Among the many reasons for Chip Kelly's release was a series of personnel changes that backfired -- but were all of his roster tweaks the wrong decisions? We look back on Kelly's construction of the Eagles and reflect on whether each move was good or bad.
The Eagles entered the offseason with a serious need at cornerback. They went into OTAs having added Byron Maxwell, Walter Thurmond and E.J. Biggers through free agency and Eric Rowe, JaCorey Shepherd and Randall Evans in the draft. Suddenly, the depth chart was getting crowded.
Meanwhile, Brandon Boykin had been there all along, serving as the club’s nickel corner for three seasons. However, at 5-foot-10, Chip Kelly felt Boykin lacked the prototypical size to start on the outside, and while the 25-year-old never said anything negative, it was no secret he was unhappy about being overlooked.
Boykin would become a free agent at season’s end, and there was no way he would re-sign with the Eagles under Kelly’s watch. So with a sudden influx of talent at cornerback and the offer of a conditional fifth-round draft pick, Boykin was shipped off to the Pittsburgh Steelers right as training camp was opening.
It turned out safety Malcolm Jenkins spent much of the season covering slot receivers, and now Kelly is gone. So in retrospect, was it really wise to part ways with Boykin?
Evaluating Boykin
The pick could have become a fourth had Boykin played at least 60 percent of the snaps, not a wholly unreasonable proposition even just in sub packages. Yet interestingly enough, he had trouble getting on to the field at all up until very recently.
Through Week 12, Boykin had played just 23 defensive snaps all season. Obviously, a count that extreme had nothing to do with the terms of the trade. Maybe it was a result of arriving late and not yet having a full grasp of the scheme. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin chalked it up to Antwan Blake being a better tackler.
NFL
Whatever the case, Tomlin’s tune has changed. Over the last five games, Boykin has played 71 percent of the defensive snaps, racking up 18 tackles, four pass breakups, an interception and a forced fumble. He’s proving what those of us who follow the Eagles already know — there aren’t many better nickel cornerbacks in the NFL, if any at all.
Tough spot
Whether Kelly would admit it or not, when Boykin was traded, the Eagles were counting on a major contribution from Shepherd, a sixth-round pick. It wasn’t as much of a gamble as it might sound, either. Shepherd would’ve gone higher in the draft, but ran a slow 40 due to a partially torn hamstring. Plus, Boykin came in and won the nickel job as a rookie.
That plan went awry quickly when Shepherd suffered a torn ACL at practice. Still, the Eagles felt they were fine. Biggers had experience in the slot, as did Jenkins and Thurmond, the latter of whom was making the transition to safety. The defense could get by.
The end result most commonly was Jenkins covering the slot receiver, and either Chris Maragos or Ed Reynolds entering the game at safety. Those two mostly held their own, but relying on a career special teamer and a first-year player back there was less than ideal.
Ultimately, none of that seemed to be at the heart of what went wrong with the Eagles' pass defense that allowed 36 touchdowns. But it certainly didn’t make things any easier, either.
Potential win-win?
Losing Boykin for 2015 probably wasn’t a complete disaster. After all, he was on the field for less than 50 percent of the defensive plays the previous two seasons anyway.
If Kelly and Boykin were both still members of the Eagles today, Boykin was as good as gone anyway. Given the apparent depth at corner at the time, a deal made sense.
And now that Kelly is gone, does that potentially pave the way for Boykin’s return in free agency? Granted, it’s extremely unlikely. Aside from the possibility that he may harbor hard feelings toward the organization, Maxwell and Rowe are locked into the outside jobs, while Shepherd should still be in the mix in the slot. The Eagles do not look like a good landing spot, particularly for a corner who would like to compete for a starting job.
Still, if the Eagles got a draft pick for Boykin and then somehow re-signed him, it would be hard to argue this didn’t work out well. Well, except maybe for '15.
Conclusion
In 2013, Boykin finished tied for second in the NFL with six interceptions. All six came in victories, including a game-winning interception to clinch an NFC East championship over the Dallas Cowboys. To call him a fan favorite would be a bit of an understatement.
You could make the case he deserved a shot to play on the outside in '14 as well amid the struggles of Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher. Kelly’s reluctance to give Boykin a shot over size should not go ignored.
Yet Boykin went to a completely different team where not only is he still just a nickel corner, he also wasn’t even that until the other guy lost the job. Not sure how many teams out there are going to view him as a starter.
As long as he was with the Eagles, he wasn’t going to be more than a role player. That's not somebody who's costing the team a lot of games, so recouping the pick they invested in him in 2012 probably wasn’t a bad thing.
Previously: The Bradford trade, The LeSean-Kiko swap, Signing Murray, Signing Maxwell