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Eagles' Vic Fangio finally names a starter at other safety spot
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- Eagles' Vic Fangio finally names a starter at other safety spot
Eagles' Vic Fangio finally names a starter at other safety spot originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
After watching a position battle all summer at training camp, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio finally named a starting safety on Thursday afternoon.
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Veteran Marcus Epps will start in Week 1.
Throughout training camp, Epps competed with Michael Carter II for the starting safety position next to Drew Mukuba in the Eagles' defense. In the base package, Cooper DeJean will play safety, so that will leave about 75% of the team's defensive snaps left for Epps.
"He was just solid the whole way through," Fangio said of Epps. "But we still like Michael and we have the ability to play him some there too."
It's not a surprise to hear that Epps won the spot. Even though Fangio called this a competition throughout the summer, Epps got the bulk of the first-team snaps and didn't do anything to lose the job. Carter probably had more flash plays but Epps won the battle with consistency.
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Epps, 30, is entering his eighth NFL season and has played in 94 games with 49 starts. He was a full-time starter for the Eagles in 2022 and the Raiders in 2023 before suffering a season-ending injury early in 2024.
Last summer, Epps was released by the Patriots at final cuts and joined the Eagles' practice squad. Epps ended up playing in 12 games and made 4 starts for the Eagles last year and filled in admirably when Mukuba went down for the season in late November.
"It would mean everything to me," Epps said late last month about possibly being a starter again. "I worked real hard to get back to where I'm at. It was a lot of dark days but I still got work to do. I haven't arrived by any means. It's a long season and we're still here just in camp. That's where my focus is, finishing out camp the right way and continuing to get better."
Epps will replace Reed Blankenship , who left the Eagles in free agency to joint the Houston Texans in March.
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Even though Epps is the starter at safety, the Eagles still have plans for Carter, who will back up multiple spots and will be the sixth defensive back on the field when the Eagles use their dime package.
"Michael is very versatile," Fangio said. "Can play nickel, can play dime, can play safety and we plan on using him."
