Eagles Among League Leaders in Drops After 5 Games
While many around the Delaware Valley are wondering what the Eagles might do to replace running back Jay Ajayi, they might have a more pressing need a wide receiver.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ problem with catching passes early in the 2018 season has been apparent, ranking as one of the worst in the NFL in drop percentage after five games.
According to ESPN’s NFL Matchup, the Eagles have dropped 5.6 percent of passes in 2018, with only the Browns, Cardinals, Bills, Ravens, Titans and Packers dropping a higher percentage.
According to STATS the Eagles have four players with at least two drops: Zach Ertz (three), Nelson Agholor (two), Josh Perkins (two) and Wendell Smallwood (two). STATS also has the Eagles tied for the NFL lead with 11 total drops through five games.
Its something that was a major problem for the team back in 2016, when they dropped 24 passes.
While drops are certainly an issue, the offense currently has a laundry list of things that need to be fixed.
"Well, penalties and turnovers, unwanted turnovers," Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said. "And a lot of those are happening in the red zone and they are self-inflicted and those are things that we have to correct in a big-time hurry."
Other things that need to be cleaned up include poor execution.
“I think the level of execution last year was just higher than it is right now," said tight end Zach Ertz. "That’s the thing too, we can’t keep saying that we’re going to turn on the switch like last year. It’s a different team, a different locker room, different players. You can’t just rinse and repeat in the NFL from one year to the next.
More consistency catching the football wouldn't hurt either.