Eagles Catch-22: Highlighting Dilemma Young Players Face

VOORHEES TOWNSHIP, NJ - The NFL can often be a catch-22 for younger players, and the results of how that’s handled from all sides can define careers.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams and cornerback Zech McPhearson are prime examples of that.

The two friends have a lot in common. They are represented by the same agency, worked out together in preparation for the 2021 draft, were both selected by the Eagles, and are both heading into the pivotal Year 3 of their professional careers after spending the first two behind very accomplished stars at their respective positions.

It’s a luxury for Philadelphia and the players themselves to be able to bring them along slowly but the clock is always ticking on the latter. Both Williams and McPhearson will be eligible for extensions for the first time after the 2023 season and the only way to get big money on a second contract is demonstrated performance on the field.

Williams, a third-round pick in 2021, has played a bit more. He's been a solid rotational piece on what had been the NFL’s deepest front over his first two seasons and the Texas native has been effective in a somewhat limited role, playing in 40 percent of the team’s defensive snaps as a rookie and 36 percent last season while amassing 66 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, six sacks, and 12 quarterback hits.

The film says Williams, 24, took a major step forward last season with Pro Football Focus grading him out as No. 28 of the 127 interior options who played enough to be ranked but he was sharing the spotlight with some heavyweight names like Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Jordan Davis and then in-season pickups Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph.

On paper, things look clearer for WIlliams this season after Hargrave signed a big-money deal with San Francisco, and with Suh and Joseph again playing the waiting game as aging players. Despite that, however, the Eagles added perhaps the most talented player in the draft this year in Jalen Carter, also drafted Moro Ojomo on Day 3, and are getting back Marlon Tuipulotu and Noah Elliss from injuries when it comes to interior players.

“It can be frustrating,” Williams admitted when speaking with Si.com’s Eagles Today at the 7-on-7 youth football tournament he hosted with McPhearson in South Jersey over the weekend. “It’s also great to be able to learn from players like that. As a player, you just focus on what you can control and make the best of your opportunities.”

It’s been even tougher to find playing time for McPhearson, a fourth-round pick in 2021, at what isn’t a rotational position.

During his first two professional seasons, McPhearson, 24, was the top backup outside the numbers but the Eagles’ starters – Darius Slay and Steve Nelson in 2021 and Slay and James Bradberry last season – stayed healthy. He's instead flushed out his role as a top gunner and coverage player on special teams.

Over the past two seasons neither Slay, Nelson or Bradberry missed a game due to injury for the Eagles, meaning McPhearson totaled just 278 defensive snaps and one start over his first two pro seasons, the Week 17 affair at the end of his rookie campaign when Philadelphia, already locked into a wild-card round playoff visit to Tamps. rested its starters against Dallas.

Last season it was just 99 snaps behind Slay and Bradberry, both Pro Bowl cornerbacks.

All the while, though, McPhearson has been impressing the defensive coaching staff, however, and one of the more interesting developments in what was a light spring for the Eagles was the third-year cornerback lining up in the slot with the first-team defense in 7-on-7 work.

McPhearson was the placeholder for star nickel back Avonte Maddox, who was still recovering from offseason surgery and a spectator in OTAs, so the first-team work was not the headline, the third-year cornerback moving inside was.

Rewind back to 2021 and many scouts projected McPhearson's best position as the slot coming out of Texas Tech in 2021 but the Eagles needed help on the outside.

What changed this spring is that the Eagles added a number of bodies at cornerback that project best outside due to their length, starting with talented 2023 fourth-round pick Kelee Ringo out of Georgia and Greedy Williams, once a second-round pick of Cleveland. Both Ringo and Willians are 6-foot-2 and can run, and their presence was buttressed even further by undrafted rookies Eli Ricks and Mekhi Garner, who are also both 6-2 and project outside.

The bloated offseason roster meant the Eagles could finally pull the trigger and look at McPhearson inside and the Baltimore native looked confident and comfortable in the role.

"I definitely was able to expand my wings with some injuries," McPhearson said. "I had to step into the nickel role so I'm getting some reps there as well as corner."

The move could be permanent, but it might also be signaling the effort to make McPherason the top backup both inside and outside with the ultimate end game depending on the development of the other young cornerbacks.

"Wherever I can fit in," McPhearson said. "I'm trying to help the team in any way possible and just be ready when my name is called."

The unintended consequence of waiting for that name to be called?

"I've got a chip on my shoulder," McPhearson said. "So I'm really trying to see the field going into the third year."