Jalen Mills, healthy and motivated, looks like Pats' No. 1 cornerback
FOXBORO — Jalen Mills had his career mapped out.
A seventh-round pick in 2016 by the Eagles, he proved to everyone that he was a capable starting cornerback during his second NFL season. That year, Mills started 15 games for Philadelphia. He finished with 14 passes defended to go with three interceptions. He started for a team that beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
That season was supposed to launch Mills forward in his career and put him on an upward trajectory to the point that one day he would be the No. 1 cornerback in the NFL. At age 23, he had big dreams and potential.
Then adversity hit.
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In 2018, Mills suffered a fractured foot to go along with ligament damage when an offensive lineman rolled on his left ankle in Week 8. That injury cost him more than just eight games that season. Mills started the next year on the physically unable to perform list and played just nine games in 2019. Despite surgery and countless hours of rehabilitation, Mills did not feel the same as he had before the injury.
By 2020, he thought he had lost a step and that's when the Eagles moved him to free safety. The three-year stretch pushed Mills mentally to a place that wasn’t great. He felt as if he was letting his family down.
“You have people who depend on you," Mills said. "I have people who look up to me — friends and family members want to see me do good. ... Just for them to see me down being injured. They know the play capabilities that I have. I knew it, but I wasn’t able to get to it because of the injuries. It meant everything. That’s another motivator and driving factor that got me here now.”
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Mills is out of the dark with the Patriots. He’s back at cornerback and excelling. In his second season in New England, the 28-year-old is in line to live up to that potential everyone saw in 2017. Through two weeks in training camp, Mills looks to be the Patriots' No. 1 cornerback. That shouldn’t be a surprise.
Mills was a lockdown cornerback in the second half of 2021
When Mills signed with the Patriots in 2020, it was believed that the team would use him as a versatile defender at both safety and cornerback. Following the decision to trade Stephon Gilmore, however, he was used as the team’s No. 2 cornerback opposite J.C. Jackson.
For the team's newcomers, learning the Patriots' defense can be challenging. Gilmore struggled to get going in 2017. In 2014, Darrelle Revis said it took him about four weeks to feel like he got into a groove. Mills hit his stride in the middle of the 2021 season.
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In the first eight games, Mills allowed receptions on 62% of passes to the receiver he was covering — 16 catches on 26 targets for 251 yards and four touchdowns. In the second half of the season, however, he was a lockdown cornerback in the Patriots' secondary.
In the final nine games of 2021, Mills gave up catches on just 33% of his targets. Opposing quarterbacks completed 7-of-21 throws with Mills in coverage for 72 yards, two touchdowns and four pass breakups.
Mills explained that it took some time to truly learn the Patriots' defense. It wasn’t about learning the playbook but how the team’s schemes change from week-to-week and how different offenses would be attacking the secondary. The Pats also play a blend of man and zone coverage with those changes happening in each series.
“It definitely added a lot [of confidence],” Mills said
“I definitely got comfortable in the second half of the season. Just locked in and playing fast and trusting the guys next to me.”
Mills is standing out at training camp
After Jackson signed with the Los Angeles Chargers, many observers wondered who would step up for the Patriots as their top cornerback. The team signed veterans Malcolm Butler and Terrance Mitchell and drafted Jack Jones and Marcus Jones.
Through eight days of training camp, it’s been clear that Mills is the top cornerback in New England. He has not only been a constant staple in the top defensive unit, but leads all players with five pass breakups in training camp. On the second day of the players donning pads, Mills beat receivers DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne in 1-on-1 drills. Neither receiver has been easy to deal with in camp.
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These are the moments that Mills thought were in his future back in 2017. His past is more than enough to motivate him in New England.
“I’m motivated every day,” Mills said. “I know where I was two, three, four years ago. Coming off an injury, moving to safety, thinking I lost a step and then coming back and working hard and getting back in this position, that’s my motivation — knowing where I was a couple of years back to all the hard work I put in now to putting myself in position to make plays for the team.”
After the Super Bowl victory by the Eagles in 2017, Mills believed his career would trend upward and he would continue to develop into a topflight NFL cornerback. The foot injury cost him two full seasons after that. He didn’t know if his speed would return and acknowledged that his move to safety in 2020 was difficult.
Two years later, Mills is back to where he always thought he would be — with the arrow pointing upward for this talented defender.
“One hundred percent," Mills said. "Started up, went down and worked myself back up, man. It’s just going to be a steady climb every day.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Healthy and motivated Jalen Mills looks like the Patriots' No. 1 CB
