Jalen Mills has agreed to a one-year deal worth up to $5 million to return to the Philadelphia Eagles, agent Drew Rosenhaus told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Mills will be moving from cornerback to safety, a source told ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
Mills, who turns 26 on April 6, has been a favorite of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz since the Eagles selected him in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL draft. Schwartz values sound-tackling corners with unshakable confidence and a mean competitive streak, and Mills has all of that.
He is at his best in the red zone and has been part of some key sequences in Eagles history, including the incompletion to Julio Jones to seal Philadelphia’s divisional-round playoff win over the Atlanta Falcons in 2017 en route to the team’s first-ever Super Bowl title.
Mills lacks elite recovery speed, however, which has factored into the Eagles’ susceptibility to the deep ball in recent seasons. Mills missed the second half of the 2018 campaign and the beginning of this past season with a foot injury.
He has four interceptions and 37 passes defensed in four seasons.
ESPN’s Tim McManus contributed to this report.