‘Coach M’ Brings Some Cachet to Back End of Eagles Defense
The biggest splash the Eagles made in the offseason when it comes to their secondary is a pretty obvious one, veteran Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay.
There were other notable additions as well like Nickell Robey-Coleman, Will Parks, and promising rookie K'Von Wallace.
The most important, however, might be the new steward for all of those players in defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel, a former defensive coordinator in Atlanta who once helped mentor the best secondary of the modern era, Seattle's Legion of Boom.
Those bullet points carry with them some cachet for Manuel but there's something extra as well, according to veteran safety Rodney McLeod: Manuel's own eight-year playing career.
“I think people respect him because one, he’s played the game," said McLeod via Zoom on Thursday.
That checkbox of being an NFL player resonates with current ones and it’s something that's allowed head coach Doug Pederson to keep one foot in two camps - his locker room and management - and handle potentially toxic situations rather seamlessly.
Manuel's final season as a player was 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 the assistant secondary 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, all the while teaching 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 the secondary coach before elevating him to defensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018.
With Quinn on the hot seat, the coach was forced to make some changes to keep his job and Manuel was a scapegoat, sitting out the 2019 season before coming to Philadelphia to take over for Cory Undlin as the secondary coach on perhaps Jim Schwartz's deepest staff to date.
Undlin left to become the DC in Detroit. Both Manuel and new defensive line coach Matt Burke are former DCs.
The respect the players have for Manuel is already manifesting itself, according to McLeod. Passion and a high bar when it comes to expectations are big parts of Manuel’s toolbox.
"His passion and because of the way he coaches this group and the expectations that he has for us. It’s a very high standard," McLeod said. "He’s coached a lot of good secondaries. We want to be another group to be respected in this league and treated as such. He’s going to fit perfectly, man.”
McLeod believes the Eagles’ secondary had lost some respect in recent seasons with the back seven taking on the role of the weak link when compared to the team’s impressive front.
“As a defense, I think we lost a little bit of respect,” said McLeod. “It was gained as the (last) season went on, I believe. We caught our stride, guys (got) confident in one another. We were getting to the spots that we needed and you saw things coming together. But as a secondary, I felt that we were a little disrespected at times.”
Slay and his ability to travel with opposing receivers could be the tonic for what has ailed the Eagles.
It gives Schwartz options in any game plan to have a CB who in theory could lockdown one side of the field, travel with the opposition’s top receiver or shut down the No. 2 while the DC and Manuel devise zone packages and double teams for the star WR to deal with.
“I think Jim has been very vocal about that, as has Coach M having Darius being able to match up as well as guys like Avonte (Maddox) or Robey,” said McLeod. “We might do a lot of matchup type of situations. It makes my job as a safety a lot easier, I’ll tell you that. We have guys that can cover, get up in the receiver’s face, throw off timing for the quarterback and allow me to go sideline to sideline.”
Even in a truncated offseason, the Manuel passion is becoming contagious.
“I’m excited about what we can do. We have a very versatile group where guys can line up anywhere, whether it’s man or zone,” said McLeod. “... We’re going to be good.”
John McMullen contributes 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 jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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