When the 2019 season approached, most fans and analysts felt that the Eagles had some solid players and depth at the cornerback position. All six corners (Jalen Mills, Ronald Darby, Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones, Avonte Maddox, Cre'Von LeBlanc) had plenty of experience and potential that there would be some comfortability there.
Instead, the Eagles are approaching the 2020 offseason with a lot of uncertainty at the position. All six didn't really show too much on the field to have full confidence in them for the next seasons, and two (Mills and Darby) are set to become free agents in March. That means that as it stands now the Eagles don't have a true #1 cornerback on the roster. Howie Roseman is rumored to be planning on fixing that.
With important personnel from every team down in Mobile, Alabama for Senior Week, there is usually some information that becomes discussed and gets leaked. Some of it comes true, while other leaks end up being just rumors. According to profootballnetwork.com, the Eagles plan on addressing their hole at cornerback via free agency:
"Word here in Mobile is that the Philadelphia Eagles will go hard after a cornerback in free agency. Chris Harris and Byron Jones are two of the names being thrown around, but I expect the Eagles to turn over every rock in free agency in an attempt to fill the position."
The team being interested Harris isn't new, as the Eagles have been linked to him since at least 2018. There might be a few issue with coming to an agreement with Harris though. First, he is already on the wrong side of 30, and there's no telling when his play will start to decline. The other issue is how much money he is demanding. before the start of 2019, he was demanding $15 Million/year or else he wanted to be released from he Broncos. Denver eventually restricted his contract and increased his 2019 income from $8.9 Million to $12 Million. With him being one-year older, it's unclear if he is still demanding $15 Million/year for his next contract. The Eagles are set to have $43 Million in cap space for 2020, so fitting him this upcoming season wouldn't be the issue, but a long-term, big-money deal to an older guy like Harris doesn't really seem like Roseman's MO.
Byron Jones would be the more interesting possibility of the two cornerbacks mentioned. Adding the 27-year-old would benefit the Eagles in two ways -- acquiring a young talented corner while also luring him away from their most-hated rival. If he does end up hitting free agency, Jones will likely become the hottest commodity among all of the available cornerbacks. That means that there will be a bidding war for his services.
The team can afford to bring in at least one big contract this offseason, so why not go all out to try to fill one of the biggest holes on a team that still has deep playoff run aspirations? Roseman can not let past cornerback free agent mistakes like Nnamdi Asomugha, Byron Maxwell, Bradley Fletcher, Cary Williams, and Leodis McKelvin scare him away from making additions to the position in March.
Back when Jones was a college prospect, the Eagles showed extreme interest in him. They had a scout at his Pro Day, they brought him in for a private workout and they brought him in as one of the team's 30 official Pre-Draft Visits. All of that happened in 2015 though when Chip Kelly had full control of the team, so it is unclear if Roseman had interest in Jones at the time.
There is still plenty of time left before free agency for different events and plans to unfold, but right now Eagles fans might have to start gearing up for the team trying to haul in a big fish in March to help sure-up Jim Schwartz's defense.
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