The biggest feeling the Eagles have had in the offseason when it comes to high school is pretty obvious, veteran Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay.
There have been other notable additions like Nickell Robey-Coleman, Will Parks and up and coming rookie K’Von Wallace.
Most important, however, could be the new steward of all those players from defensive back coach Marquand Manuel, a former defensive coordinator in Atlanta who once helped mentor the best secondary of the modern era, the Legion of the Boom. from Seattle.
Those chips carry a certain cachet for Manuel with them, but there’s also something more, according to security veteran Rodney McLeod: Manuel’s eight-year career.
“I think people respect him because of one, he played the game,” McLeod said via Zoom on Thursday.
That checkbox of being an NFL player resonates with current players and it’s something that has allowed head coach Doug Pederson to keep a foot in two camps – his dressing room and his management – and to manage potentially toxic situations in a fairly transparent manner.
Manuel’s last season as a player dates back to 2009 and three years later he was back in the league with one of his former teams, the Seahawks, as an assistant special teams coach.
Quick promotions to a defensive assistant and assistant high school coach followed and Marquand was learning under some of the best defensive minds in the business like Seahawks mentor Pete Carroll, as well as future head coaches Gus Bradley and Dan Quinn, while teaching the potential future. Hall of Famers like Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman.
When Quinn got the big chair in Atlanta, he took Manuel with him, first as a high school coach before raising him to the position of defensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018.
With Quinn in the hot seat, the coach was forced to make some changes to keep his job and Manuel was a scapegoat, sitting out of the 2019 season before coming to Philadelphia to take over from Cory Undlin as coach. Jim Schwartz’s perhaps most profound staff secondary. nowadays.
Undlin left to become the DC in Detroit. Manuel and new defensive line coach Matt Burke are former DCs.
The respect players have for Manuel is already showing, according to McLeod. Passion and setting a high bar for expectations are important parts of Manuel’s toolkit.
“His passion and because of the way he trains this group and the expectations he has for us. It’s a very high standard,” said McLeod. “He’s coached a lot of good secondaries. We want to be another group to respect in this league and to be treated like one. He’s going to fit in perfectly, man.”
McLeod believes the Eagles high school has lost some respect in recent seasons, with all seven fullbacks playing the role of a weak link to the team’s impressive forward.
“As a defense, I think we’ve lost some respect,” McLeod said. “It was won over the (last) season, I think. We took our lead, the guys (got) confident in each other. We were getting to the places we needed and you saw it come together. But as a high school student, I felt that we were sometimes little respected.
Slay and his ability to travel with opposing receivers could be the backbone of what has affected the Eagles.
This gives Schwartz options in any game plan to have a CB that, in theory, could lock down one side of the pitch, travel with the opposition’s first receiver, or shut down No 2 while DC and Manuel design packages of zones and double teams for the star. WR to be processed.
“I think Jim was very articulate about it, as was Coach M who got Darius to line up and guys like Avonte (Maddox) or Robey,” said McLeod. “We could do a lot of match-up type situations. It makes my security job a lot easier, I’ll tell you. We have guys who can cover, get up in the receiver’s face, interrupt the timing of the quarterback and let me sideline.
Even in a truncated offseason, Manuel’s passion becomes contagious.
“I am delighted with what we can do. We have a very versatile group where the guys can line up anywhere, whether it’s a man or a zone, ”said McLeod. “… We are going to be good.”
John McMullen contributes to the Eagles’ coverage for SI.com’s EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click “Follow” at the top right of the EagleMaven page. Mobile users click on the notification bell. And please follow @kracze on Twitter.
