Injuries force Jacquet into action, he thrives
Move works out, as CB plays all defensive snaps
Without a flurry of injuries at cornerback, there’s almost no chance the Philadelphia Eagles would have known how muchMichael Jacquet can do for them. So there’s at least one positive development in a season that has been defined by multiple disasters.
The undrafted rookie not only failed to make the team out of training camp but didn’t even get signed to the practice squad.
Not until the end of September did they offer Jacquet a practice-squad job. It took until the end of October to be promoted temporarily to the active roster. Not until Nov. 17 was he signed permanently to the active roster. And not until last Sunday at Arizona was he called upon to start against a team that featured two receivers bound for the Hall of Fame, Larry Fitzgerald and DeAndre Hopkins.
Incredibly, Jacquet played all 68 defensive snaps and finished with half a sack, a forced fumble, two pass breakups and four tackles. Perhaps more importantly, he showed he could run with Hopkins and be in great position with his 6-foot-2 frame to keep from being overpowered or outjumped for 50-50 balls. Regardless of what would happen on one play, Jacquet understands the next one is all that counts.
“Growing up in life, you know you
can’t dwell on what happens in the past,” he said. “You’ve just got to focus on the future and where your feet are at the present time. You can’t change anything that happened in the past . . . so you’ve got to go ahead and go to the next play, next day, whatever it is in life.
“That’s just how I am as a person. I don’t care about what happened in the past. I’m going to learn from it, you know, but as far as me having emotions and worrying about it, I’m not going to do that.”
In addition to bringing speed and size to the position, Jacquet also can get inside a receiver’s mind easier because he used to be one until converting to cornerback during his college career at Louisiana.
“Receivers have . . . split tendencies that they want to get to for certain routes,” he said. “Coming from receiver, you know that. Receivers like to lean and make sure they lean andcangotheother way. And I learned that — just the different things that receivers doI [add] to mycornergamebecauseI knowthedifferentthings that they want to do. So yeah, that helped me.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz wondered on Tuesday how much more Jacquet might have been helped with a full offseason and full preseason. The NFL featured none of those, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
“He was set back in training camp because we didn’t have preseason games,” Schwartz said. “Every rookie goes through a system where they start off looking really good and then they go through the doldrums of training camp where they really struggle and everything becomes overwhelming.
“It was easy at first and then it just becomes super hard. Everybody goes through that. And then they play some preseason games andget somestuffundertheir belt and they gain a little bit of confidence andthat sort of carries them through, like ‘Hey, I can do this.’ But unfortunately, weneverreally had that with Michael this year.”
Whichiswhytheyhadnoroom for him on the team to start the season.
But the injuries kept coming, and so did the roster adjustments.
“After we were able to get him back on the practice squad, he was able to keep practicing and then against the Cowboys the last time [on Nov. 1], he had to go in and play,” Schwartz said. “One thing about him is he is a confident player, and that means a lot at the corner position. He doesn’t get down if he gives up a play. He knows what the score is out there, meaning he knowsthat you don’t pitch many shutouts on the outside part of the field.
“You’re going to have to battle, particularly against great players.
They’re going to win some, you’re going to win some.”
By the time Avonte Maddox went to the injured reserve list following a win over New Orleans on Dec. 13 and Darius Slay was ruled out for the Arizona game with a concussion, Jacquet was ready for full-time action and proved it.
“Nomatterwhoitisonthefield, the standard and the expectation doesn’t change,” Jacquet said. “Those guys have done a great job of preparing me. The coaches as well have done a great job.
“I just follow their lead and continue to do what I’m doing, which is learning every day.”