Vic Fangio: Quinyon Mitchell slot experiment may help get ‘best combination’ of Eagles CBs on the field

Quinyon Mitchell sat stranded on the Walt Whitman Bridge with an empty tank of gas and dialed a teammate he knew would be willing to help.

The Eagles’ first-round rookie had been asking a receptive Avonte Maddox a barrage of questions the last few weeks as he embarks on learning the intricacies of playing nickel cornerback in the NFL. Why not ask him for a ride, too?

“His car ran out of gas going across the bridge,” Maddox said. “He called me, I stopped to pick him up. … Whenever he needs me.”

Maddox found Mitchell, the nickel cornerback currently ahead of him on the depth chart, and sat with him until an Eagles staffer fetched some gas to rescue the prodigious defensive back so he could finish his commute and arrive at the NovaCare Complex just in time for morning meetings.

Fuel mismanagement aside, Mitchell’s summer thus far has been devoid of many mistakes. The former Toledo standout has had several bright moments in his first training camp, even while learning both the nickel cornerback position and the more familiar outside corner spot in new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s system. Mitchell had a near-interception in the Eagles’ 16-13 preseason-opening win over the Baltimore Ravens on Friday, operating as the starting outside cornerback in the base defense but bumping inside to the slot when the Eagles used nickel packages.

“I thought he did well,” Fangio said Sunday. “He played both nickel and outside corner. He’s a good player and he’s going to be a good player, we just have to be careful not to overload his plate too much. Because nickel is a full-time position as well as corner, and he’s having to learn both right now. And they’re two drastically different positions. So we have to constantly monitor that to make sure he’s capable of doing that.”

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Mitchell was primarily used as an outside cornerback at Toledo and was viewed as such coming into the NFL, but the 23-year-old did spend some time inside during the Senior Bowl.

On Sunday, Fangio said it would be “ideal” to pare Mitchell’s responsibilities down to just one spot rather than having him split time between the two, but that may not be realistic. The top of the cornerback depth chart, featuring Darius Slay, Isaiah Rodgers, Kelee Ringo, and Mitchell, features four outside corners for two spots. The battle for the starting slot cornerback job primarily features Maddox and is far less crowded, especially with Mitchell’s fellow rookie Cooper DeJean being sidelined with a hamstring injury for the entirety of camp.

“It may not be practical, we may have to play him at nickel,” Fangio said. “Both from a need, and maybe just to get our best combination out there.”

Depending on whether Ringo or Rodgers finishes camp ahead on the depth chart, that best combination may very well result in Mitchell starting the regular season in a similar role to the one he had Friday against the Ravens: an outside cornerback in base who can move inside in sub packages.

Moving seamlessly between the two is easier said than done, though.

“It’s difficult,” Maddox said. “I can vouch for that because I’ve done it before and I’m doing it now. It’s definitely challenging because, outside corner, there isn’t a lot to learn, but I know inside the nickel spot there is. That’s him going in there, I guess, for his first time playing in there and playing in the NFL, it’s the big leagues. It’s definitely been challenging for him but, like I said, he’s got questions every single day, he’s been killing it.”

Fangio added, “Nickel, essentially, is really a linebacker position. … When you pare it down, he’s playing linebacker-type zones, he’s more involved in the run than a corner is, so it’s a drastically different position.”

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A fourth-round pick in 2018, Maddox has a unique understanding of Mitchell’s current assignment. The 28-year-old played safety, slot corner, and even outside cornerback in his first two seasons with the Eagles before settling in as the starting nickel the last few seasons. After getting released to start the offseason and eventually re-signing with the Eagles in April, Maddox has played both safety and slot cornerback this training camp as well.

That’s why Mitchell has been asking him questions “every 10 minutes maybe,” by Maddox’s estimation, something he said he has been happy to take on.

“He’s smart and he knows football,” Maddox said. “I just give him the concepts and what I’m looking at, what I’m seeing here and there depending on how they’re lining up. … He asks every day, and that’s encouraging to see because you know, when you’ve got questions, it means you care and you want to learn and you want to be out there. He’s definitely been doing a great job at nickel.”

The Eagles signed safety Caden Sterns on Sunday, bolstering the depth at a position that has been thinned by injuries midway through training camp.

Sterns, 24, was a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft who started his career with the Denver Broncos while Fangio was the team’s head coach. The former University of Texas standout played in 15 games as a rookie but has struggled with injuries the last few seasons. He was claimed by the Carolina Panthers last week after the Broncos waived him last Monday, but he was cut two days later because of a failed physical.

Sterns was at the NovaCare Complex on Sunday and watched practice from the sideline, but Fangio said he doesn’t expect him to participate right away.

“He was a good player,” Fangio said. “Moved well, had good instincts, good ball skills, had a good feel for the game. We’ll just need to see where he’s at physically, he’s only played five games in the last two years I believe. I don’t believe you’ll see him out here on the practice field at least for a week or so. We need to see where he is physically, how he’s moving around, and then we’ll go from there.”

The Eagles have a couple of safeties dealing with injuries of varying severity going into the second week of the preseason. Starting safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson is out with a shoulder injury that isn’t expected to sideline him for an extended period, while Sydney Brown works his way back from a torn ACL suffered last January. Rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean, who may also factor into the picture at safety because of his versatility to play across the secondary, has also been sidelined for the entirety of camp with a hamstring injury.

To make room for Sterns, the Eagles waived linebacker Shaquille Quarterman.