After shedding key members this offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ No. 1-ranked protection will look a lot completely different in 2025.
To date, CB Darius Slay (Steelers), LB Josh Sweat (Cardinals) and DT Milton Williams (Patriots) are departing through free company. Moreover, the Eagles on Tuesday traded polarizing security starter C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans.
The losses of Sweat and Williams are notable, however the departures of veteran starters Slay and Gardner-Johnson are main blows to the secondary. So count on even greater roles in 2025 for CBs Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell, who had excellent rookie seasons for the Eagles.
Throughout his five-year stint in Philly, Slay earned three Professional Bowl nods and helped lead the crew to 2 Tremendous Bowl berths.
Gardner-Johnson, who began all 20 video games for the Eagles in 2024, led the Eagles with six interceptions final season (third within the NFL).
On prime of being wonderful gamers, each Professional Bowl defensive backs had been vocal leaders of a vaunted protection that supplied mentorship when wanted.
“I feel anytime you will have a veteran who’s so clear about his struggles as an early participant, whether or not it is stuff on and off the sector, and he shares these experiences with younger guys, that’s so useful,” Eagles secondary coach Christian Parker said of Slay (per NBC Sports Philadelphia) throughout Tremendous Bowl media day.
“He actually embraces that position as a result of he had nice leaders when he was a younger participant in Detroit. And so he actually embraces the truth that he knew how impactful that was for him. So he tries to have the identical affect for these guys. He is an outstanding teammate.”
Final season, Slay was the one member of the secondary who was older than 30. Gardner-Johnson, 27, was the second-oldest defensive again on the roster.
Now, with Slay and Gardner-Johnson about to put on new uniforms, the Eagles are seemingly passing the torch to their proficient core of younger defensive backs — particularly, Defensive Rookie of the 12 months finalists Mitchell and DeJean.
DeJean performed simply eight defensive snaps previous to the crew’s Week 5 bye, then performed no less than two-thirds of the crew’s snaps in each recreation the remainder of the season. He completed the season permitting solely 329 receiving yards and nil touchdowns out of the slot, in keeping with Pro Football Focus, checking in ninth among the many 42 corners who performed no less than 100 slot snaps in yards allowed per protection snap. DeJean didn’t enable a landing into his protection all season on 606 protection snaps.
Mitchell was equally as spectacular whereas manning the surface throughout from Slay. The previous Toledo star completed the season permitting a goal solely as soon as each 8.3 protection snaps, per PFF, which ranked sixteenth out of 127 qualifying corners. His 9 move breakups ranked eleventh amongst that very same group of gamers. By Week 15, Mitchell didn’t enable a receiving landing.
After such spectacular rookie seasons, their former teammate expects them to face out in 2025 and past.
“They’re detailed. They concentrate. They pay attention. They be taught,” Slay said of Dejean and Mitchell.
In different phrases, it seems the Eagles are in good palms.
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