The Nelson Agholor Era Has Officially Reached the Last Straw in Philly
On 4th down with the game on the line, Carson Wentz aired a terrific arc into the endzone for what would’ve been the game tying touchdown in this highly anticipated Super Bowl rematch against the Patriots.
Instead, Nelson Agholor let the ball bounce off his hands…because that is exactly the type of season he is having. This latest drop has to be the last straw and points to the sign that Agholors days as an Eagle are numbered.
It’s one thing to have a bad receiver who drops big passes and toss them to the curb. The Eagles have turned that into an art form throughout the 21st century. But there’s something about Agholor’s downfall that’s just so much more painful than the rest of them.
He was Chip Kelly’s last first round pick in the 2015 NFL draft coming out of USC and was expected to fill in the shoes of the departed Jeremy Maclin and Desean Jackson. Unfortunately he looked liked one of the worst 1st round busts in Eagles history being completely unreliable on the field and plagued by drops. He was Markelle Fultz before Markelle Fultz. There were multiple twitter accounts called “Is Agholor Cut Yet?”
Then in year 3 something magical happened. Agholor became good.
During that particular training camp, the coaches noticed how well Agholor had flourished in the role of slot receiver with the newly signed Alshon Jeffrey taking over as the Number One guy.
In what would go down as one of the great trades in franchise history, Howie traded away incumbent slot receiver Jordan Matthews for Ronald Darby to allow Nelson to take over that role while going from a 17 jersey to 13.
The transformation from 17 to 13 was apparent on the very first drive of the season with this beauty:
Agholor flourished in 2017 by doubling his numbers in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. His turnaround that year is just one of a million reasons why the 2017 season was a special one. He saved arguably his best game for last, catching nine passes for 84 yards in Super Bowl LII, an unsung hero of that game with plenty of heroes to celebrate. It was a fairy tale come true: The player who was doomed to go down as a historic bust into the key slot receiver on the best team in Eagles history.
He would go on to have a long fruitful with the Eagles and help them contend for more Super Bowls . . . .
If only that was the case.
Like plenty of passionate fanbases, you’re only as good as your latest work, fair or not fair. And Nelson Agholor’s latest work has not been good.
In this 2019 season, the old Agholor has creeped back in an ugly fashion. The drops have returned and are more alive than ever. The jokes are back and the internet’s killing him again as if 2017 never happened.
Why has he regressed so badly? Has the absence of Alshon Jeffrey this season cause more pressure on him to step up and constantly crack?
Sure it was funny to watch that local hero to crack a joke about him on live TV and Nelson handled it as best as one could, but it’s still sucks that were back to this point again.
That’s why his downfall is a lot more painful than the other bad receivers downfall, because this guy actually helped deliver the one thing that generations of fans wanted more than anything else in the world.
The last drop against the Pats has become the last straw. Unless he turns it around quick, this will probably be Agholor’s last season as an Eagle.
If this does turn out to be his last season we should all wish him well for what comes next. Regardless of how bad he is now, this guy still contributed big to the 2017 whereas he could’ve disappeared as a first round bust instead.