The Eagles went into the 2020 offseason with a clear need a wide receiver. They failed to address the issue in free agency and avoided trades for star players, like DeAndre Hopkins, in order to maintain draft capital. It was clear the Eagles planned on fixing their biggest area of need exclusively through the draft; a questionable strategy to say the least.
Now that the 2020 NFL draft is officially over I can safely say the Eagles WR position might not be much better than it was a year ago. It’ll definitely be faster, but it might not be much better.
The Eagles were able to walk away with Jalen Reagor in the first round, a speedy wide receiver who fills a need on the outside, but he’s far from a sure thing. His poor catch rate and high drop rate paint the picture of a WR with bad hands. The pick was a reach, and there were more talented WRs available, but the Eagles fixed a need and got an intriguing prospect. All things considered, there are worse ways to start a draft.
Then came day 2…
I’m still having a hard time with this one. At pick #53, the Eagles selected quarterback(??????) Jalen Hurts out of Oklahoma. I seriously hate this pick. I understand Howie Roseman’s logic. QB is the most important position in sports, a team should strive to have the best QB room possible, taking a chance on a development QB and flipping him for picks is a great strategy, hell, I don’t even mind the idea of getting someone for two QB packages, BUT IN THE SECOND ROUND?!
History hasn’t been kind to late 2nd-round QB prospects. It’s likely that the Eagles receive less value in any potential trade for Hurts than the pick he was taken with, if any at all. Hurts will need time to develop and there’s a possibility Nate Sudfeld enters the season as QB2 on the roster. In that scenario, Hurts may be a healthy scratch on Sunday’s seeing as the Eagles don’t normally keep three QBs on game days. Despite their desire to be a, “quarterback factory,” it’s safe to wonder if the Eagles have the means to properly develop Hurts for when they might actually need him.
“This is not a first-round pick. This is the end of the second round,” said Howie Roseman after the draft, justifying the selection of a QB. If this is how the team views pick #53, then why didn’t they trade it?
This was the pick the Eagles were desperate to hold onto in trade negotiations throughout the regular season, offseason, and even the draft. After all, the Eagles were within striking distance to trade up in order to pick CeeDee Lamb – who is now a Dallas Cowboy – but they didn’t want to sacrifice their second round pick in order to do so, which is fair. But if you’re just going to draft a back-up QB with the pick, you’re better off making a trade in order to make life easier for your 27-year old, $100M starting QB.
Day 3 of the draft went a little bit better for the Eagles. They were able to add some interesting pieces on defense, acquire extra draft picks, while also getting even faster on the outside. With picks #168 and #200, the Eagles added John Hightower and Quez Watkins, respectively. They were also able to add San Fransisco 49ers’ WR Marquise Goodwin for a sixth-round pick swap. While all three are intriguing, fast options, Reagor too, they follow a pattern the Eagles have fallen into where they focus solely on fixing an issue, rather than complimenting the roster they have.
Although there were better players on the board, the Eagles drafted Donnell Pumphrey and JJ Arcega-Whiteside to fill needs. Neither player worked out. As a result, the Eagles had to readdress those same positions with future draft picks while other needs began to appear. This year, the Eagles acquired a whole bunch of blazing fast players, but none that really compliment each other well. Don’t be shocked if the Eagles are drafting a big body, boundary receiver next year.
Even more so, the Eagles are banking on production out of players history tell us won’t produce. They needed to come away with more than just one wide receiver in this draft class. Hightower and Watkins are exciting players, but expecting production out of fifth and sixth round rookies is a bad bet. People like to point to Darius Slayton, but he’s the lone exception for fifth round picks. This is basically what the Eagles did three years ago when they selected Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson in the fourth and fifth rounds of the 2017 draft. We all know how those picks panned out.
On top of that, expecting anything out of Marquise Goodwin seems like a stretch to me as well. He’s only played a full 16-game season once in his career, he finished last year on injured reserves, he has chronic knee and ankle issues, and he turns 30 in November. Investing a sixth-round pick in Goodwin is good value, but the Eagles need more than value, they need a receiver who will play. Goodwin is the exact type of speedy WR the Eagles have been adding in recent years that have led to their desperate need for speed at WR. You’d think after losing Mike Wallace and Desean Jackson for full seasons, the Eagles would’ve learned their lesson, and yet here we are.
So after failing to acquire a single wide receiver leading up to the draft, the Eagles add Jalen Reagor and a whole bunch of question marks. The Eagles had the worst wide receiver corps in football last year and this is how they try to fix the problem? It’s just not enough. Barring a move to acquire a veteran receiver, it’s likely the Eagles go into next season with one of the league’s worst wide receiver groups, which is extremely disappointing. Let’s just hope the Jalen Hurts packages are ready for when they’re needed.
Snowballs & Batteries 