By Claudio Camarena
A big position that the Eagles need to improve this offseason is Defensive Back, especially CB. Ever since Doug Pederson became the Head Coach for the Eagles, the secondary has been really bad. Jalen Mills was the Cornerback #1 for the Eagles last year. He was solid but he wasn’t outstanding, another thing to mention is that he missed 7 out of 17 games due to an ankle injury, which is almost half of the season.
This CB group of the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft is really good. The top prospects like Jeff Okudah definitely won’t be there at pick 21, but luckily enough this class has very good depth too. One of the player that is often overlooked is Jeff Gladney from TCU.
Jeff Gladney is a great man-to-man Cornerback, which fits perfectly into the Eagles defensive scheme. He’s 6’0″ tall and he weighs 183 pounds. His weight could scare some teams but if he’s able to reach 190 pounds, that will not be a problem anymore. I’ve seen him a lot of people including me, compare him to Tre’Davious White, who was 2nd in DPOY votes. He is a Pass Breakup machine, in 12 games he finished with 15 PBU and 31 Tackles. Another thing to mention is that Gladney wasn’t targeted a lot, so 15 Pass Breakups is a lot.
In my opinion the Eagles should strongly consider taking Jeff Gladney with the 21st overall pick. The Eagles haven’t had a good secondary since Doug Pederson arrived in 2016 and they should fix that. Jeff would immediately become a starter for the Eagles which would be great for them, not to mention the fact that he fits perfectly in the scheme. I truly believe that if the Eagles decide to take him with their first round pick, he would make an immediate impact and turn the Eagles secondary from bad to good.
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