Jalen Mills

Mills was signed this offseason to beef up New England's secondary after recording a career-high 74 tackles with the Eagles last season. He's projected to start the season as the team's starting right cornerback, with incumbent Stephin Gilmore slated to miss at least six games while on the PUP list.

Mills is moving to safety in 2020 and will be tasked with replacing stalwart Malcolm Jenkins, whose option the Eagles declined. In converting the 26-year-old from cornerback, the team is taking a sizable risk, considering Mills has played the position in just one game in his whole pro career - Week 11 of last season against the Patriots - and he's never quite excelled at his old job in four years in the league. Will Parks signed on as insurance and fourth-round pick K'Von Wallace waits in the wings in case Mills isn't up to the task, but if he is he should easily surpass his career-high 62 tackles while contributing a solid number of pass breakups and a few sacks.

Mills sprained his foot Week 8 of last season and didn't play another down the rest of the way. Before entering OTAs with the injury in tow, he flirted with the NFL's personal conduct policy, getting arrested in mid-April for a fight with Devin Robinson, a forward in the NBA. Mills likely has a starting gig, when healthy and available, but he'll have his work cut out for him in the final year of his rookie contract and other capable corners (Ronald Darby, Avonte Maddox, Cre'von LeBlanc, Rasul Douglas) on the roster.

Mills shored up what was supposed to be a weak position in Philadelphia in 2017, exceeding his rookie-season tackle total with 64 and doubling the number of passes he defensed to 14 to go with three interceptions. He projects to retain his starting cornerback gig at least at the start of the season, but as perhaps the most versatile of the Eagles' defensive backs, he (along with his IDP value) could shift to the slot and/or nickelback in order to accommodate 2017 second-round pick Sidney Jones - if the latter can prove he's fully recovered from his ruptured Achilles. With another 2017 draftee, Rasul Douglas, also in the mix for snaps, Mills may not be on the field as much in the upcoming season, which would lower his ceiling in fantasy leagues.

After falling to the seventh round of the 2016 draft, the LSU product ended up becoming a starter over the course of his first NFL season. A year later, Mills' gig seems safe since the only serious alternatives the Eagles have are injury-prone 30-year-old-to-be Patrick Robinson and rookie Rasul Douglas, who will likely battle it out for the other starting corner slot. After recording 62 tackles and deflecting seven passes last year, Mills could very well repeat or exceed that production in 2017.

Though taken in the seventh round, Mills was generally thought of as a mid-round talent prior to the draft. What's more, head coach Doug Pederson is on record saying that Mills is already in front of 2015 second-round pick Eric Rowe on the CB depth chart. However, Mills is still firmly behind a trio of Leodis McKelvin, Nolan Carroll and Ron Brooks and may not see the field often during his rookie campaign.