The Eagles Lose, But May Have Found a Stud Receiver

When it comes to drafting and developing wide receivers the Eagles and Steelers are at the opposite ends. Over the past two decades good receivers grow on trees in Pittsburgh from Plaxico Burgess, Antwaan Randle El, Super Bowl MVPs Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes, future Hall of Famer Antonio Brown and current rising stars JuJu Smith-Shuster and rookie Chase Claypool. They are so good with receivers that whenever they go bad or toxic, they can get rid of them and replace them easily.

The Eagles on the other hand have to work REALLY hard to get good production out of receivers. Even the ones who have one big moment or season in the sun like Freddie Mitchell or Nelson Agholor flame out almost immediately. When they do strike gold with the likes of Terrell Owens, Desean Jackson and Alshon Jeffrey, the good times don’t last for one reason or another and they can never replace them.

The big story coming out of the Eagles loss to the Steelers is that it may go down as the breakout game for Pittsburgh rookie reciever Chase Claypool who caught three touchdowns and ran for another. This epic performance also inspired what maybe the tweet of the year:

But what’s also under that headline is that the Birds may have actually found their own hidden gem at receiver. For a team that stacked up receivers this past offseason, most of them somehow couldn’t play in Pittsburgh and the Eagles once again relied on a no-name just as Greg Ward did last season. But second year player Travis Fulgham looks like this year’s Greg Ward, and maybe even better. Fulgham followed up his game-winning touchdown against San Francisco with 10 receptions for 152 yards and a touchdown against one of the best defenses in the NFL. While there’s been occasional good performances by an Eagles receiver over the past several years, it’s been a long time since any of them had a day as prolific as Fulgham.

Fulgham’s journey from 2019 6th round pick for the Lions to possibly being the Number 1 receiver on the Eagles. His success so far is another detriment to the woeful Detroit Lions fan base who are eagerly anticipating Matt Patricia’s firing.

 

Eagles history says that Fulgham will either flame out and become irrelevant by season’s end, get injured *knock on wood* or turn into a Diva and talk his way out of town. But in a year like 2020 where everything is flipped upside-down, maybe Fulgham will break that narrative and become the consistently reliable weapon we’ve always dreamed of.

No matter how long Fulgham-fever lasts in Philly, seeing a wide receiver being really really good at what they do is like a breath of fresh air for the fan base.

By Mike McCarrick | October 12, 2020
Tags: ,