Defensively, Eagles not cutting any corners

REPORTERS GOT one of their weekly looks at Eagles OTAs Tuesday, and just about every facet was scrutinized to an absurd degree, given that this is an NFL team trying to install a new offense and defense, in May, in short pants, without pads.

Among the breathless updates was that the starting corners seemed to be Leodis McKelvin and Ron Brooks, two newcomers who had played under new Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz in Buffalo in 2014. Seventh-round rookie Jalen Mills was added in first-team nickel packages, with Brooks moving inside.

Except, apparently, this was meaningless.

"If you come tomorrow, you'll see a completely different group," Schwartz said Tuesday, in his first public remarks since January. "We don't have a depth chart now; we're just trying to work different groups. You work different combinations. You want to see guys against different competition.

"Jalen had been going mostly against rookies, and we wanted to see him against some of the veteran wide receivers . . . You're trying to put guys in a lot of different situations and trying to sort of see what you have. They're honestly not even competing right now. They're competing against themselves, to try to improve their technique, to try to improve their understanding of the scheme, but the competition (for jobs) will start once we get to training camp - once we really get going with some contact and full-team drills and things like that."

Schwartz's statement could not have been better news for returning corner Nolan Carroll, who still is limited to individual drills as he recovers from the broken fibula he suffered at Detroit on Thanksgiving. Carroll won't be able to compete for a job until camp.

Carroll was a solid Eagles starter for the first 11 games of 2015, but at one point this spring he seemed likely to leave in free agency. Eric Rowe, a second-round rookie last season, had played well in his stead, then the Birds had signed McKelvin and Brooks in free agency. New coach, new d-coordinator, no real interest from the Eagles in the kind of multiyear deal Carroll was seeking, at age 29.

But the fibula injury also involved torn ligaments. Six months later, Carroll still isn't quite cleared for full-team work. You have to be really, really special to get a multiyear free-agent pact somewhere while you're injured, a prospective employer unfamiliar with the details of your treatment. Carroll - who went so far as to tweet a photo of himself sprinting on a treadmill, to illustrate his recovery - ended up returning to the Eagles on a one-year, $2.36 million contract, hoping for a free-agency do-over in 2017.

"After a while, I got tired of always explaining" the injury, Carroll said Tuesday.

Carroll said he doesn't think he's falling behind other prospective starters in a deeper corner group than the Eagles fielded a year ago.

"Not at all. I know what's going on. I do individual stuff, I'm in the meetings, I know what's happening," he said. "A little bit more man coverage (in Schwartz's system). Get up in your face, and just having trust in the safeties back there - don't give 'em anything easy inside, and just know that we want the ball to go up and over, knowing that we've got a safety back there who can overlap. It helps us out and gives us more confidence, to be more aggressive."

Schwartz talked about the importance of the safeties Tuesday, calling the contracts given this offseason to returning starter Malcolm Jenkins (four years, $35 million) and former Rams safety Rodney McLeod (five years, $35 million) "money well-spent." Intuitive safeties are important to Schwartz's scheme, which often relies on a Wide 9 front, with little blitzing.

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

Carroll said the deep safety lines up deeper in Schwartz's setup than in any scheme he has worked in before. More often in the NFL, "you don't really know if you have that security blanket back there or not," depending on the route.

Under Schwartz, Eagles corners will press, something Carroll has always considered his strength.

If Carroll starts this season, it most likely will be opposite McKelvin, with Byron Maxwell having been traded to Miami. If Rowe impresses Schwartz as much as he impressed former coordinator Bill Davis, Carroll could end up in the nickel spot. But for any role, he'll have to contend with, among others, Brooks, Mills, 2015 rookie Denzel Rice, former CFL corner Aaron Grymes, and JaCorey Shepherd, the rookie who impressed coaches last spring before suffering an ACL tear in training camp. Shepherd, like Carroll, won't be full-go until July.

"I think it's a good room," Carroll said. "It feels different, but it feels good."

Shepherd, by the way, said Tuesday he is about "95 percent," and has been told there's "no need to rush" to get into full-team spring work.

"It's kind of similar to how things were for me at Kansas - man up on the outside," Shepherd said, when asked about the scheme. "That's what I love to do. People talk about me playing the slot (potentially), but I've never played the slot - I'm just outside. I'm going to do whatever I can, but I feel very comfortable, coming off my injury, coming to a defensive scheme like the one Schwartz has . . . I love to compete, whether it's five corners or 15 corners, at the end of the day, the best stay. And I want to be one of the best. I plan to be here."

Schwartz said Tuesday, when asked how his scheme evolved, that "it's a coach's job to make a complex game simple for the players. It's our job to make it where they can digest it."

McKelvin said Schwartz's setup "is very simple for the players."

If you're a corner, "take care of the deep ball and break up everything that stops in front of you," McKelvin said, when asked what advice he gives teammates.

Rowe said he doesn't think anyone is worrying yet where they fit in.

"We're all getting the reps. This is the time of the offseason to get better, before training camp," he said. "Right now we're all just helping each other out."

Wideout Rueben Randle has undergone gall bladder surgery, the Eagles said. Assuming it was a laparoscopic procedure, he should be fine for training camp . . . Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz both seemed to throw well Tuesday, but Jim Schwartz's defense jumped offside a lot in what Schwartz called a "crappy" practice . . . Schwartz cut short a line of questioning about Fletcher Cox, the standout defensive tackle who is still absent during negotiations for a long-term contract. Schwartz wouldn't say if he has spoken to Cox. Asked whether Cox is falling behind, Schwartz said he was drafted to play in a similar scheme, in 2012 . . . Running back Darren Sproles also continues to sit out these voluntary workouts . . . Running back Ryan Mathews was absent Tuesday because of illness, the Eagles said . . . Jaylen Watkins has moved from corner to safety, at least for now.

@LesBowen

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