One of the biggest questions the Eagles faced at the beginning of the offseason was a simple one that carried a lot of weight. ‘What happens to Rodney McLeod?’ After suffering a season-ending knee injury in 2018, the Safety was set to make a whopping $9.9M in 2019. For a team already battling a tidal wave of salary cap problems, this had to change.
The Eagles restructured his deal, leaving the 29-year old with a fraction of what he was originally set to make. But would he be able to rekindle the scintillating form he flashed in 2018, or would the team need to find help elsewhere?
McLeod has been nothing but productive during his time on the field. Setting a new career-high in tackles during his first year with the team, the season that followed would be one in which he has crowned a Super Bowl champion. McLeod’s ability to take strong tackling angles and hold the fort while Jenkins sought to wreak havoc inside the box was absolutely vital during the miraculous run. One year later, he started out even stronger, leading the team with 10 tackles in the win over Atlanta. In just three games, he batted down 4 passes. For context, he knocked away 7 in the entirety of his 2017 campaign. After an offseason in the dark, working his way back from a torn MCL, he looks raring to go once more.
McLeod took some early snaps in Thursday’s preseason loss to Baltimore and didn’t take long to flash the kind of production that the secondary sorely missed last year.
“Yeah, it was good to have him back out there. Made a really nice play on the zone read and made another nice tackle on another play.” Jim Schwartz said of his veteran safety. “He had a couple times in training camp where he sort of took some hits, which I think is important when you’re coming back from a major injury like he did, just mentally, like, ‘Hey, I’m good, I’m okay.’ And I think that was a really good step for him and it was good for our defense to have him back. He’s such a calming influence on our team and our defense in particular. He does such a good job of communicating and executing the scheme, and it was good to have him back out there. We look forward to a great year from him.”
The keyword there is communication. When McLeod went down last season, the safety position was in total disarray. Not because of production, or even tackling ability. But the Birds had to revert to a lot of looks where Corey Graham would be given help as opposed to being drawn out of position due to miscommunication or just a poor read. The corners looked bad in part due to the fact that a Safety position that was once rock solid, became wobbly and unsettled. Getting McLeod back then, in itself is huge for the Eagles in 2019.
“Some guys are like super rah-rah guys, like getting guys jacked up.” Schwartz explained on Monday. “He’s one of those guys that everybody just knows it’s going to be okay when he’s in there. I think there’s an important part of that, too. He’s stone cold with his communication. He’s always in the right spot, do his job. I mean, those guys are valuable. Not everybody has to be, you know, rah-rah. Sometimes it’s a combination of that — and not that [S] Rodney [McLeod] doesn’t play with a lot of fire, he does, but I think when he’s back there, his corners, his nickels, his linebackers, they all get a nice sense of calm because he’s such a good communicator. He keeps them ahead of problems on the defense and puts everybody in good position.”
McLeod and Jenkins will reunite to run the show for a third consecutive year and this time around will likely be joined by Jonathan Cyprien and Andrew Sendejo, two Wiley vets who complement their playing strengths.
He may be one of the most underrated players on the Eagles defense going into 2019 because of the sheer dominance displayed across the board. But just like anything, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. The Eagles learned that the hard way in 2018…and the appreciation for his game in 2019 will likely be at an all-time high if he comes even remotely close to the level he played at during those opening few games of what looked like it could’ve developed into a career-year had a torn MCL not stripped that opportunity away.
