NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Avonte Maddox played the first 20 defensive snaps of his NFL career Sunday afternoon. And he played them at a new position.
Having never played safety before this weekend, Maddox was the extra DB on the field when the Eagles went to their dime package. He was on the field for 28 percent of defensive snaps as their centerfielder.
Maddox, who hadn’t played on defense in the first three games, had an up-and-down game. He had his first career interception but also gave up the game-winning touchdown in the 26-23 overtime loss to the Titans.
The Eagles obviously missed Rodney McLeod, who had knee surgery and was put on IR. Corey Graham played all 71 defensive snaps in his absence. This is going to be his normal workload going forward.
Other defensive snap count notes
• Derek Barnett played the most snaps of the defensive ends for the second consecutive game. That’s even more impressive because, unlike Michael Bennett and Brandon Graham, Barnett doesn’t slide inside on passing downs. Barnett played 54 snaps (76 percent), followed by Graham (41 snaps, 58 percent), Michael Bennett (36 snaps, 51 percent) and Chris Long (29 snaps, 41 percent).
• Corey Graham, Jalen Mills and Jordan Hicks played all 71 snaps, while Malcolm Jenkins and Ronald Darby played 70. Jordan Hicks is the only guy to play every defensive snap so far this season (258).
NFL
• Fletcher Cox played 60 snaps and continues to play a really high percentage of defensive snaps. He came into the game at 87 percent and played 85 percent in this game.
• After Destiny Vaeao played more snaps than Haloti Ngata in the opener, Ngata has clearly overtaken him on the depth chart. On Sunday, Ngata played a season-high 37 snaps, while Vaeao had 21. Ngata picked up his first sack of the year.
Offensive snap count notes
• I was wondering how much Alshon Jeffery would play in his 2018 debut. Not only because of the shoulder injury, but because he had a nasty virus during the week. But Jeffery played 65 snaps (83 percent) and had his first 100-yard game as an Eagle. He was one of the few bright spots from the loss.
• Without Corey Clement (quad) and Darren Sproles (hamstring), Jay Ajayi led the way for the running backs with 41 snaps, followed by Wendell Smallwood (36) and Josh Adams (1). Ajayi and Smallwood had pretty good games and they probably weren’t used enough in the run game.
• It looks like Jordan Matthews has clearly overtaken Kamar Aiken on the depth chart. Aside form Matthews’ 56-yard touchdown, he was also on the field much more Sunday. Matthews played 47 snaps (60 percent), while Aiken played just 9. But before you think the Eagles are going to cut Aiken, it’s important to note that he played 16 special teams snaps. Meanwhile, Shelton Gibson got just three offensive snaps, but is also a big special teams contributor.
• Dallas Goedert had just two catches for 13 yards, but at least he played more than Josh Perkins in this game. Goedert played 31 snaps (40 percent), while Perkins played just eight. Zach Ertz barely leaves the field anymore. He played 97 percent of the snaps (76).
• Carson Wentz and the starting OL (aside from Brandon Brooks, who missed one snap) played every down. That’s impressive because Jason Kelce is clearly hobbled by something and Jason Peters left the field to get checked out, but ran back out there before missing a play.
Here’s a full look at snap counts from Sunday:
Offense
Lane Johnson: 78 snaps (100 percent)
Stefen Wisniewski: 78 (100)
Jason Kelce: 78 (100)
Jason Peters: 78 (100)
Carson Wentz: 78 (100)
Brandon Brooks: 77 (99)
Zach Ertz: 76 (97)
Nelson Agholor: 72 (92)
Alshon Jeffery: 65 (83)
Jordan Matthews: 47 (60)
Jay Ajayi: 41 (53)
Wendell Smallwood: 36 (46)
Dallas Goedert: 31 (40)
Kamar Aiken: 9 (12)
Josh Perkins: 8 (10)
Shelton Gibson: 3 (4)
Isaac Seumalo: 2 (3)
Josh Adams: 1 (1)
Defense
Corey Graham: 71 snaps (100 percent)
Jalen Mills: 71 (100)
Jordan Hicks: 71 (100)
Malcolm Jenkins: 70 (99)
Ronald Darby: 70 (99)
Fletcher Cox: 60 (85)
Nigel Bradham: 57 (80)
Derek Barnett: 54 (76)
Sidney Jones: 48 (68)
Brandon Graham: 41 (58)
Haloti Ngata: 37 (52)
Michael Bennett: 36 (51
Chris Long: 29 (41)
Destiny Vaeao: 21 (30)
Avonte Maddox: 20 (28)
Kamu Grugier-Hill: 18 (25)
Bruce Hector: 6 (8)
Nate Gerry: 1 (1)