Lockdown Linchpin: Mitchell Emerges as Eagles’ No.1 Defender in Top‑25 2025 Rankings

PHILADELPHIA - Relationships matter.

The runner-up for the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award last season, cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, is No. 10 on Eagles On SI’s annual Top 25 players on the roster heading toward training camp in July.

Mitchell was a star in college at the University of Toledo, where Jason Candle is the head coach.

Candle happens to be very close with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. Like Sirianni, the Rockets head coach was a receiver at Mount Union, who was a year ahead of Sirianni, went from teammate and roommate to eventually position coach and even landlord when Sirianni started his own coaching journey under Larry Kehres with the Purple Raiders.

The point being is that the current iteration of the Eagles are getting the best information possible with any Toledo product so Philadelphia was very comfortable pulling the trigger on Mitchell at No. 22 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, the first Rockets player selected in the first round since Dan Williams in 1993.

However, neither Candle nor Sirianni were responsible for Mitchell developing into a Day 1 starter opposite of six-time Pro Bowl selection Darius Slay on what turned out to be the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL.

A natural off-coverage player with plenty of athleticism to keep up in man-match directives inside of Vic Fangio’s wide array of zone coverages, Mitchell was a perfect fit for the veteran defensive coordinator’s scheme.

Mitchell played in 20 of a potential 21 games in his rookie season en route to a Super Bowl LIX championship, missing only the Week 18 regular-season finale against the New York Giants when Sirianni decided to rest his key players for the postseason.

The numbers were 46 tackles in the regular season and 12 pass breakups. Mitchell’s first two interceptions came in the playoffs, and he added more PBUs, losing out to only Los Angeles Rams’ pass rusher Jared Verse among the league’s rookies.

EOSI beat reporters Ed Kracz and John McMullen each compiled their top 25 lists separately, and a point system determined the final list, with No. 1 receiving 25 points down to one point for No. 25.

The idea is to determine the best pure football players on perhaps the NFL’s most talented roster. Impact (the quarterback would also be No. 1 in any city) is not what the last is about. It’s Bill Belichick rules to determine who does their particular job the best.

Eagles CB Quinyon Mitchell stretches before an OTA practice on May 28, 2025. / John McMullen/Eagles On SI

With Slay around, Mitchell spent his entire rookie season playing right cornerback and will now love to the left side as the Eagles' true CB1 with the veteran headed to Pittsburgh as a salary-cap casualty.

"It was great having Slay but this is the NFL, so things change,” Mitchell said.

Philadelphia also lost Isaiah Rodgers and Avonte Maddox in the offseason, making it imperative for Mitchell to keep up is stellar play in Year 2.

"It's been good. I feel like we got a group of selfless guys. We've been helping each other out,” Mitchell said of the new look CB room in the spring. “... I feel like we got a strong group. We got a strong bond and we just been connecting well."

Mitchell finished No. 11 on McMullen’s list while Kracz was more bullish on the emerging star, putting second-year cornerback in his top 10 at No. 7. The combined 34 points landed Mitchell at No. 10 on what might be the most talented team in the NFL.