Former Indianapolis Colt Marlin Jackson is lining up at the safety spot this week and he gets on the field for the first time since he tore his ACL.¬† He has missed two years of action due to ACL injuries to each knee, so you could imagine he’s anxious to get back out there and show what he can do.
Immediately when I saw him run, I thought he was moving gingerly and a bit gimpy.¬† He doesn’t trust his knee yet.¬† It’s understandable but the young man is a bit sensitive about it.
Even thought he’s out there running now, I think he’s going to have a challenge getting ready to play by the end of July.¬† Playing defensive back means having the ability to change direction at full speed.¬† You’ve got to be able to stop on a dime when going in one direction, then start back and go full speed in another direction.
It stresses your legs and test them.
Jackson’s work so far has been more mental than anything else.¬† He needs to learn both the safety and corner position which is quite a change from when he was in Indy.¬† They lived in the Tampa 2 coverage, where the cornerback jam the receivers as the come off the line of scrimmage, deepen with the receiver as long as nobody is coming into their short outside zone.
You don’t have to be a good man to man cover guy to play corner for them.¬† That’s not the case with the Eagles and what they ask of the defensive backs.¬† Indy does ask their cornerbacks to come up and tackle, so Jackson has a reputation of being a guy who doesn’t mind mixing it up.
We’ll have to wait and see how soon he gets healthy.¬† The two-a-days workouts are especailly hard on guys who are recovering from leg injuries.¬† Hopefully he’s close or at full strength in late July when training camp starts.
He’ll be given the chance to play at either the safety or cornerback spots.
Jackson and Hobbs are real qurestion ???’s in my opinion this camp.
They will have to be brough back slowly to avoid re-injuring themselves but at the same time,learn some new schemes under Def Secondary Coach D Jauron
I am stil lon the fence leaning to falling off on whether either one could truly be a Starter Type of playing
for the Eagles or anyone else in the NFL coming off their injuries and to be honest, I would rather see
some young guys (N Allen, T Lindley,Q Demps, M Harris, J Hanson.D Pender) and ayone else get as many reps as possible for I think it will be difficult to expect much the 1st part of the Season from
either M Jackson or E Hobbs…
Let’s say that the Eagles make a run at the wildcard for example, late in the season. Lindley, Macho or Hobbs (whatever) has been a pleasant surprise… and Jackson hasn’t played much, but is healthy. Then, he’s very valuable to have on the team. Remember when Sheldon, albeit with poor safety play next to him, got tired and slowed down a bit towards the end of the season? Sure like to have marlin around then….
G:
I love this website. Knee injuries are on a case-by-case basis. It must be May.
lets not say Demps again..hes a super bust..he cant even run looking up without falling down…lol..prnder..due we dont need u naming the roster.. O cuz hanson is sooo young..hes almost 30.The secondary isnt guna learn new schemes..they will learn better technique and overall awareness/discipline..Paul im starting to worry about ur football IQ..anyway..stupid topic…it should be left as a statement and not a topic of discussion.
Not a good cover corner, coming off knee injuries, and he can hit…….. sounds like a safety to me.
Sure, demps seems like a complete bust. Probably won’t make the team. But never discount the justice effect….