Anyone that watched the Philadelphia Eagles this season knows that it’s PAINFULLY obvious that some upgrades need to be done to the wide receiver position.
Wide receiver Jordan Matthews had a solid season (117 targets, 73 receptions, 804 yards, three touchdowns), and fourth-year tight end Zach Ertz contributed another 78 receptions for 816 yards and four touchdowns on 106 targets. From there, the drop-off is as severe and obvious as Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff while in pursuit of the Road Runner.
No other Eagles receiver caught 50 passes. Dorial Green-Beckham and second-year wideout Nelson Agholor combined for 72 receptions. Darren Sproles kicked in 52 receptions, but Sproles has already announced that he will retire at the end of the 2017-2018 season. Changes and additions need to come, and they need to come as fast as Sproles runs on a screen pass.
One name that should be considered that perhaps no one is mentioning is Kenny Stills — the 24-year-old fourth-year receiver currently playing (or should I say whose season ended) with the Miami Dolphins. Stills caught 42 passes on 81 targets for 726 yards and had nine touchdowns playing in Adam Gase’s system with Ryan Tannehill under center. There is some feeling about wide receivers who have previously played with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, and those feelings are justified. Even a guy who was as dominant in New Orleans as Jimmy Graham has looked simply average since moving to Seattle. (I grant you that some of that has to do with the offensive system in Seattle.)
Folks probably felt the same way about Stills after his first year in Miami after he was traded there for Dannell Ellerbe in March of 2015. In his first year with the Dolphins and head coach Joe Philbin, Stills looked mighty pedestrian. Fast forward to this year, and the former Oklahoma Sooner looked like the player in New Orleans with new head coach Adam Gase.
Bigger names will be available in free agency. Chicago’s Alshon Jeffery will be a free agent and Terrelle Pryor (my personal pick) may be available in free agency. There have been rumors and mutterings about a possible Desean Jackson return to Philadelphia. Jeffery comes with injury baggage and a recent suspension for PEDs, and Jackson turned 30 last month. If you’re familiar with how the Eagles do things, I find it hard to believe they’ll sign a big money free agent over age 30 — even if it is only by a few months.
The obvious draft name Eagles fans will be hoping for is Mike Williams — the Clemson wide receiver who caught 14 passes for 190 yards (including this tasty grab in the fourth quarter) and a touchdown in this year’s College Football Playoffs against Ohio State and Alabama. At 6’3″, 225 lbs., Williams is without a doubt the prototype at wide receiver you want to pair with a young quarterback like Carson Wentz for the next five to ten years and more. Here’s the problem. After his performance in the CFP, there’s a decreasing chance that Williams won’t be available at pick 14 when the Eagles have their selection.
(If I were a betting man, I’d say he goes #5 to Tennessee to give rising star Marcus Mariota a serious receiver threat to go along with their bludgeoning running game. Think about that. Mariota with that running game setting up play action bombs to Williams? Yikes.)
That brings me back to the free agent class. Assuming Mike Williams is taken early in the draft, the Eagles should load up on two players: Terrelle Pryor and Stills. Pryor has been a revelation since moving to receiver from quarterback (77 catches, 1007 yards, four touchdowns in 2016), and maybe he’s thinking that his career could be better if he got outside of the Cleveland city limits with a quarterback who can actually get him the football. Thomas Jackson at Eagles Eye dove into the prospect of Pryor even further yesterday.
Stills can be the guy that can stretch the field that will remind Eagles fans of Desean Jackson without the hefty pay stub that would be attached to Jackson’s name. Stills ran a 4.38 forty at the combine in 2013. Jackson ran 4.35 in 2008. Both guys are plenty speedy, but here’s the kicker. Stills is 24 versus Jackson’s 30. A receiving corp of Pryor, Matthews, Stills, and Ertz — which sounds like the coolest law firm ever, by the way — would make soon to be sophomore Carson Wentz drool with excitement.
I only have one request if and when Stills catches his first touchdown in an Eagles uniform.
Please do the Hingle McCringleberry celebration that your former teammate Lance Moore did. That celebration will never get old. Never.
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