Eagles clearly have a new starting safety

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Avonte Maddox is the Eagles' new starting safety. 

The rookie defensive back, who had never played safety just a few weeks ago, was announced with the starters before the game and then played all 62 defensive snaps in the Eagles' 23-21 loss to the Vikings. 

The Eagles lost that game for plenty of reasons, but Maddox wasn't one of them. He's still learning the position, but it's impressive that he's been able to learn it on the fly. 

Before Sunday's game, Maddox had just 20 career snaps that came in last week's game. He more than tripled that number on Sunday. This is likely the workload we'll see from him the rest of the season without Rodney McLeod, who tore up his knee in the Colts game. 

With Maddox starting, Corey Graham played just three snaps. Graham got hurt in the game too, but these three snaps come after he played 71 last week. The Eagles clearly like Graham better off the bench and are apparently going with Maddox the rest of the way. 

Other defensive snap count notes

• Maddox, Malcolm Jenkins, Jalen Mills and Jordan Hicks played all 62 snaps. Hicks is the only defensive player who hasn't left the field this year. 

• Without Derek Barnett (shoulder), Michael Bennett's snaps took a jump. Brandon Graham led the way for defensive ends with 52 snaps (84 percent), followed by Bennett (49) and Chris Long (29). 

• Josh Sweat was a small part of the rotation. He played the first eight snaps of his career as the fourth defensive end. 

• Without Haloti Ngata (calf), Destiny Vaeao played 46 snaps (74 percent), both season highs. Fletcher Cox played 53 snaps (85 percent), while Treyvon Hester, signed off the practice squad this week, played 11 snaps. 

Offensive snap count notes 

• Corey Clement was active but didn't play because he's still nursing a quad injury. Jay Ajayi and Wendell Smallwood were on the field for 29 plays each. Ajayi had just eight carries and Smallwood had just three. Josh Adams got just one snap and it came on that pitch on third down in the first quarter where he lost a yard. Weird call. 

• Alshon Jeffery (54 snaps) and Nelson Agholor (52) barely left the field, but the next closest at receiver was Jordan Matthews with 22 snaps. The Eagles are still missing Mike Wallace. They're trying different personnel packages to get by, but Doug Pederson would probably like to get to more 11 personnel; that's been his thing. 

• Zach Ertz played 57 of 62 snaps and Dallas Goedert played 35. Josh Perkins was on the field just once. Not much 13 personnel after we'd seen it in previous weeks. 

• Isaac Seumalo started at left guard and played all 59 snaps. So did Brandon Brooks, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce and Carson Wentz. Jason Peters missed four snaps. 

• Shelton Gibson got just nine snaps, but he did have that big 48-yard catch. Let's see some more Gibson. 

Here's a full look at Sunday's snap counts: 

Offense

Brandon Brooks: 59 snaps (100 percent)
Lane Johnson: 59 (100)
Isaac Seumalo: 59 (100)
Jason Kelce: 59 (100)
Carson Wentz: 59 (100)
Zach Ertz: 57 (97)
Jason Peters: 55 (93)
Alshon Jeffery: 54 (92)
Nelson Agholor: 52 (88)
Dallas Goedert: 35 (59)
Wendell Smallwood: 29 (49)
Jay Ajayi: 29 (49)
Jordan Matthews: 22 (37)
Shelton Gibson: 9 (15)
Halapoulivaati Vaitai: 9 (15)
Josh Perkins: 1 (2)
Kamar Aiken: 1 (2)
Josh Adams: 1 (2)

Defense

Avonte Maddox: 62 snaps (100 percent)
Malcolm Jenkins: 62 (100)
Jordan Hicks: 62 (100)
Jalen Mills: 62 (100)
Ronald Darby: 60 (97)
Nigel Brdaham: 59 (95)
Fletcher Cox: 53 (85)
Brandon Graham: 52 (84)
Michael Bennett: 49 (79)
Destiny Vaeao: 46 (74)
Sidney Jones: 40 (65)
Chris Long: 29 (47)
Kamu Grugier-Hill: 20 (32)
Treyvon Hester: 11 (18)
Josh Sweat: 8 (13)
Rasul Douglas: 3 (5)
Corey Graham: 3 (5)
LaRoy Reynolds: 1 (2)

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