Can Alshon Jeffery Elevate the Eagles Offense
It’s hard to get get overly excited about NFL players running around wearing shorts, t-shirts and helmets.
Hard, but not impossible.
Which brings us to Alshon Jeffery.
The Eagles biggest free agent addition (one year, $9 million, with $4.5 million in incentives), Jeffery has quickly made an impression, even before registering his first touchdown catch.
He has Pro Bowl ability, which in and of itself makes him something very different for the Eagles wide receiving core which really struggled in 2016. This franchise hasn’t had a first-team all-pro wide out since 2004 (Terrell Owens). Whether Jeffery can end that 13-year drought remains to be seen, but he should at least be a legitimate candidate.
"He's exciting to watch," Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said at the start of OTA's. "He's a big target, obviously, and we've just got to get him and [EaglesQB] Carson [Wentz] continuing to stay on the same page as we go throughout the whole off-season.
If things go according to the Eagles plan, the team hopes adding not only Jeffery but Torrey Smith could make some of the holdovers better.
"To see Alshon [Jeffery] come in here and Torrey [Smith] come in here, to work with the young players," Pederson said about the chemistry of the unit. "To get Nelson [Agholor] and the progression of where Nelson's at, and DGB [Dorial Green-Beckham], it's all sort of collectively coming together. These guys are rallying around each other in practice; they're encouraging each other in practice; they're challenging each other in practice. It's fun to see."
We discussed the Eagles wide receivers and more with USA Today Eagleswire reporter Turron Davenport as we recap the Eagles OTA's and mini-camp.