June 02, 2017
A long, long time ago, the Philadelphia Eagles had good cornerbacks. I know, the notion seems incomprehensible, but it really happened. One of the best cornerback tandems in team history was Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor, who played together in Philly from 1996 to 2003.
In an interview with Fran Duffy of the Eagles' website, Vincent compared rookie third-round pick Rasul Douglas to Taylor.
"He moved well," said Vincent. "He’s a big, long kid. He reminded me a bit of Bobby Taylor. He probably has better quickness. He was smooth. You can judge a corner by his hips, his ability to go from 0-to-60. Speed to power, power to speed, and then that quickness, watching him accelerate coming out of the breaks, putting your foot in the ground and coming out. It’s just good to see. When you see good movement, you can appreciate it."
Douglas was an obvious standout in media-attended OTA practices on Tuesday. During one red zone drill, he got his hands on three consecutive passes, breaking up the plays. As we observed in our practice notes that day, Douglas is always aware of where the ball is, which is why he was able to lead the nation in interceptions last year, with eight.
In Eagles practices so far, Douglas has been working with the first-team defense, coming in on nickel sets on the outside, with Jalen Mills kicking inside to the slot. With Jim Schwartz's history of playing rookie cornerbacks early to go along with the Eagles' severe deficiencies at corner, there's a good chance that Douglas could see a significant role in the Eagles' defense as a rookie.
At a minimum, he's off to a good start.
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