When DeMeco Ryans sees Byron Maxwell, he sees better days ahead for the Eagles’ beleaguered secondary.
When he sees Kiko Alonso, he’s sees a ball-hawking, sideline-to-sideline, vintage inside linebacker.
When he sees Mychal Kendricks, he sees an up-and-coming teammate who’ll be around in 2015 despite speculation that the fourth-year linebacker will be the next Chip Kelly roster subtraction.
During an appearance Thursday on Comcast SportsNet’s Quick Slants, Ryans said he envisions an inside linebacker rotation among himself, Alonso and Kendricks that will make the Eagles’ 3-4 defense deeper, more flexible and more impactful in 2015.
“I definitely see some type of rotation,” Ryans said. “We play our base defense with two linebackers on the inside. I don’t see [why] we [couldn’t] possibly add some more kind of schemes or we could possibly have three ’backers on the field, where me, Kiko and Mychal are all out there together. That would be a nice mix-up. We definitely have a lot of pieces to play with. [Defensive coordinator] Billy [Davis] can draw up a lot of different schemes and utilize all of our talents.
Kendricks, a 2012 second-round pick, became a question mark recently when the Eagles traded for former Bills inside linebacker Alonso and extended Ryans’ contract through 2016, preserving the 10-year veteran’s roster spot for this coming season as he’s progressing quickly from the Achilles tendon rupture he suffered Nov. 2 (see story).
Alonso is coming off an ACL tear that cost him his second season in Buffalo, but Kelly dealt LeSean McCoy to the Bills for the former Oregon star, so it’s expected that Alonso will start if he’s healthy.
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Ryans briefly met Alonso this week at the NovaCare Complex.
“What I’ve seen in highlights from him in Buffalo is just interceptions, a bunch of tackles, he’s all over the place,” Ryans added. “He’s just that old school MIKE linebacker running sideline to sideline. He adds a lot of versatility to our inside linebacker group.”
Ryans’ extension and Alonso’s addition seemed to indicate movement for Kendricks, either to a backup/nickel role or to another team via trade. Kendricks has started all but one game when he’s been healthy since his rookie year.
Ryans thinks Kendricks is staying and he thinks the Eagles are much better equipped on defense than they’ve been since Kelly took over in 2013.
“I feel like this is a much improved defense,” he said. “It’s better on the outside [corner], which we struggled last year. I feel like we’ve upgraded there with Maxwell, a guy you’ve seen make a lot of plays with the Seahawks.
“A guy like Kiko, whose rookie year he was really an outstanding player … playmaker all over the field, and another guy, [cornerback Walter] Thurmond, who is expected to push guys to start on the other side. I feel like we upgraded at a lot of positions and I feel like it’s really going to improve our defense.”