The Philadelphia Eagles are currently retooling their roster in order to get the most competitive product they can produce on the gridiron. This means identifying their needs and filling them with players who will be productive, which seems easy enough. One area of need for the team will be cornerback. The Eagles are about to trade away 2015 free agent acquisition Byron Maxwell, have two free agents in Nolan Carroll and E.J. Biggers and a sophomore in Eric Rowe.
The Eagles were in need of cornerback help and took their time to find one that works in their system. The team will be dealing with a new head coach, new pieces to this offense and a brand new plan for what it is they hope to accomplish. Carroll was the best corner the Eagles had, but injuries took him out of the equation rather early in the season.
Philadelphia will be essentially rebuilding this secondary from scratch - and Leodis McKelvin, who they just signed, could jump-start this newly formed unit. The Eagles picked up the fairly-priced cornerback, formerly of the Buffalo Bills, from free agency.
McKelvin only had 5 starts during the 2015 NFL season, and at 30 years old, is hardly a spring chicken. He recorded a combined 32 tackles, 9 pass defenses and 2 interceptions throughout the season and is a highly productive cornerback when on the field. Apparently, his deal will be a two-year contract only worth just north of $6 million. McKelvin suffered a badly broken ankle towards the end of 2014, which forced him to miss 7 more games during the 2015 season. He finished out the season without re-aggravating his injury and should be good to go for the 2016 regular season.
McKelvin should only be on the field for the smaller defensive packages, however, considering the Eagles new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who ran the Bills' defense in 2014 will be his coach once again, McKelvin could find a place in this defensive scheme. Philadelphia has been looking to clean up this roster after Chip Kelly blew it up. Now the Eagles will likely trade away most of the players Kelly acquired to build some semblance of a team.
