Everyone assumes the only obstacle keeping Eagles cornerback Brandon Boykin from starting on the outside is his size.
Chip Kelly prefers tall, lengthy, man-press corners on the perimeters of his defense, and the 5-foot-9 Boykin doesn’t fit that mold.
Even Boykin believes he’s been typecast for the slot.
“Here they have certain requirements,” Boykin said Tuesday. “Be honest. Call it what it is. Maybe they want a taller guy to be outside, and that's what their preference is, just to start the standard.”
Turns out, we’re all wrong. Even Boykin.
If you’re buying what defensive coordinator Bill Davis sold Wednesday, the reason Boykin hasn’t earned a starting job on the outside has nothing to do with the fourth-year corner’s size.
“None whatsoever,” Davis said. “None whatsoever. If you’re good enough, you're big enough. If you're good enough, you're fast enough. Do we look for and bring in taller corners? Yeah. But it doesn't mean Boykin is at a disadvantage. It really doesn't.
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“He's outstanding. I love Boykin, he's one of my favorite guys. He does a great job in the nickel, he's competing out there at corner. He's had a great offseason. And the best man will win out there and if Boyk's the best man, he's got it.”
Right now, the Eagles are going with Nolan Carroll in the cornerback spot opposite Byron Maxwell. Carroll enters his second season after spending most of his first with the team as a dime package linebacker.
The Eagles also drafted hybrid defensive back Eric Rowe in the second round and they’re starting him off at corner, and picked two more corners — JaCorey Shepherd and Randall Evans — in the sixth round, giving Davis plenty of competition.
Throughout the OTAs, Boykin has manned his customary positions as slot corner on first-team nickel and outside corner on the second team while Carroll has been given the first crack with the first team.
“Nolan's understanding has taken a huge step, it really has, from when he first came in,” Davis said. “We practice different, we work out different, and as you find that out your first year, your second year he knows what's coming, he knows how we're doing it. And to see Nolan, he's really stepped up his game and going after it.”
Boykin has manned the slot since Andy Reid picked him in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. One hurdle in his path to the outside is that he’s the team’s best nickelback, an important job in this pass-first NFL era where teams spend good money on slot wideouts and flex tight ends.
But while he’s looking for more opportunity, Boykin has actually been given less. Kelly and Davis prefer to stay in base and are building a defense with flexible safeties that can cover the slot so the team doesn’t have to lean so heavily on its nickel packages.
The Eagles made safety Malcolm Jenkins, a converted corner, their top free-agent priority last season, and this year moved newcomer Walter Thurmond from corner to safety for more versatility at that position.
Like Boykin, Thurmond has specialized in the slot during his pro career and can come down into the slot when the Eagles stay in base against three-wide formations.
So even after Boykin tied for second in the NFL with six interceptions in 2013, he’s played only 47 percent of the defensive snaps since Kelly became head coach.
But despite Davis’ high praise for Carroll, he insisted that the starting job is up for grabs and that Boykin has a legitimate opportunity to seize it.
“It's all open competition,” he said. “Nolan's having a great camp, Boykin's doing well, there's a lot of young guys that are getting up to speed. We're really excited about the competition in the secondary at all spots.”