Eagles’ Jalen Mills on adjusting to playing safety; Meshing with Rodney McLeod
Jalen Mills has been beloved by fans and coaches during his stint in Philadelphia and after losing one of the most beloved figures in franchise history, the former cornerback is well aware of the standard he’ll need to uphold.
Despite struggles at cornerback, the Eagles have been solid at the safety position with Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod leading the charge.
After months of squabbling over his value to the Eagles, Jenkins was allowed to hit free agency and return to the New Orleans Saints.
Mills meanwhile re-signed with the Eagles in free agency before announcing a new number and a position switch.
A safety at LSU his last two seasons, Mills will now be returning to his roots perse.
Looking to adjust on the fly because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mills told Dave Spadaro of the Eagles official website about his adjustment to the position and upholding the standard created by Jenkins.
“You just got to be a ballplayer at the end of the day,” Mills, who changed his jersey number from 31 to 21, told reporters Thursday. “For one, you have to know, of course, the defense, but I think it’s no different as far as playing corner and safety other than just a little bit more tackling.”
For Mills, the biggest adjustment has been relearning how to communicate on the backend and developing that crucial chemistry with McLeod.
“I really just wanted to hear the way he communicated because, of course, he’s been on the back end and I was playing on the outside, so now me hearing how he was communicating, I told him that I didn’t want to switch anything that he did because he’s been successful at that spot,” Mills said.
“I just wanted to make sure that he’s still playing fast because at the end of the day, like I said, I know the defense. I just wanted to get the exact verbiage he may have been using on the back end,” he later added.
With the lack of preseason games and a reduced training camp due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Mills will literally need to hit the ground running as the team prepares for Washington or risk losing snaps to Will Parks or rookie safety, K’Von Wallace.
