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Riley Cooper made his return, and Phillip Hunt has been nearly phased out. Here’s a breakdown of snap counts for the Eagles during their Week 6 loss against the Lions.
As we mentioned earlier, Jeremy Maclin did not practice today.
Meanwhile, safety Kurt Coleman (facial lacerations), wide receiver Riley Cooper (fractured collarbone) and cornerback Curtis Marsh (hamstring) were limited. Andy Reid has already ruled Cooper out for Sunday’s game against the Ravens. Coleman was in the locker room before practice and sounded like he fully expected to play.
Throughout the course of the week, we’ll be providing position-by-position previews of the entire Eagles roster. Click here to get to all of them. Today, we cover the cornerbacks, with a focus on how the Birds will use Nnamdi Asomugha.
Nnamdi Asomugha was a full participant in practice Friday afternoon for the first time since a violent mid-air collision with Nate Allen on Monday.
Asomugha suffered a lip laceration and a sore neck. On Tuesday, Andy Reid said the cornerback had “whiplash-type symptoms.”
Yesterday, Asomugha began practice, but did not finish because of discomfort in his neck. He said today that he couldn’t talk much because his mouth (lip) is still recovering. Asomugha added that his neck is fine.
Call it a failed experiment if you will, but the idea of moving Nnamdi Asomugha around last season had some logic to it. With proven talents like Asante Samuel and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie at your disposal, you can sell the notion of Asomugha as a “rover” to try and create matchup advantages.
This season it’s a tougher product to pedal because Samuel now plays for the Falcons. If you’re going to be moving Asomugha all over the field, who will be playing left cornerback in his absence?
The answer at the moment is Curtis Marsh.
On one of the first plays today, Nnamdi Asomugha lined up inside against backup tight end Chase Ford. Last year, playing Asmougha inside was simple because the Eagles had Asante Samuel and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on the outside. But Samuel’s gone, and the new wrinkle today was that Curtis Marsh lined up outside at right cornerback.
Marsh, a third-round pick in 2011, played only 13 defensive snaps as a rookie. But with Samuel gone, he’s looking to fill a bigger role in his second season.
“We rotate. We have different guys that do different things well. It’s by gameplan,” Marsh said.
How will the Eagles use Nnamdi Asomugha in 2012? Will Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie have the same tackling issues Asante Samuel had? And what are the chances that undrafted free agent Cliff Harris makes the roster? Answering those questions and more in this breakdown of the Eagles cornerback situation.