Jerome Couplin Should Make Philadelphia Eagles’ Final Roster

jerome couplin philadelphia eagles
Bill Streicher – USAToday Sports

It’s a rare thing for any NFL team to have an undrafted, practice squad-bouncing player who should be a slam dunk to make the team, going into training camp. Typically those slam-dunk players are high draft picks, key starters, or high-priced players with a huge dead money hit. Past those players, spots are generally up for grabs to the most promising few left standing. But the Philadelphia Eagles have one of those players who should make the team without any fanfare or any previous history to go off of. That player is safety Jerome Couplin.

Couplin being on the Eagles is the perfect marriage of need and opportunity. Take a look at the safeties behind Malcolm Jenkins right now; Chris Prosinski and Chris Maragos are special teams studs only. Walter Thurmond is a projected starter who’s making the shift from cornerback.  Ed Reynolds is a late-round pick who hasn’t shown anything at all. Earl Wolff is eternally hurt and doesn’t seem to be a favorite of the coaching staff. The team can easily keep Prosinski and Maragos since the real safety depth is sitting on the back end of the cornerback chart, but the Eagles can’t sell out their safety depth completely like that. They still need an actual safety with upside to be on the books come Week 1.

Meanwhile, Couplin has phenomenal athletic ability and a year of doing nothing but studying the defensive playbook. A look at his scouting report shows not only his ability to defend the run, but his ridiculous wingspan giving him a massive defending radius. He can also run well and he’s shown the ability to cover the middle of the field. For a defensive coordinator like Billy Davis who uses Jenkins as a single-high safety in the deep middle of the field, Couplin makes a ton of sense. That ability is paramount for Davis’ safeties, hence the reason why the Eagles pushed so hard for Devin McCourty in free agency.

With a less than intimidating string of competition in front of him, fantastic athletic potential and time to marinate in the system, Couplin has a legit shot to be the fifth safety on the roster. And the Eagles need him too. Unless Wolff or Reynolds completely turn a corner, Couplin has the most upside to offer.  I’m tired of waiting for those two to become players the team can rely on.  As long as he doesn’t completely implode, the Eagles need to give Couplin a shot. The dividends he could pay back are well worth the risk.

Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.  Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL. 

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