Jim Schwartz said this week that Thursday's third preseason game, at Cleveland, would go a long way toward defining the Eagles' nickel corner and weakside linebacking positions, and that seemed to be the case.
When Schwartz spoke, observers envisioned watching, say, corners Sidney Jones and Avonte Maddox split first-team reps against the Browns, maybe with some De'Vante Bausby sprinkled in. And the same for the WIL contenders – Kamu Grugier-Hill, Nate Gerry and Corey Nelson. Maybe they would rotate series by series, or something.
Instead, Schwartz seemed to go into the game with the decisions made, perhaps looking for them to be ratified on the field.