NBC’S Reuben Frank put out a steaming pile of bullshit, that called Alshon Jeffery a James Thrash clone. In it, he compares some “average season” stats, and delivers it with absolutely no context. When I see this from professional journalists, I want to just…
.
On one hand, it assumes the reader is smart, because it attempts to persuade with statistics. On the other hand, it assumes we’re stupid, because it talks as if We The Fans haven’t watched both men play, and don’t get what’s going on here. (I’ll get into that in a minute.)
I’m guessing “Roob” either knows he’s full of shit, or he doesn’t do his homework:
1) Over the three seasons Thrash was here, he was QB Donovan McNabb‘s #1 targeted receiver.
2) Over the three seasons Jeffery has been here, he’s been QB Carson Wentz’s #2 targeted receiver.
3) As you can clearly see below, Jeffery has outproduced Thrash despite being fed the ball less:
Here’s what’s going down. This is the Eagles using a beat writer to drive the opinions of pinheads, who’ll call into WIP, and parrot whatever they read that morning. The idea is to promote the perception that “the public” wants to cut Jeffery, so the Eagles then can do it with less backlash, even if they don’t already have a suitable replacement.
Kind of like the dumb shit they did with cutting LB Nigel Bradham. Even I was surprised by the level of public backlash on that one. I figured Eagles fans would scarcely notice it, but nope. Boy did you! So this is likely the Front Office telegraphing the move, and trying to manipulate the perception that we fans want this. Some do. Most don’t.
I already said in THE 12, that we should keep Jeffery, letting he and DeSean Jackson help groom the kid we draft this year. Developing youth is the way to go here. Let me go on record now, and say that our options for moving Jeffery are likely worse than what we have already.
The flavor of the week is Minnesota’s WR Stephon Diggs. I find it hilarious that the idea is to replace Alshon’s attitude, with Diggs’ history of attitude issues, publicly criticizing his QB, and requesting to be traded. Here’s a link for those who didn’t know.
Some of you want to hamstring our salary cap, by paying Cowboys WR Amari Cooper 20 million or more per year. Amari has a terrible habit of losing interest during games, and whole chunks of the season. Remember our last game against them, where the Cowboys coaching staff benched him on he last play of the game (a CB Sidney Jones deflection in the end zone).
But we need to swap Jeffery out for this guy, right?
Someone also mentioned WR Breshad Perriman. In 5 seasons he’s played in just 51 games out of a possible 80, with just 10 career starts, while never starting more than 4 games in any year. While he’d be nice to have in camp, and maybe keep as a 4th, he’s by no means a 16 week starter.
Free agent WR Robby Anderson? Former Temple player. I could kind of see this one. But odds are, the Jets would overpay Anderson to keep him and provide consistency for their young franchise QB.
There are other names: A.J. Green, Emmanuel Sanders, both older. Reclamation projects like Josh Gordon and Devin Funchess. Or scratch-off tickets like DeMarcus Robinson, Tajae Sharpe, or Laquon Treadwell.
Instead of Jeffery? Really? These guys are who we hand to Wentz, and then expect more from him? That dog don’t even hunt.
No. Don’t let these beat writers tell you different. Alshon Jeffery is no James Thrash, and will be harder to replace than you think. Much harder. Especially given that WR Nelson Agholor won’t be back. (Forgot about that, huh?) That would force Wentz into learning an entirely new WR corp.
Nah. Keep Jeffery and let him help train the pup we draft.
