Jim Schwartz sees 'one of the better safety tandems in the NFL' Wholesale Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys

For the last few years, the Philadelphia Eagles were satisfied if their safeties weren’t a major liability.

Since the departure of Brian Dawkins in 2009, the Eagles have tried everything to field a pair of quality safeties. They signed free agents. They used five drafts picks, including two second-rounders. Every year, they found themselves shorthanded at the position.

That may be changing in 2016. The Eagles signed Malcolm Jenkins, who went to the Pro Bowl last year, to a new contract. When free agency opened, they signed former St. Louis Rams safety Rodney McLeod. The two contracts were worth a total of $70 million, with $38 million guaranteed.

“That was money well spent,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “Both of those guys are veteran players and you can see that right away. They're both multi-dimensional. They communicate very well. They can cover a lot of ground. They can blitz, they can play man, they can play zone.

“I'd be very surprised as the year went on if they're not one of the better safety tandems in the NFL. They've been very impressive so far.”

McLeod, who turns 26 next month, sees Jenkins, 28, as a veteran whose brain he can pick. Jenkins sees McLeod as a versatile partner who can help shore up the back end of the Eagles defense.

“From the tape, I knew he was a player who plays fast, who plays violent,” Jenkins said. “He plays bigger than he actually is. But now, playing next to him, I’m starting to see his smarts and his football IQ.”

Jenkins went to the Pro Bowl last season. Walter Thurmond the other starting safety, played pretty well. But the Eagles’ pass defense was 28th in the NFL in yards allowed and gave up the second-most touchdown passes.

In Schwartz’s system, the defensive linemen are dispatched to disrupt plays and pressure quarterbacks. That leaves the linebackers and safeties to “clean up” after them, as Jenkins put it.

McLeod and Jenkins both feel comfortable playing slot cornerback, something that Schwartz prizes in his safeties. They have to be able to run with what Schwartz called “multi-dimensional tight ends.” cheap NFL Jerseys

“If you have a safety that's not comfortable playing out there like a corner, you're going to be in trouble,” Schwartz said. “So it's probably just an eye toward getting ready for those situations. They detach a tight end, put him on the back side. There are a lot of teams that do that. They're a big body. They can throw a fade and do a lot of different things that way. Our safeties have to be comfortable executing that. Both of our safeties and a lot of our safeties, let's put it that way, have corner in the background. That's for a reason.” Wholesale NFL Jerseys

Neither Schwartz nor the players know for sure at this point how they will line up. Schwartz said it would take training camp to figure out whether to play them as left and right safeties or line them up in more traditional strong/free safety roles. He could also change up, looking to keep opposing quarterbacks uncertain.

Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys Safeties are often lined up to take advantage of their strengths, but also to camouflage weaknesses. Schwartz may be the Eagles’ first defensive coordinator since Jim Johnson not to have to worry so much about the latter.

The Eagles traditionally had strong safety tandems: Randy Logan and Brenard Wilson in the 1970s, Wes Hopkins and Andre Waters in the ’80s, Dawkins and Mike Zordich in the ’90s and then Dawkins and Michael Lewis in the 2000s. Since then, there has been a series of guys, including Macho Harris, Nate Allen and Earl Wolff.

Safety has been a problem. Now it can be a strength.

“Obvously, (Seattle’s) Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor stick out to me,” McLeod said. “Great tandem there. But we can’t focus on that. We just focus on what we’re going right now, building our relationship, and from there, the sky’s the limit.”