4 reasons why SF 49ers improve to 3-1 with win over Eagles
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: SF 49ers will take advantage of Eagles’ shaky depth in secondary
Another one of the key injuries Philadelphia is dealing with is to starting boundary cornerback Avonte Maddox, who is out with an ankle injury. On top of that, the Eagles are going to be missing slot corner Trevor Williams (ribs).
That leaves essentially one true boundary cornerback on the roster, Darius Slay, who’ll likely be matched up either against Deebo Samuel or the SF 49ers’ standout rookie from Week 3, Brandon Aiyuk.
Yes, it’s possible the Eagles shake things up a bit, perhaps moving strong safety Jalen Mills back to the position at which he previously broke into the league. Or Philly can roll out a makeshift combination of nickel cornerbacks Nickell Robey-Coleman or Cre’von LeBlanc.
It doesn’t exactly seem like an ideal situation for Eagles head coach Doug Pederson.
True, San Francisco isn’t boasting an elite-level wide receiver corps just yet, although the thought of both Samuel and Aiyuk tearing up the secondary is awfully enticing. Aiyuk flashing his Samuel-like abilities, both receiving and rushing the ball in Week 3, creates twice the amount of headache Philadelphia’s defense would otherwise deal with.
It would be problematic enough for the Eagles to defend those two at full strength.
But they’re not at full strength at all, and the Niners are poised to benefit in a big way even with Nick Mullens starting.