EAGLEMANIACAL.com

SOMETHING has gotten lost in all the talk of QB Carson Wentz’s health, his contract, his budding chemistry with WR DeSean Jackson, the progress of rookie WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, and the return of record setting TE Zach Ertz. Specifically what has been lost, is the fact that WR Alshon Jeffery, is still the #1 WR on this Offense.

During Wentz’s 2017 MVP-caliber run, 8 of his 33 touchdown passes found their way into Jeffery’s hands. Ertz caught 7 from Wentz that year. In 2018 Jeffery caught 5 and Ertz 6 from Wentz, for a total of 13 apiece, in two seasons. As a scoring weapon, no Eagle has been a bigger threat than Jeffery, with Wentz at the helm. This is despite 54 fewer targets and 68 fewer catches than Ertz, over that span.

In the last two years, Ertz has 1 touchdown in the postseason, the one from the Super Bowl. In that same span Jeffery has 3, one of which was also in that Super Bowl.

While all the talk is about how the top will now come off of opposing defenses, the fact is, we have a guy who is open even when he is covered, due to his insane catch radius. Also he’s a tall guy. He can also jump really high. Put bluntly, Jeffery is a motherfucking problem. Just ask the guy who used to be Josh Norman:

Given more space to roam this upcoming season, over the course of 16 games, I would expect him to produce somewhere in the neighborhood of a career-high 11 touchdowns. Probably 3 of which will involve going up for a jump ball with a guy who loses, and then can’t quite bring Alshon down.

So this is just a reminder Eagles fans. While the world may have forgotten about Jeffery, or written him off due to a drop, don’t you sleep on him too.