Eagles' Justin Evans Making Moves at Safety: 'Play My Role'
PHILADELPHIA - One half of the Philadelphia Eagles safety puzzle has been locked in since the early days of training camp when it became clear that Reed Blankenship wasn’t a mirage as an undrafted rookie last season.
The other half has been a revolving door between veteran free-agent pickup Terrell Edmunds, fourth-year late-bloomer K’Von Wallace, and third-round rookie Sydney Brown.
The odd man out to those not paying attention was Justin Evans, a 2017 second-round pick in Tampa Bay who was an ascending starting-level player before a host of injuries pressed pause on his career.
The problem with that narrative was Evans was always in the mix, getting first-team reps as well, just like the other contenders.
Still just 27 the Eagles saw Evans as a lottery ticket this offseason, along with a host of other players like Edmunds, running back Rashaad Penny, linebacker Nicholas Morrow, cornerback Greedy Williams, defensive tackle Kentavius Street, receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, and now linebackers Zach Cunningham and Myles Jack.
The thought process behind Howie Roseman’s plan was to take the swing and move on quickly if things don’t work out and the latter happened with Williams on Saturday when the one-time Cleveland second-round pick was waived.
As Williams was leaving South Philadelphia, Evans hit his apex to date by taking the majority of first-team reps opposite Blankenship in a practice that was heavy on situational work.
While there is still plenty of time for Philadelphia before the season opener at New England on Sept. 10, it’s getting late early, and the fact that defensive coordinator Sean Desai decided he wanted significant tape of Evans with the ones this late in the process has to be considered a positive.
Evans has never felt left out of the process.
“No. I mean they play their role. I'm gonna try to play my role,” Evans said of the other contenders. “Whatever that role is I'm gonna try to do it so I don't think I get overlooked or overlooked, underlooked or whatever. I just think I play my role and I'm gonna get better with it and continue to grow in my role."
The competition has also sharpened everyone involved. Edmunds has been steady as advertised, Wallace returned stronger mentally and is playing his best football and Brown has a burst and range the others lack.
"We all got here because the competition brings out the best in everybody,” Evans said.
It’s conceivable that coach Nick Sirianni and Desai raced up after practice to watch that film and came away unimpressed but the defense had a pretty productive day overall. Evans, meanwhile, didn’t author any splash plays but he also wasn’t involved in any glaring hiccups.
The book on Evans is that he is a good coverage player and that’s what the Vic Fangio-inspired defenses crave on the back end. The three other contenders – Edmunds, Wallace, and Brown – are all considered better in the box than in space.
Blankenship, though, has also admired Evans’ physicality.
“He’s a physical player,” Blankenship said. “That’s what you want to see in a safety. He’s been flying around making plays in the games. You saw him in the Ravens game making big hits. He’s getting a lot more comfortable.”
The long shot may have just turned into the frontrunner.
“We all have that chemistry together so no matter who's in we can just go in and do our job,” Evans said. "I don't think it's necessarily so much about Reed or me and K'Von or me and ‘Rell or just whoever it is I just always try to have that same balance."
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
