The Eagles have a decision to make in the defensive backfield. Who should remain between safeties Macho Harris or Quintin Demps or recently acquired cornerback Jorrick Calvin?
First of all, we know that Asante Samuel, Ellis Hobbs, Joselio Hanson, Trevard Lindley and Dimitri Patterson are corners that are cemented on the roster. That’s five cornerbacks.
On the other hand, there are only three safeties with secure positions on the football team; Quintin Mikell, Nate Allen, and Kurt Coleman. With that knowledge, it’s logical to believe that the remaining secondary roster spot or spots will be filled by safeties.
Harris needed to look good against the Jets last night, but he did nothing special. He’s capable of backing up at both the safety and cornerback positions and we know he started a number of games at safety a year ago.
I say, so what to that because he’s only mediocre. In terms of being able to step in and play right now at the safety position, Harris gets the nod over both Demps and Calvin. Still I don’t think Harris has done anything this training camp to make the team.
As for Demps, I don’t think the coaches trust him back there at the safety position because he makes too many mistakes.
Remember him falling down in the NFC Championship game and letting Larry Fitzgerald run over him. Then he got a dumb penalty by hitting Kurt Warner very late after a play. Next he was run over as the Cards scored the winning touchdown.
The Birds though he would learn from the experience, but he hasn’t. This is a third year but he hasn’t improved. I think they’ve given up on him as a safety.
In terms of return ability, Demps has proven to be a very good kick off returner. Calvin showed some sure hands last night as both a kickoff and punt returner. I didn’t get the chance to see enough of Calvin in the defensive backfield, other than I can see he has speed. He’s only been here for a few days, so there’s no way they could have confidence in him as a corner or safety.
The safe thing to do is keep Harris or Demps. Still, I could understand the Birds saying good-bye to either of them because they haven’t done anything special this training camp to make the football team.
The best they have going for them is that they can play the safety position. It gives them the nod over Calvin. If they hang onto Calvin it will mean taking a chance that they don’t have injuries at the safety position.
I think Harris will be the guy, who hangs onto his job, because he doesn’t make a lot of mental mistake and he’s got versatility.
If Demps is gone and Calvin is cut and or practice squad..
Who is the Kick-off Returner… I don”t think they would use Hobbs if he is the Starting CB do you..
I think they would have to keep either Demps or Calvin just to have someone return kicks/punts
but Demps has gone backwards after a solid rookie season and M Harris just doesn’t have the speed to play at the NFL level.. This Calvin guy looks like he has an extra gear and could be maybe both a
Kick-off/Punt Return (saving Hobbs/D-Jax from potenital injuries) and be a decent Nickle back..
Calvin is going nowhere. He looked great in his return role as well as showing promise when he was in a cb (head’s up strip of Holmes).
Both Harris and Demps will be cut and they will bring in a S from the waiver wire.
Or….all 3 are gone and we pick up perhaps a veteran or otherwise quality player that gets cut due to a numbers game from another team.
I don’t think they are as high on Harris as you think they are other wise they wouldn’t have brought in another DBack that can return punts. I think they roll the dice with Calvin or stick with Demps primarily because Demps seems to be injury prone and as you said Harris hasn’t done much to help himself out, can’t return punts and definitely can’t play corner in the NFL. Calvin isn’t really big enough to play safety I don’t think and the team doesn’t need a sixth corner, so that’s not helping him.
There’s no logical reason to keep Harris, but there again this the Eagles we’re talking about.
I think the problem with ‘picking up a veteran or other quality player’ / wating for cuts is this: why would another teams’ trast be better than ours? You’re telling me another team is 5 deep at quality safety? I highly doubt that.
Schiller- actually the Bengals are really deep at the CB position right now and some quality guys are gonna be available come Saturday. I was just saying that as a “you never know” scenario though. Out of the 3, I’d keep Calvin. Demps sucks, Harris is worse, at least we don’t know if Calvin is any better yet.
I think E Sims could play Safety in a pinch/emergncy.. he’s 5’10” and 220lbs and can run,
He won’t know how to cover to well, but could play down in the box and make plays in the running game if they had to go down to a 4th Safety.. Keep Calvin and roll the dice…
Paulman, the in the box safety is a small percentage of playing safety. You’re basically saying that for the small part of playing safety that involves mimicking a linebacker, this linebacker will do. That’s not an option. This is a passing league and you can’t have a linebacker who can’t cover receivers playing safety. That’s just ridiculous.
G I hope you’re wrong. I really hope this team releases Macho. Did we watch the same game last night? He was awful. At least Demps returns kicks in addition to providing some paper-thin depth to the safety position.
If there was a way to cut both demps and macho, I’d be a pig in sh*t. Clearly Calvin isnt the answer either, but maybe they can find another safety in free agency after teams make their cuts.
Your right Schiller,
I was being ridiculous, but there shoudl be some veteran Safeties on the market after cut-downs..
M Harris is just not NFL Caliber DB where it’s Cb or S , Q Demps has regressed each season
Having a 3 Deep Rotation of Mickell,Allen and Coleman sounds good to me..
(hopefully none of these guys gets hurt)
I agree about liking the 3 we have…. definitely drafting a safety next season. (pending CBA bullcrap).
I would cut Hanson and Demps. Keep Calvin and Harris untill another saftey becomes available then dump harris