With Boykin Gone, Who Takes Over the Nickel Corner Spot?

It sounds like the Eagles are giving rookie sixth-round pick JaCorey Shepherd the first crack at replacing Boykin.  While he is not likely to be in the mix for a outside corner spot, he is squarely in the hunt to cover slot receivers in the Eagles' nickel and dime defenses.

"JaCorey Shepherd is simply competing like all other guys that are in there," Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis said.

He mentioned some of the other players who could be candidates to take over for the departed Boykin including - E.J. Biggers, Malcolm Jenkins, Walter Thurmond, Jaylen Watkins, plus younger options like Denzel Rice and Randall Evans.

"We are going to have to make some tough decisions at corner, and we are not going to be able to keep them all," Eagles head coach Chip Kelly explained. "We have nine [now] and we are probably going to keep five."

As far as the outside corner position, it looks like that will be a battle between Nolan Carroll III and rookie Eric Rowe, Davis also said Rowe won't be playing safety anytime soon so even if he loses out to Carroll, it doesn't appear he'll help out at safety.

"Not right now," Davis explained.  "Not in our place. He has the capability to do it, but as a young rookie, I'm not going to put that burden of learning on him right now. Right now he’s a corner.  He's in the corner world, he's going to compete at corner, and that’s his spot."

With Boykin out, slot corner is now another competition to keep an eye on at Eagles camp.