Receive or Defend: The March “Eagles Draft” Madness
Ahhh yes, March. Spring, daylight savings, the start of the new NFL league year, and brackets. Lots and lots of brackets!
Well, so we thought, with the recent COVID-19 [Corona Virus] outbreak the NCAA tournament has been canceled.
In honor of college basketball’s annual “March Madness” tournament, we decided to break out a bracket of our own.
Photo: PHLSportsNation
Using the brackets shown above we constructed a poll on the Eagles Nation twitter account. Based on fan voting the results determined our prospects for this edition of our “Receiver or Defend” column.
Two prospects known across the country for their playmaking abilities, hailing from two of the greatest SEC powerhouses. Both of these young men were featured as part of the Pro Football Focus All-SEC team and are widely expected to be selective within the first two rounds of the NFL Draft. Yet despite all of their collegiate accolades, the question remains can the Saturday stardom transform to Sunday success.
Player Profile
- Name: Trevon Diggs
- Class: Senior
- Position: Cornerback
- College: Alabama
Scouting Report
While Trevon Diggs has made a name for himself as the top cornerback on Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide defense. He initially burst on the scene known as a Maryland native and the younger brother of Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs. After playing both sides of the ball during his freshman campaign, Diggs officially switched to cornerback his sophomore year and even garnered one start. A broken foot ended Diggs’ season after six games during his junior year, but as a senior this past year he was able to maximize the opportunity at hand. Diggs spent most of his time on the outside. While there are the handful of times he tried his hand at the nickel, ideally, Diggs will be used traditionally on the perimeter.
It’s quite predictable when Diggs is in zone coverage as he rarely looks at the receiver. His eyes are glued to the quarterback looking for the next opportunity to make a play, however, this is more of a situation trait for Diggs. When defending short/intermediate routes Diggs’ ability to break on the ball when he has identified it is excellent. However, when defending the deep thirds his technique can put him out of position, forcing him to do a 360 adjustment when receivers gain outside leverage. Has decent speed and really good length that allows him to recover when beaten (unless you’re Jamar Chase). In man coverage, Diggs has a smooth hip transition and his background as a wide receiver shows up occasionally where he is able to run the route for the receiver.
While Diggs is comfortable in press coverage, the tape assumes he’s better suited for an off coverage role at this point. He tends to use his length and physicality to gain an advantage in press. However, Diggs has his occasions where receivers with an understanding of release concepts can create space off the line of scrimmage.
It would be nice to see more out of Diggs as a tackler. Didn’t really seem interested in looking for contact and anytime he engaged with an offensive player, Diggs seemed to rather forcing a fumble than wrapping up the ball carrier. Ball skills is one trait that Diggs certainly has in his arsenal, once again where his time a wide receiver takes over. When Diggs has identified the ball in the air, he and the ball have a date at the highest catch point. The problem with Diggs is consistently getting his head around to find the ball.
Fit
Diggs isn’t quite ready to be the number one cornerback in the NFL. It’s a good thing the Philadelphia Eagles have openings at both starting cornerback spots. Based on his strengths and measurables, Trevon Diggs projects to fit well with a team the prefers zone concepts over man. The Eagles put a lot of responsibilities on their cornerbacks in regards to them being in certain spots at a certain time in order for their concepts to come together on the back end. Diggs would be a far cry from Ronald Darby who seemed to struggle to pick up what the defense asked from him. Diggs is a player that was asked to play multiple roles and do a number of things on Saban’s hybrid defense, football IQ should be the least of his worries.
While ball track can be a concern, Diggs has shown the ability to conquer this flaw. At this point, it’s more about gaining a level of consistency than teaching the skill as a whole. That’s the good think about Diggs, a lot of his flaws are more about coaching up his techniques, instead of him completely lacking the abilities.
Once a team is able gets Diggs acclimated to the system and what is to be expected of him, we should see a player closer to his ceiling. New defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel has a history of helping the speed of the development of prospects with ideal traits and measurables but are raw in terms of technique *see Desmond Trufant*. With only a few years of experience at the cornerback position, you have to be impressed at where Diggs is at, knowing it only gets better from here.
Photo: —
Player Profile
- Name: Justin Jefferson
- Class: Junior
- Position: Wide Receiver
- School: LSU
Scouting Report
Another player from a football family tree. While Justin was a three-star recruit coming out of St. Rose, Louisiana, many might remember his older brother, former LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson. Despite not being a highly touted recruit coming out, Jefferson without a doubt made the most out his time being a Tiger.
After his emergence as a sophomore, in a year that saw him lead the team in receptions (54), yards (875), and touchdowns (6). Jefferson just about doubled his production in every category as a junior, finishing the year with 111 receptions, 1,540 yards, and 18 touchdowns. The major leap in production stemmed from LSU’s addition of Joe Brady to the coaching staff, which helped bring the Tiger offense out of the Stone Age. A far cry from the offensive “showcase” LSU put on in the 9-6 victory over Alabama a few years back.
The acquisition of Brady didn’t make Jefferson any better than he was however, it just allowed him to showcase the skill set he already had in a better scheme. Jefferson has always been a quality route runner, capable of creating separation with ease. He slows up and uses a crossover-like release at the top of his routes which makes defenders hesitant to commit to a direction.
To rephrase the words of the legendary R&B singer Sade, Jefferson is a smooth separator. Even with all of the talk about how Jefferson gets open, that’s not even the best aspect of his game. Jefferson has some of the best hands in this class. To put it in perspective in games against high-quality opponents [Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Clemson] he was targeted 49 times and came away with 39 receptions and only three drops.
A lot of Jefferson’s game is based on technique, he emphasizes timing between the throw and when to show his hands for the catch to give defenders limited time to adjust. Jefferson also has a great feel for how and when to adjust his body to make incredible receptions. I have concerns with how much he was aided by his primary slot alignment, in particular coming out of a spread offense predicated on spacing. Jefferson has to become a more crisp route runner in order to see consistent success at the NFL level. He sees a lot of success due to his footwork but timing will become more of a factor at the pro level.
There were questions about Jefferson’s long speed prior to the combine but his 4.43 output should ease any worries you may have about that.
Fit
Justin Jefferson is the ideal slot receiver in the NFL today. As we discussed he has to get better in terms of the precision of his route running, however the fact that in the football factory known as the SEC, Jefferson was able to produce big numbers in big-time games, against big-time competition. Jefferson would instantly come in and become the best friend Carson Wentz desperately needs.
While he isn’t quite a number one receiver, just think about all of the targets that went to Nelson Agholor and how they resulted. Inserting Jefferson into Agholor’s role would be a disparity, to say the least. Jefferson would also open things up for Miles Sanders, Zach Ertz, and Dallas Goedert. It may not be with the pure speed that everyone seems to desperately want, it would offer the offense another element in terms of creating a semblance of separation.
A late-day one/early day two candidate, Jefferson checks a bunch of the boxes for not just an athlete, but a Philly athlete. Jefferson is a tough receiver willing to go across the middle and snag a tough reception, even at the expense of a big hit. While he is just a competitor, he puts in the extra work to get the yards after the catch, he is willing to grind it out blocking in the run game *hello number 6 from Auburn*. Jefferson just wants to do anything to see the team win and is generally happy for team success, these are the kind of players that Howie Roseman and company need to target to put around Wentz. Jefferson should be considered if he is near the top of the board when the Eagles select at 21.
A great combine and great tape to match along with a legit resume have launched Jefferson up big boards as of late, whoever drafts this young man will get a fine football player from day one.
Featured Image: CBS Sports
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