On Roob’s Eagles notes: Can Avonte Maddox really play safety?

On Roob’s Eagles notes: Can Avonte Maddox really play safety? originally appeared in NBC Sports Philadelphia

Why I’m concerned about Avonte Maddox playing safety, an unprecedented achievement for DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown in 2024, and the only player to score a touchdown in his only game as an Eagle.

We may be entering the only dead period on the NFL calendar — mid-June through the end of July — but when it comes to Roob’s 10 Random Eagles offseason observations, there are no dead periods.

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1. There has been a lot of talk about Avonte Maddox working on security during OTAs, and while it makes sense in some ways — the Eagles have a surplus of corners and not enough safeties and Cooper DeJean appears to be headed for the starting job — I have my doubts. I like Maddox. I really admire the way he plays. He’s a tough, hard-nosed physical defender, and there’s no doubt he has the skills to play safety. At least for a while. I just don’t see how a guy who is already injury prone at corner and would be one of the shortest safeties in NFL history is going to hold up if he has to play significant snaps at safety. Maddox is listed at 5-9, 184, and according to Stathead, there have only been three other safeties in the last 50 years who are between 5-9 and 184 or less (Terry Cousin of the Giants in 2004, Shaun Jolly of the Rams in 2022, Ar’Darius Washington in 2022 and 2023), and none have played more than a few games there. Remember, Maddox has already missed 28 games over the last four years and 35 in six NFL seasons. I like Maddox and his game, but I think it would be a mistake to count on him as a safety when he can’t stay on the field playing corners. At some point, Sydney Brown will be back, and I think he’ll have a chance to be a player, and Mekhi Garner could be at safety as well. If the Eagles keep Maddox as a backup, emergency safety and key special teamer, this could work. I’m just afraid that the more security they ask you to play, the greater the risk of losing it again.

two. Interesting that as Jalen Hurts’ rushing numbers have dropped – 6.7 yards per carry in 2021 to 5.4 in 2022 and 4.2 last year (with kneels removed), his rushing first downs have increased – 56 in 2021 to 67 in 2022 to 68 last year (and only 17 of them were pushes). So he didn’t have long stretches to increase his average last year, but he was surprisingly productive when he took off. Despite rating 35^th in the NFL last year with 157 rushing attempts, Hurts had the 2^{It is}-highest number of quick first downs, behind only Christian McCaffrey’s 83. His 68 fast first downs are 2^{It is}– the most ever by a quarterback – three fewer than Lamar Jackson’s 71 in 2019. No one else in NFL history has had as many as 68 first downs on fewer than 160 rushing attempts. If you remove his kneels, he converted 46% of his runs into first downs, and that’s 2nd^{It is}-the highest rate on record, behind Josh Allen’s 51% last year. The eye test said Hurts wasn’t as effective when he ran last year as 2021 and 2022, and there were a lot of RPOs and goaltenders who had disastrous results, which was more a product of poor play calling and offensive concepts than anything. what Hurts was doing. In the right offense and with a creative and innovative player with the ability to keep defenses off balance, there is no doubt that Hurts’ running ability can continue to be an important weapon.

3. DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown have a real chance to add their names to the list of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history when they are done. I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but if they each reach 1,000 yards in 2024, they will be just the sixth duo in NFL history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons together and the first to do so before any one. turns 28 years old. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have done it the past three years and have a chance in 2024 to become the first duo to record four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Cris Carter and Jake Reed each had 1,000 yards with the Vikings from 1995 to 1997, as well as Carter and Randy Moss from 1998 to 2020, Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce from 2000 to 2002 with the Rams, and Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas from 2014 to 2016 with the Broncos. Smith and Brown are the only Eagles duo with 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.

4. I think we should talk about Bobby Thomason’s 1956 season as Eagles quarterback. Good old Bobby threw four touchdowns and 21 interceptions and remains the only NFL quarterback in the last 70 years to throw just four TD passes in a season and at least 20 interceptions. His passer rating of 40.7 is an 8^th-worst in NFL history (minimum 10 games). Two of Thomason’s TD passes (and two INTs) came in the Week 3 win over the Steelers at Forbes Field. The rest of the season he threw two TDs and 15 INTs. He had one six-INT game against the Cards and five games in which he completed five or fewer passes. The offense averaged 11.3 points per game and scored 10 or fewer points six times. The Eagles went 3-8-1 (after a 2-1 start) under coach Hugh Devore and finished last in their division for the first time since 1942. Here’s the kicker: Thomason made the Pro Bowl that year. I think all 11 other NFL quarterbacks were injured.

5. Only six players in NFL history drafted in the fifth round or later have had 90 career sacks. Two of the six were selected by the Eagles in the draft. Clyde Simmons, a 9^thround pick in 1986, had 121 ½, which is 61 more than any other 9^thround pick. And Trent Cole, a 5^th– round choice in 2005, there were 90 ½, which is 4^th-never again for a 5^thround pick. The other draftees in the fifth round or later with 90 sacks are Hall of Famer Kevin Greene, a 5^thround pick in 1985 (160); Hall of Famer and former Eagle Richard Dent, an 8^thround pick in 1983 (137 ½); Robert Mathis, a 5^thpick of the round in 2003 (123.0); and Dexter Manley, a 5^thround pick in 1981 (97 ½).

6. If the Eagles signed TO today, he would be their third^third-best receiver.

7A. There is only one player in Eagles history who played just one game in an Eagles uniform and scored a touchdown. That’s running back Terrell Watson. The Eagles signed Watson to the practice squad on December 20, 2016. They were his fourth team after brief stints with the Bengals, Browns and Broncos. They signed him to the 53-man roster on December 30, and on New Year’s Day, with the Eagles’ playoff hopes already lost, Watson was active on game day at the Linc for a game that made no sense for both players. teams. He finished the game with 28 rushing yards on nine carries, but with the Eagles winning 20-13 and 1^st-and goal at the Dallas 7 with 1:39 left in the game, Doug Pederson called three straight runs up the middle for Watson, who gained six yards in the first two and then scored from one yard out in the third. The Eagles released Watson the following May and he spent a few years with the Steelers, Giants and Chargers. But he never scored another touchdown. And to this day it remains the answer to an excellent Eagles trivia question.

7B. Only one NFL player who has played in a career game has scored two touchdowns. That was Wes Hills, a running back from South Jersey. Hills played high school ball at Wildwood Catholic — he rushed for 35 touchdowns as a senior in 2012 — and then played at Delaware and Slippery Rock. He went undrafted in 2018, but spent most of 2019 on the Lions’ practice squad. He was activated for a late-year game against the Bucs at Ford Field and in the 38-17 loss scored two 2s^{It is}-half a one-yard touchdown each. He returned to the practice squad and never played another NFL game. Hills has since played in the CFL and USFL. He remains the only player in history to play in a game and score multiple TDs.

8. Rush success rate is a metric that measures the percentage of rushes a running back gains for a certain predetermined number of yards in specific situations. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good barometer of back efficiency. A successful run is considered one that gains 40% of the yards needed for a first down on first down, 60% of the yards needed for a first down on second down, and 100% of the yards needed on third or fourth down. Stathead goes back to 1994 in rushing success rate, and during that 30-year period, 200 running backs had at least 500 total rushes. Saquon Barkley’s rushing success rate of 42.5 ranks 182^{It is} of these 200 backs. The biggest Eagle during that span is Barkley’s college teammate, Miles Sanders, who had a 53.9 success rate in his four seasons with the Eagles. His 51.8, including last year with the Panthers, ranks 10th^th of those 200 backs with at least 500 carries.

9. Pass rush is an area where the Eagles could be very good in 2024 or they could struggle again, and I don’t think anyone has any idea how that will play out. Josh Sweat was a Pro Bowler in 2021 and had a career-high 11 sacks in 2023. Bryce Huff is coming off a breakthrough 10-sack season in 2023 with the Jets. Nolan Smith was a 1^stround pick for a reason last year. Brandon Graham can still give the Eagles a few dozen quality snaps per game. Then there is the other side. Sweat didn’t have a sack the last two months of the season. Huff had just 7 ½ sacks — albeit in limited playing time — in his first three seasons. BG is 36 years old. Smith wasn’t a factor as a rookie. It will be fascinating to see how this group full of question marks produces Vic Fangio’s scheme.

10. Devon Allen’s dream of returning from knee surgery in January to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team is over. Allen, who spent the past two seasons with the Eagles, underwent surgery Jan. 5 in Scottsdale to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that he suffered in practice two weeks earlier at the NovaCare Complex. Allen is 3^third-Fastest runner in world history with 12.84 at the New York Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium in Manhattan on June 12, 2022. He placed 5th^th in the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and 4^th at the 2021 Games in Tokyo. The registration deadline for next week’s U.S. Olympic Trials was 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and Allen’s name never appeared on the entry list or the list of accepted athletes. Allen qualified because the qualifying window opened on July 1, 2023, and Allen ran one race after that – 13.51 in the US Championship qualifying round in Eugene, Oregon, on July 8 at his college track – the last time you ran. The cutoff for the field of 36 was 13.74, so Allen would have qualified if he had entered. Allen ranked 6th^th in the world in 2023 with 13.04 in New York in June. The trials begin at Hayward Field in Eugene on Friday, with the first round of 110-meter hurdles scheduled for Saturday. This was less than six months after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Allen, who is currently an NFL free agent, could be healthy in time to hit the ground running in Europe, where Diamond League meets continue through September. Allen turns 30 in December and would be 34 when the 2028 Olympics take place in Los Angeles. But there will be a World Championship in 2025 in Tokyo, and that is a realistic goal.