Five things to know about new Eagles defender Johnathan Cyprien

The Philadelphia Eagles officially signed safety Johnathan Cyprien on Friday evening and it was a curious development because it’s not perfectly clear how he fits in to the roster picture.

In an attempt to better get to know the player, I thought it’d benefit BGN readers to get a Titans perspective on him since he spent his last two seasons in Tennessee. In order to do that, I reached out to Jimmy Morris (@jmorrisMCM) of Music City Miracles. Here’s what he had to say.

1 - Can you summarize his stint with the Titans?

When the Titans signed Cyprien we expected them to use him primarily as an in the box safety. That is clearly the strength of his game. However, that is not how they used him. Dick LeBeau used him and Kevin Byard almost interchangeably. That left Cyprien in alone in coverage sometime and that is not his strength.

I will say that he is great in the locker room and at mentoring other players. Cyp tore his ACL in camp last year. The Titans brought in Kenny Vaccaro after that happened. This offseason Vaccaro got emotional when talking about the Titans cutting Cyp because of everything he did to help Vaccaro last season - and that was for a guy that Cyprien pretty much knew was going to end up taking his spot on the roster.

2 - What were his strengths?

His strength is in the box. He struggles in coverage but is a very reliable run stopper that isn’t afraid to come up and make a tackle.

3 - What were his weaknesses?

Anytime he is 1 on 1 in coverage it is not great.

4 - What’s your confidence level in him being a reliable contributor on defense? As a safety? As a linebacker?

He is so much better as an extra linebacker than a single-high safety.

5 - Anything to know about him off the field?

As I said above, he is great in the locker room. He is a guy that will step in and mentor younger players.

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Cyppy Cuy highlights (warning — NSFW lyrics):

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