Eagles Free Agent Evaluation: Ronald Darby

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

Leading up to the start of free agency, Sports Talk Philly and Eagledelphia will be taking a look at the players on the Eagles roster who are scheduled to become free agents this offseason and how the team should look to handle each.

In this edition, we will be covering cornerback Ronald Darby.

A second-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 2015 NFL Draft, Darby had a stellar rookie season. While he was overshadowed in the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting by Marcus Peters and Landon Collins, Darby was fifth in the league with 21 defensed passes on his way to being named to the 2015 All-Rookie Team.

While his sophomore season was easily his worst, it perhaps lowered the value that he held and allowed the Philadelphia Eagles to swoop in and pick him up. Howie Roseman sent the Bills Jordan Matthews (who returned to the team this season) and a third-round pick for the corner, a move that paid off as Darby and Mills proved to be two corners good enough to allow the Birds to win Super Bowl LII. Despite being placed on IR for the middle of the 2017 season, Darby was among the team leaders in interceptions with three and quickly rebounded from his ankle injury.

While Darby did not have the greatest 2018, he was still an effective corner. He played in only nine games before he was forced onto IR. At the time of the injury, he was second in the league in defensed passes with 12.

Darby is the only corner who is an unrestricted free agent this year. Jalen Mills, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Sidney Jones and, should you count them as a corners instead of a safeties, Avonte Maddox and Rasul Douglas are all signed for next season along with Chandon Sullivan and Josh Hawkins, who were both forced to play limited snaps in 2018 due to injuries, and Jeremiah McKinnon. Elie Bouka, who has been on IR since training camp early this season, rounds out the current 2019 group.

Of significant note is that every one of those corners is on a rookie contract. In fact, the only corner making more than $1 million is Sidney Jones. Mills will actually make less than both Jones and Douglas due to his being a seventh-round pick. The Eagles have almost no cap space dedicated to the position and they will likely look to keep it that way. LeBlanc as well as a healthy Mills, Jones and Maddox all have the skills to start at corner while Maddox and Douglas have the skills to start at safety. You’d be hard pressed to find a cornerback room this effective making so little elsewhere.

Darby is set to be the premiere corner on the market this offseason. Even if you don’t agree he is a shutdown corner, it is hard to argue that he won’t get paid by some team who needs a corner (See Eagles signing Byron Maxwell in 2015 or the Titans signing Malcolm Butler last offseason). Darby is certainly more talented than Maxwell or Butler and, as such, Spotrac.com projects he will sign a 6 year, $80.7 million contract.

At $13.4 million a year, that contract would certainly net the Eagles a third-round compensatory pick. Last offseason, there were only four contracts not cancelled out that were higher than that amount.

I have seen a lot of fans arguing that Darby might lose money due to his injury and sign a prove-it deal with Philadelphia to earn big money next offseason. My argument with that is two-fold. On the injury front, Darby returned from what appeared to be a severe ankle injury last season and looked excellent upon his return. While his ACL tear is a far different injury, last season showed all the teams how well he is able to rehab and recover from major setbacks. Additionally, I see no way that Darby’s agent tells him a prove it deal is beneficial to him. He would go from being the top corner in the 2019 free agent class to competing with names like Byron Jones, Chris Harris Jr., Jonathan Joseph, Jimmy Smith, Logan Ryan, Joe Haden, Trae Waynes, Aquib Talib, Marcus Peters, Xavien Howard and James Bradberry. Certainly some of those players will not reach free agency, but it would be a miracle if none of them did. There will be so many talented corners in free agency next offseason that it would likely damage Darby’s earnings. The only way he returns to Philly is if he doesn’t care about money and only cares about playing on the Eagles.

With the additional cap space carried over, the Eagles are more than $9 million over the projected 2019 cap. They also have 10 draft picks. It will cost them around $8 million to sign those rookies. With an extension of Carson Wentz looming, $80 million and six years would tie up a lot of money and require too many moves to dump salary.

Unfortunately, Darby’s talent doesn’t really factor into this decision as it is the ideal scenario to remind everyone that the NFL is a business. The Eagles have a player in Jalen Mills who is still an inexpensive option and proved to be a top-notch corner when he was the number one corner for half of the Eagles Super Bowl winning season. They also have five other corners still on their rookie deals that have shown skill and versatility. With Darby the premiere corner on the market and a huge influx of corner talent ready to reach free agency next season, it would be crazy to expect him to take a hometown discount and miss out on all that money. Unless Darby is dead-set on staying in Philly, the choice here is clear.