Philadelphia Eagles: Why Ronald Darby trade was a no-brainer

The Philadelphia Eagles trade of wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third round pick for cornerback Ronald Darby was a no-brainer.

If you have any football intelligence, you knew that the Philadelphia Eagles were already burned at cornerback before the 2017 NFL season kicked off. You could make an argument that the Eagles may have the worst starting cornerbacks in the NFL. Or at least they did until the Eagles decided to make a big trade. Philly sent wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third-round pick to the Buffalo Bills in return for third-year cornerback Ronald Darby.

Matthews was the Eagles best receiver over the last couple of seasons, but that was not saying much considering the poor play they had at the position. The Eagles signed Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith this offseason while also drafting Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson in the draft. Philly also drafted running back Donnel Pumphrey, and they have been using the NCAA’s all-time rushing yardage leader in the slot during training camp.

Along with those five new pass catchers, the Eagles have two talented tight ends, Zach Ertz and Trey Burton, who they can line up in the slot as well. They also have former first round pick Nelson Agholor playing in the slot to try and save his career, so it seems Philadelphia felt that they needed a cornerback more than another slot receiver on their roster, and they were right.

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Add in the fact that Matthews will become a free agent after the 2017 season and you can start to see why the Eagles moved on from their former second round pick.

Obviously, the loss of Matthews will hurt a little considering his consistency. However, the addition of Darby will heal that pain quickly. Had the Eagles not added Darby, it would have been another tough year for the Eagles defense. With no disrespect to the cornerbacks that were penciled in to start for the Eagles in 2017, Darby is easily better than all of them. He will plug in right away as the Eagles No. 1 cornerback and give them some much-needed help at the position.

And then when you think about the fact that the Eagles drafted the best cornerback in the 2017 NFL Draft, Sidney Jones, you start to get excited about their secondary. Sadly, Jones probably won’t touch the field this year because of his pre-draft injury, but once he is back in 2018, the combination of Darby and Jones on paper is phenomenal.

Just sticking strictly to the 2017 season, the addition of Darby will help the Eagles win more football games than having Matthews. The Eagles have a ton of pass catchers and no legitimate starting cornerbacks, so they had to pull the trigger. Losing a third-round pick may hurt some peoples feelings, but in the grand scheme of things; realistically the deal was just a third round pick for Darby.

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2017 was Matthews’ last year in the City of Brotherly Love, and it was evident he was not part of their future. So, if you put that thinking in mind, would you rather have a 2018 third round pick or Darby? It is pretty obvious which one you would pick, making this trade a no-brainer for the Eagles.