PHILADELPHIA - Probably the biggest surprise of the Eagles’ offseason was the organization moving off of playmaking safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson despite a workable contract.
Gardner-Johnson had two separate six-interception seasons for Philadelphia, and it’s no coincidence that the Eagles reached the Super Bowl after the 2022 and 2024 campaigns when CJGJ was providing energy and a big-play stamp for the defense.
There is also a cost to doing business with Gardner-Johnson, a high-maintenance personality sent to Houston, along with a 2026 sixth-round pick, for a reclamation project at offensive guard, Kenyon Green, and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
The Eagles spun the decision into their larger offseason maintenance cash-over-cap plan designed to reset in advance of significant big-money contracts looming elsewhere. Still, there is little doubt that if football was the only decision-maker, Gardner-Johnson would have been back in the Eagles’ secondary.
In that wake, the options to replace Gardner-Johnson next to the steady Reed Blankenship, who also could be in line for an extension soon, are third-year safety Sydney Brown and second-round pick Drew Mukuba.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio also purposefully added Tristin McCollum into that competition during the spring.
“It's a competition that is going to take a training camp and a few preseason games to sort out,” Fangio said. “And Tristin's in that, too."
Of all the perceived competitions on the Eagles’ roster, none saw more rotating than the safety opposite Blankenship, with second-year man Andre Sam’ and 2022 Minnesota first-round pick Lewis Cine also getting some first-team reps.
The belief from most outside the building is that Mukuba, the 64th overall pick out of Texas, has the inside track, considering he is the one who was drafted on Fangio’s watch and projects to have the coverage skills the veteran defensive coordinator wants on the back end.
Complicating that could be a league-wide standoff with second-round picks trying to extend guaranteed money down the draft board as far as possible. As No. 64, the last pick in the round, that isn’t going to reach Mukuba, but any stalemates in front of him could affect the timing of his signing. And any time missed could set the rookie back with Fangio.
Brown is gifted but projects more as a traditional box safety and needs to show he has the coverage skills and discipline to win the job after a somewhat lost season rehabbing from a torn ACL.
“His experience came in 2023, not 2024. Last year at this time, he wasn't doing anything and didn't do anything really until the middle of October,” Fangio said of Brown.. So he lost all this time of year, training camp, early part of the season, and really never got many reps with us defensively.
“He did play in the last game against the Giants and did fine, but it's a new system from what he had in '23. So yes, he's sitting in meetings, but that only goes so far. You've got to get out there and experience it and build on it, and he lost that last year, so he's going through that process now and he's doing fine.”
McCollum is functional and disciplined which is why Fangio “added” him to the competition.
Don’t be surprised if undrafted rookie Maxen Hook, who was once Quinyon Mitchell’s roommate at Toledo, pushes Sam’ and Cine for a back-end roster spot.
Also, it should be noted that Fangio’s belief in star slot cornerback Cooper DeJean extends to the safety position if needed.
“I think he would play very well at safety. I think it suits his skillset, things that he does well,” Fangio said of DeJean. “ I just think he would do very well in there.”
DEPTH CHART (There really are no free/strong designations in a Fangio defense, which flashes a two-high look as the default setting before spinning off into what coverage is called, which can often be MFC (middle field closed) or a single-high look.
S1: Reed Blankenship; Tristin McCollum; Lewis Cine’ Maxen Hook
S2: Sydney Brown; Drew Muluba; Andre Sam’
WHAT’S CHANGED: Gardner-Johnson’s playmaking is going to be tough to duplicate but the Eagles like the long-term potential of Mukuba in coverage and expect more discipline.
When they can get to that end game with Mukuba is anyone’s guess.
The other newcomer is Hook, who has a chance to break through on the 53-man roster with a strong summer.
COACHING: Christian Parker, a fast-rising coach who could be a defensive coordinator in a year or two, heads the secondary as a whole, while the corners are tutored by Roy Anderson and the safeties by Joe Kasper.
Kasper was in Philadelphia during the 2021 and 2022 seasons under Jonathan Gannon as a quality control coach before being hired by Fangio to coach the safeties in Miami for the 2023 season. When Fangio got to Philly, he brought back Kasper with him.
Under Kasper's guidance, Jevon Holland was voted a Pro Bowl alternate with the Dolphins, and Blankenship and Gardner-Johnson excelled with the Eagles.
THE CEILING: Mukuba adds playmaking skills to Blankenship’s steady presence, with Brown and McCollum serving as depth and impactful special teams pieces for Michael Clay.
THE LONGSHOT: Cine hasn’t shown much since breaking his leg as a rookie with the Vikings. Perhaps as he gets farther away from the injury, the athletic skills that made him the 32nd overall pick start to show up.
WHO STAYS/GOES: Blankenship, Mukuba, Brown, and McCollum seem safe and the guess here is that the Eagles will be more apt to keep six cornerbacks than five safeties, especially when you consider Fangio’s belief that DeJean can play safety.
That would leave Hook as a practice squad candidate.
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