The Last Straw: How to Fix the Eagles Wide Receiver Woes

Who will be our savior...

The Philadelphia Eagles are starting to turn the corner this season. With back-to-back wins against top ten defenses, the Bills and the Bears, this team is above 0.500 once again. However, for this team to make noise in the playoffs, they need to keep their momentum. A split with the Patriots and Seahawks is the bare minimum to maintain hope.

Many fans suspected that when Desean Jackson returns, the Eagles’ offense will reignite itself, but on Sunday, Jackson re-aggravated his core injury and will miss the next six weeks. To add to the despair, Howie Roseman failed to acquire Robby Anderson or Emmanuel Sanders at the trade deadline and disregarded Josh Gordon when he was placed on waivers. Additionally, every game it seems the Birds receivers are dropping critical third-down passes. Even Alshon, who is as sure-handed as it gets, has gotten a case of the drops this season. It’s spreading in that wide receiver room like an infection. Although the sky may be falling, there are some WRs available on the free-agent market: here’s three players the Eagles should consider.



Antonio Brown

Let’s preface this by stating the Eagles should solely sign Brown if there is no reasonable evidence in the NFL’s investigation that suggests he is a perpetrator.

Does Brown come with baggage? Sure. But there is nothing the Eagles could lose. If Brown starts acting up, he’ll be cut, simple as that. Besides, Brown’s multidimensionality on offense makes him perfect for Doug Pederson. Brown can play outside and occasionally in the slot. Imagine, the trickery the Eagles can do by placing Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, Nelson Agholor, or Brown in the slot on any given snap. Furthermore, the former All-Pro would assuredly be the best route-runner on this team and their most dynamic player: something the Birds desperately needs. Even if Brown is rusty out of the gate, his presence will create more one on one matchups for Zach Ertz, Alshon, and take a man out of the box, aiding the run game.

Should Howie Pull the Trigger: IMMEDIATELY!

Mike Wallace

Mike Wallace has two arguments for why Howie Roseman should resign him: he knows the offense, and he’s a big-play receiver. That later of the two, however, is questionable. Wallace is 33 and is coming off an ankle injury. He probably lost a step. Nonetheless, he is an immediate upgrade over Mack Hollins and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, especially in terms of sheer speed. In 2017, Torrey Smith, who was undoubtedly past his prime, forcing defenses to respect the deep ball, opening up intermediate dig routes, a core concept in a Doug Pederson offense. Similarly, in 2017, Mike Wallace’s last full season, he had 14.4 yards per reception. That would be the second-highest on the 2019 Philadelphia Eagles (D-Jax is the highest at 17.7).

Should Howie Pull the Trigger: Yes, but Wallace is not the first choice.

Eli Rogers

If Rogers is going to return to an NFL roster again, it’ll be because of his return capabilities. But there are two other reasons the Eagles should sign him:

  1. It serves as a statement to the locker room
  2. He may not have speed, but he’s got burst and shiftiness

Rogers is a slot receiver, so the expectation is for him to light a fire under Nelson, and if not, Eli has the skill set to be effective in distinct packages, specifically the bunch formation. On the other hand, Rogers did have an ACL injury in 2017; however, the Eagles could strike lightning in a bottle.

Should Howie Pull the Trigger: If all else fails.

Bonus—Should Howie Roseman Sign Jordan Matthews?

It seems inevitable that Jordan Matthews will sign with Eagles by the end of the week. He even to this day Matthews has a few positives:

  1. He knows the offense
  2. Generally, is reliable: knows where he needs to be in terms of route running and has good hands
  3. Great locker room guy
  4. He has extraordinary chemistry with Carson Wentz

Despite Matthews’ positive attributes, stating he’s on the slower side is far from an exaggeration, nor is his ability after the catch. Moreover, JJ Arcega-Whiteside deserves his number to get called over Jordan. He, similar to Matthews, is not a burner but has the potential to be a number two receiver in this league. Coming out of college, experts (including myself) considered JJ as a reliable target with a massive catch radius and a monster in the red-zone. The typical rebuttal is that he, Arcega-Whiteside, will never get the amount of separation that a guy like Marvin Jones Jr does, but JJ was projected to be a 50/50 go up and snag the ball type of receiver, not a shifty speedster. Although most Eagles fans wrote him off after that game-ending drop against the Lions, he’s a rookie and deserves an opportunity, especially against the likes of Jordan Matthews.

The clock is running out on the Eagles, Doug Pederson has done enough in the last two games to pull out a win, but that style of victory, methodically driving down the field, is not sustainable. Either Howie Roseman has to make a move, or the coaching staff needs to bring the juice out of these wide receivers.

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Featured photo from Matthew Straubmuller