bigrus

Meet Christian Parker, the coach behind the Eagles’ revamped CB room

Harry November 3, 2024

In the brief moments between Eagles’ practice periods, quinyon mitchell He developed a narrative ritual.

As the team takes a break for special teams drills, the rookie first-round cornerback walks to an empty field, finds his position coach, and continues his shared quest to accelerate his development as quickly as possible.

Lined up across from Mitchell, sometimes imitating the wide receiver he would face most often, is Eagles defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Christian Parker the following Sunday. He’s the 32-year-old, Jordan-wearing, watch-collecting assistant coach behind the Eagles’ resurgent secondary and the one who initially caught Mitchell off guard with his insistence that they waste no time on the practice field.

“I always believed that,” Parker told The Inquirer. “We don’t have a lot of time if we’re on the grass, so we’d better make the most of it. It’s not a full speed thing, it’s mainly just the training of the eyes, the feet and the hands and the technical development of all that. He’s gotten used to the routine now. At first it’s a one-off thing.” “He might have thought it was something, but we do it every day.”

“I think he’s starting to look forward to it,” Parker added. “First of all, because I’m a taker sometimes.”

Later in practice, when the offense was set up and the defense had a moment to spare, Mitchell’s fellow rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean and several other secondary members will also join.

“He’s always trying to manipulate us,” DeJean said with a smile.

It’s a small thing, but it’s symbolic when considering the relationship the coach has developed with his youngest players over the past few months. With both Mitchell and DeJean slotting seamlessly into the Eagles’ defensive backfield, it’s hard to miss Parker’s contributions, both through his individual work during practice and his open-door policy in his office.

“You’ll see him every day at practice pulling those two aside,” safety Reed Blankenship said. “I know they go to his office a lot, both together and individually, so they just maintain that communication. It means a lot, especially as a rookie, to have a coach like that that you can trust and turn to for anything. “He’ll always have their back and they’re really great players, especially great guys, and he’s a huge part of that.”

‘Younger than Slay’

Christian Parker tried to do a backflip but couldn’t break his Jordans.

It was day two of the NFL draft, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman Within days, Parker had added a second, much-hyped candidate to the position room, and the newly hired assistant was in near disbelief.

“I didn’t think it would be possible,” Parker said. “So when this happened and Howie told me we were taking Coop too, if I had different shoes on I would have done a backflip down the hall.”

By Parker’s estimate, Parker’s collection includes about 300 pairs of Air Jordans, as well as smaller collections of signature shoes from Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, to more vintage collectibles like Penny Hardaway’s signature sneakers and Nike “Foamposites” Contains approximately 400 pairs of sneakers. Let’s go back to the 1990s.

“It probably started with my aunt,” Parker said. “My mother had an older sister, she passed away a few years ago. He didn’t have any children, so I’m his child. It was kind of our job. Space Jam and Jordan and stuff like that. “I also grew to love design and how it matched different elements of his career.”

Parker’s interest in fashion, which extends to watches, is one of the few commonalities between him and the players he coaches.

The music he plays in the boardroom, which includes Jay-Z and J. Cole, and his tendency to occasionally poke fun at his players during lighter moments of the week, act as a balancing act for the demands he makes on the band.

When asked which players he was toughest on, most in his position group agreed that Blankenship got the worst of it, with Mitchell coming in right behind him.

“I’m one of those guys where I can get a little sensitive and react to everything you say,” Blankenship said. “I started thinking, ‘Okay, they’re just doing this to get a reaction from me,’ because I’m one of the guys that’s going to give them a reaction. Then that will just add fuel to the fire.”

Parker gets that back from his players from time to time. Most people agree that he doesn’t act his age, but that won’t stop them from occasionally reminding him of the most important elder in the boardroom: the 33-year-old Massacre of Darius.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is being younger than Slay,” cornerback Isaiah Rodgers said. “But he’s an old soul, he’s a Jay-Z fan, he loves music, he fits the room perfectly. He’s been coaching for a while, so he’s acting like an old head. “It’s good because we need it, but when we go to our Indy practices, he moves with us.”

Safety Tristin McCollum added, “He knows the culture. He cracks jokes, makes fun of the players, definitely makes the meeting area less tense. “That goes a long way in terms of the mental ability of the players.”

ready for this

It didn’t take long for Parker to realize that both Mitchell and DeJean would be ready for key roles on the Eagles’ defense relatively early in their careers.

I watch Mitchell one-on-one in training A.J. Brown And DeVonta SmithThe former Toledo standout’s play during replays and demeanor thereafter foreshadowed his seamless integration into the team’s starting lineup ahead of Week 1. DeJean’s moment came later due to a hamstring injury that kept him out of most of training camp, but the team transitioned into camp. His first five corner kicks coincided with the defense’s most dominant stretch of the season after the bye week.

“You knew there was opportunity,” Parker said. “But you still don’t know until you’re thrown into the fire. So it was Green Bay for Q, first down on third down, they double move him and he fires back to Christian Watson in the end zone. You saw that he was ready for this. It’s probably the first series for Coop against Cleveland. He comes right out and the dialogue from the field, the recall and everything, you say, ‘Okay, this guy is ready for the NFL stadium.'”

The Eagles entered the offseason needing to rebuild a secondary that ranked near the bottom by most metrics in 2023-24, and both did so in free agency in the draft. Roseman signed safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson in free agency, drafted Mitchell 21st overall, and traded 10 spots the next day to take DeJean 40th overall after the former Iowa standout moved into the second round.

Talent injection – along with changes to the coaching staff Vic Fangio Serving as defensive coordinator and having a staff of former assistants, including Parker, has led the group to take another turn over the last 12 months. Last season, the Eagles ranked 31st in passing yards allowed, 31st in third-down efficiency and 29th in above-average defensive-adjusted value against the pass. By comparison, the group sit 10th in passes allowed this season, 20th in third pass efficiency and 15th in DVOA, with their most dominant performances coming in the last three weeks.

Parker’s appointment may have been overlooked at first due to the few appointments Fangio brought. The Flemington, N.J., native, who played college football at Virginia State, worked on Fangio’s staff with the Denver Broncos in 2021. He spent two more seasons with the Broncos after Fangio was fired and played a role in the development of All-Pro cornerback Patrick Surtain II. .

“His knowledge of the game was way beyond his years,” Surtain told The Inquirer earlier this week. “Especially early. … It’s a testament to his work ethic, his understanding and his knowledge of the game.”

Surtain also noted the balance between Parker’s approach and that of Fangio, an old-school coach known for not mincing words.

“It’s a good balance,” Surtain said. “Sometimes you want a hard-nosed coach who will attack you, but you also want a laid-back coach who knows how to get the best out of you. “There was a good balance between the two of them and their relationship, and their bond says a lot about both of them.”

‘In pursuit of perfection’

Parker was reluctant to draw too many comparisons between his time coaching Surtain or the two years he spent working with Jaire Alexander as a quality control coach with the Green Bay Packers and what he’s now taking on with the Eagles’ rookie pairing.

But what’s feasible is to start by addressing the kinds of things a young corner might be too shy to ask themselves.

“NFL 101,” as Parker puts it, involves determining where the hashes are, where the numbers are relative to them and what specific route concepts are trying to accomplish. It also includes Kahoot games, where players compete to see who can answer questions about plans and game situations the fastest.

“These guys are all talented, they’re here for a reason,” Parker said. “So you just want to be convinced of the little details required.”

These details are often discussed in separate meetings or texts between him, Mitchell and DeJean. The two made a habit of testing Parker’s open-door policy by stopping by at random times; But Parker has one condition if they stop by.

“I tell them they need to come with questions,” Parker said. “They usually come with an initial goal and I go from there. … It’s like buying complementary things that might not be appropriate for the entire room, but focus more on them.”

One week, they entered his office early and turned off the lights to catch the bus that constantly needed them.

“He had no idea,” DeJean said. “He came in and we scared him.”

Parker’s harshest recent jabs at both the rookie pair and veteran cornerback Rodgers have come down to the group’s failure to intervene despite their collective opportunity. The Eagles have three interceptions so far this season, all of them coming from Gardner-Johnson and Blankenship.

Joking aside, Rodgers said Parker predicted Slay before a key pass breakup occurred after he was injured against the Bengals. The 26-year-old forward threw a pass to Bengals star receiver Ja’Marr Chase, setting up Gardner-Johnson’s fourth-quarter interception.

This was more of a warning than a prophecy. Parker explained that Rodgers has been untested this season and is paired with one of the league’s best offensive players in Chase. It was only a matter of time before Cincinnati took a deep shot into the backup corner.

“He actually told me I was going to make that big play,” Rodgers said. “He told me I would choose him, but I didn’t. “I told him I would get him the ball and bring it to him, but I didn’t, so now he’s telling me to go get him a ball this week.”

Rodgers, who is expected to start Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, isn’t the only one hoping to get the ball back to the secondary coach. Mitchell leads the team with six interceptions and has come close to his first career interception on numerous occasions this season.

The second fact is that Parker reminds him often these days.

“He always talks about my hands and me not being able to catch the ball,” Mitchell said. “It’s all from the heart, I know it’s all love. … Pursuing perfection.

“I think he’s doing this for a reason. I feel like he sees something in me.”

The Eagles face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9. Join Eagles beating reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they break down the hottest stories surrounding the team. Game Day CenterWe’re live from Lincoln Financial Field.