This offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles made numerous moves to try and repeat as defending Super Bowl champions.
Along those same lines, they have been thinking about moving their one of their starting cornerbacks from last season. According to Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation, the Eagles have weighed the idea of trading cornerback Ronald Darby this offseason.
This news should not come as a surprise due to the abundance of talent the Eagles have acquired over the last two years at cornerback.
Last year around this time, the Eagles acquired Darby in a trade from the Buffalo Bills for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third-round pick in this past year’s NFL Draft. Then a couple of months prior to the trade, the Eagles selected cornerbacks Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas in the 2017 NFL draft.
The move to bring aboard the third-year cornerback paid off immediately as the Eagles had a solid combination of outside cornerbacks in Darby and Jalen Mills.
Last season, Darby played in eight games (started in seven games) for the Eagles, after missing the first half of the year with an ankle injury.
In the games he did play in, the former Florida State product racked up 34 total tackles, nine pass deflections, and three interceptions. He also played 37 percent of defensive snaps, good for seventh in the Eagles’ secondary.
Heading into this season, Darby is in the final year of his rookie contract.
With that being known, the Eagles might not be able to re-sign him due to their 2019 cap situation and the aforementioned talent in the secondary.
Back in March, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen mentioned on Philadelphia’s 97.5 The Fanatic how the Eagles could move one of their starting cornerbacks.
“I’ll be surprised if the Eagles don’t have a third round pick, at least. Listen, we know they’re heavy in defensive backs, said Mortensen (h/t Bleeding Green Nation). “With Sidney Jones coming back, that pick’s going to end up paying off big time. And I think one of those defensive backs could be moved for a third-round pick, possibly.”
If the Eagles do decide to move on from Darby, there could be a potential suitor for them.
Omar Kelly of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported on Monday that the Miami Dolphins are aggressively and actively shopping for a starting cornerback.
Kelly also added that the Dolphins don’t like what they have seen from everyone not named Xavien Howard and Bobby McCain.
If the Dolphins want the services of Darby, it would most likely cost them a first or second round pick. This is based on his age and talent level of the other cornerbacks on Miami’s roster.
Then it would be left up to the Dolphins to try and re-sign Darby to a new contract.
Nevertheless, I do not think the Eagles will move Darby because even though they have a loaded secondary, there is still a lot of youth and inexperience. While second-year cornerback Sidney Jones has looked good this summer, we still do not know if he can be a full-time starter.
But all of these questions will be answered over the course of the 2018 regular season.
