018 when he returns to full strength.

They also drafted former West Virginia cornerback Rasul Douglas in the third round. Douglas has some positive qualities as a cornerback, but it is a stretch to think he will be a legitimate No. 2 cornerback for the Eagles in 2017. Along with Douglas and Jones, the Eagles signed free agent cornerback Patrick Robinson this offseason. The former first-round pick has struggled to put it all together, and it isn’t likely he will make an impact this year considering he has only started 22 games the last four seasons.

That leaves the big question, who is going to start for the Eagles at cornerback this year? According to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via 97.5 The Fanatic), it will look like this:

"“Ultimately I think its Jalen Mills & Patrick Robinson on the outside & Ron Brooks in the nickel to start the year.”"

If that is the case, and it is likely the case unless Douglas beats Robinson out for the No. 2 spot, the Eagles are in trouble. Mills is not even close to a No. 1 cornerback, and there is the debate about him even being a legitimate No. 2. Robinson is an injury waiting to happen, and Carroll would have been better than him. Brooks isn’t terrible in the nickel spot, but he isn’t great either.

So what should the Eagles do? The big talk has been about them trading for a cornerback. It is a viable option, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter said (via 97.5 The Fanatic) that Philadelphia has to be in the market, but noted that it won’t be an easy deal to pull off. If the Eagles can somehow land a starting cornerback before the year kicks off, they need to pull the trigger.

However, it is unlikely that it will happen because it would have happened already. And getting a player that a team wants to get rid of or does get rid of before the final roster cuts are made doesn’t bode well for the Eagles. Unless the Eagles make a big splash fast, it could be another long year watching the Eagles cornerbacks.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Training camp edition

Schefter also said on 97.5 The Fanatic that the team’s “hope” was that the pass-rush would help out the lacking cornerbacks. Hope is the only thing the Eagles, and their fans should have right now when talking about their cornerbacks because they are already burned before they even face a wide receiver.