Rasul Douglas On Trade Block?

The parts have been moving in earnest when it comes to the Eagles' defensive backfield.

The biggest domino came earlier in the week when general manager Howie Roseman sent a pair of draft picks to Detroit for top-of-the-line cornerback Darius Slay. Add the versatile Will Parks returning to his hometown on a one-year, prove-it deal and new secondary coach Marquand Manuel has more at his disposal, something that will certainly impact some of the incumbents on hand.

The most notable in that category could be fourth-year CB Rasul Douglas, who is reportedly being shopped around the league, according to ProFootballTalk.com.

Douglas, a third-round pick out of West Virginia in 2017, has excelled at times when forced into action during his first three seasons but never provided the kind of consistency Jim Schwartz and former DBs coach Cory Undlin sought.

The book on Douglas is pretty straightforward, an NFC personnel source told SI.com: "He's got really good ball skills but he's speed-deficient on the outside."

That sentiment has played out time and time again for the Eagles when it comes to Douglas, who was graded as No. 98 of the 113 who played enough to qualify by ProFootballFocus.com last season.

Positives for Douglas are that he is only 24 and has the kind of long, lengthy body (6-foot-2, 209) people are looking for on the outside in the league.

He's best used as either a press-coverage option where he can use his size and strength to push receivers off their routes at the line of scrimmage and affect the timing of the opposition passing game or as a pure zone-coverage corner where he can read the quarterback's eyes, break on the football and use his vaunted ball skills.

Because of his size and speed issues, however, many project Douglas as a safety down the line but the Eagles have never gone down that path because there are other traits needed to make that move as well, including a better understanding of the defense and the roles of everyone in the back seven.

If you look at Schwartz's history in Philadelphia and the safeties he's trusted - Malcolm Jenkins, Rodney McLeod, Corey Graham and Andrew Sendejo - the one thing they've all had in common is a high-football IQ and a keen understanding of the defense.

When injuries have forced moving parts and Schwartz needed to shift CBs to the backend he tried Avonte Maddox and will now be doing the same with Jalen Mills, never considering Douglas.

The interest in moving Douglas likely means he's not in the Eagles' plans past the 2020 season, the final year of his rookie deal where he's still scheduled at a cost-effective $754,750, a number which should be appealing to enough teams to at least garner a late-round draft pick in return.

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com. You can listen to John every day at 4 ET on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey and reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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