Eagles May Need Rookie To Step Up In Minnesota

PHILADELPHIA – There should be a better barometer on whether or not Eagles’ star cornerback Quinyon Mitchell has a chance to play at Minnesota this weekend when the first practice report of the week is released Wednesday afternoon. 

The emerging second-year star player was forced to leave last Thursday’s 34-17 loss to the New York Giants after just 13 defensive reps with a hamstring injury.

Although a mini-bye should help a little with Mitchell, typically, 10 days isn’t going to be enough time to press the issue as a thoroughbred position where running is a key job descriptor.

Pushing things against a talented Vikings WR group of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor, and Adam Thielen, with an injury prone to aggravation, is a penny-wise, dollar-foolish approach with plenty of football left to be played this season for the Eagles, who remain in first place in the NFC East at 4-2 despite two consecutive losses.

Complicating matters is that right before Mitchell left against the Giants, struggling third-year CB Kelee Ringo was pulled for veteran Adoree’ Jackson, and ultimately both had to play, and struggled against the Giants’ much less imposing WR corps.

The easiest path for Vic Fangio to go against the Vikings without Mitchell is to keep the status quo of Jackson and Ringo outside, with Cooper DeJean remaining in the slot. The veteran defensive coordinator could also use DeJean outside opposite Jackson if he feels comfortable with either veteran Parry Nickerson handling the slot work or rookie fifth-round pick Mac McWilliams stepping up inside.

McWilliams was a healthy scratch over the last two games after being up as a reserve for the first four games, playing in three of those on special teams. To date, the Central Florida product has not taken a defensive snap.

If Mitchell is down on Sunday, McWilliams will almost surely be up, so Eagles On SI asked Fangio where the rookie is in his development on Tuesday.

“Potentially, [he] could get involved,” the veteran DC said of McWilliams. “We’ve been trying to focus him at one point on learning the nickel spot to be the backup nickel. Then we shifted our focus to try and get him to learn corner and be a viable option if we had issues out there. 

“So he’s kind of been going back and forth.”

At 5-foot-10 and 191 pounds, McWilliams’ body type is better-suited for slot work at the pro level but most of his experience at UCF and Alabama Birmingham came outside, so there is less of a learning curve there for McWilliams.

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