Eagles May have Found a Hidden Gem with Travis Fulgham
As the Philadelphia Eagles wide receiving group continues to be crippled by injuries, there has been one silver-lining from one of the replacements.
Second-year player Travis Fulgham, has had back-to-back solid games, after being released by both the Lions and Packers, the Eagles signed him and were forced to play him with all the injuries. The 2019 sixth-round pick from Old Dominion by the Lions, finished with 10 catches for 152 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles' Week 5 loss to the Steelers.
"I think first of all, he's a beast," said Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz. "Kid is a baller. He made a lot of big plays and I was really proud of him and umped for him."
This is the second week in a row that Fulgham has made some big catches. Last week he caught two passes for 57 yards, including a beautiful 42-yard pass from Wentz in the Eagles Week 4 win over the 49ers. It seems he is quickly gaining the confidence of Wentz and it showed during two separate series where Fulgham caught four passes on 10-play touchdown scoring drive, one of which was in the endzone.
"He was in the right spot for a lot of those," Wentz said. "Couple play-action passes were designed for him and everything. So, yeah, he had the hot hand today. Again, kind of just the way the defense -- the way it was flowing today. Like I said, he made some great plays, he's a heck of a player, and we're going to keep building on that."
So can we expect more of this type of play from Fulgham, a player who was released twice already in less than two years in the league?
"Yeah, I mean, I do think that he has the skill and ability," Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said. "It was great to see again today. You know, just something that we've got to sustain each week. He had the big catch out in San Francisco and then big catches today. Just something we got to continue to build on and get all our skill guys in that position."
What Fulgham's role will be when the entire wide receiving corps is back and helthy remains to be seen. Alshon Jeffey and DeSean Jackson are both close to returning, and rookie Jalen Reagor is due back in about a month. Tight end Dallas Goedert is also going to be returning, so targets might not be as available as they are currently, but Fulgham is taking advantage of the playing time.
He has certainly earned more playing time even when everyone returns, and may have even passed Greg Ward and John Hightower on the depth chart.
"I know our quarterback feels comfortable with him and they work extremely hard during the week," Pederson said. "It showed with them today."
Having the confidence of the quarterback should be enough to stay on the field, it certainly more than second-round pick J.J. Arcega-Whiteside can say. In two games, Fulgham has 12 catches for 209 yards and two touchdowns in 16 targets. Last season in 16 games, Arcega-Whiteside generated just 22 targets, 10 catches for 169 yards and one score.
If anything its pretty clear the Eagles should move on from Arcega-Whiteside.