Eagles Get 4 Receivers, Increasing Odds That One Will Be Good

The Eagles controversial 2020 NFL Draft will be remembered for drafting quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second round and allowing their arch rival to draft arguably the best wide receiver in the first round, but at least you can’t deny that they added to the wide receiver position.

First round pick Jalen Reagor from TCU saw mixed and underwhelming responses from fans and analysts, but the Eagles still saw him as the best fit for their offense that’s expected to feature Miles Sanders and their two tight end weapons aplenty.

After shocking the world with selecting Hurts in the 2nd round, the Birds addressed their positions in need by drafting a linebacker, safety and lineman in subsequent rounds. Then they continued to add to the receiver position by drafting John Hightower from Boise State in the 5th round and Quez Watkins from Southern Miss in the 6th. Both receivers notably had high marks for speed in the NFL combine, meaning that along with DeSean Jackson the Birds expect to have one of the fastest receiving cores in the league.

But it wasn’t just in the draft that the Eagles gained assets in that position, on Day 3 of the event the Birds acquired receiver Marquise Goodwin from the San Francisco 49ers. Goodwin will be entering his eighth season in the NFL with underwhelming career stats. His best season was in 2017 when he recorded just under 1000 yards and started all 16 games that season.

It looks like Howie Roseman and company prefer quantity over quality at the receiver position in this year’s draft. Hence why they hesitated to give up assets for CeeDee Lamb and did not want to pay a ton of money for DeAndre Hopkins. While the front office has been criticized for this conservative approach, they will likely point out the fact that the team’s recent success was achieved without elite wide receiver play. The Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017 with Alshon Jeffrey, Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor as their best wideouts.

And considering that DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin are the only legitimate homegrown receivers the Eagles had over the past thirty years, it’s probably good draft multiple wideouts to increase the likelihood that one of them will be good. Heck forget good, just be decent. In 2017 they missed out on a historic running back class, and hopefully if the 2020 class has a historic amount of receivers the Birds won’t miss the boat on one of them. Or at least we can hope that drafted a great player that overshadows the shock of the Jalen Hurts pick.