National Football League

Eagles take methodical approach to fixing secondary

Published Apr. 14, 2022 9:29 p.m. ET

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Fans at "The Linc" will be missing out on a few familiar faces in the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary next season.

Rodney McLeod, who has started 42 games in green and white at safety over the last three seasons, announced via Instagram on Sunday that he would not be returning to the City of Brotherly Love in 2022, and journeyman cornerback Steven Nelson opted to join the Houston Texans in free agency for an improved deal. 

The Eagles haven't made any significant moves to shore up their secondary despite these glaring absences, instead patiently waiting for the NFL Draft and taking a more deliberate approach to free agency. 

"We have almost half a year until we play a meaningful game," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said. "We look at it as there's so many tools to improving the team. And every day that's the goal. I expect Howie [Roseman], Nick [Sirianni] and everybody to address every area of concern between now and September, and that's exactly what they're doing."

Philadelphia's drawn-out approach is best demonstrated by their pursuit of Tyrann Mathieu. The four-time All-Pro cornerback was not offered a new contract by the Kansas City Chiefs earlier in April, and the Eagles have reportedly been in contact with the Super Bowl champion for several weeks, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. 

However, with just $15.6 million in cap space remaining, Philadelphia's ownership has not been aggressive in hashing out a deal with Mathieu.

The Eagles' tortoise-pace this offseason relates to their upcoming bounty in the NFL Draft. Philadelphia will stroll into Sin City with two first-round picks, five of the first 101 selections and 10 overall opportunities for the upcoming draft.

Cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. has been heavily linked with the Eagles throughout the 2022 draft cycle, and the LSU product's lanky frame and "my ball" mentality project nicely into defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon's system. Cincinnati safety Bryan Cook and Clemson corner Andrew Booth Jr. have also been linked with the Eagles this draft cycle, and Lurie attributed Philly's string draft class to the team's relaxed offseason attitude. 

"When you have the amount of high picks we have, we don’t want to block these players from playing," Lurie said. "[We have] the opportunity to draft guys and to play early in a contract, which we think is an important part of the team-building process we’re in."

Philadelphia has also looked internally to solve its secondary deficiencies, and the franchise has praised its young crop of defensive backs. Zech McPhearson, Tay Gowan and Kary Vincent Jr. form the Eagles' young core at cornerback, with McPhearson an early favorite to start at CB2 across from Darius Slay. 

"I think we have a lot of good young corners that showed us a lot in practice but didn’t get the time to go on the field last year to play," Sirianni said at the NFL's spring meetings. "All those different guys that are young first-year players."

With a top-10 defense last season in yards per game and one key defensive signing this offseason in edge rusher Haason Reddick, a properly rebuilt secondary could help the Eagles become of one the NFL's elite defenses in 2022. 

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Philadelphia Eagles

Tyrann Mathieu

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Rodney McLeod Jr.

Steven Nelson