Shoulder Surgery Will Shelve Jeffery in Offseason

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - The Eagles will not have quarterback Carson Wentz during offseason work or his top receiver Alshon Jeffery.

Philadelphia's WR1 underwent surgery to repair his right rotator cuff, news first delivered by NFL.com and confirmed by Jeffery himself on Instagram when the veteran posted a picture in which he was wearing a sling with a caption that read: "I'll be back soon for another ring!!! #flyeaglesfly."

An NFL source confirmed to 973espn.com that Jeffery is expected to miss about six months while rehabbing, a timetable that would put the receiver on track to be cleared in late August.

The interesting part of the story is that Jeffery is believed to have suffered the injury early in training camp before the 2017 season began but he never appeared on the injury report for a shoulder issue at any point. In hindsight, he did miss quite a bit of practice time after suffering what was described as a "shoulder strain" back on July 30.

At the time Doug Pederson spun the situation as managing Jeffery to make sure he was healthy for the regular season.

Philly.com's Les Bowen, meanwhile, cited a source that claimed Jeffery did not experience significant discomfort during the season.

Jeffery ended up playing in every game, snaring 57 passes for 789 yards and nine touchdowns while playing in 82 percent of the Eagles’ offensive snaps. His production only increased in the postseason when he caught 12 passes for 219 yards and three TDs, including a brilliant 34-yard scoring pass from Nick Foles that set the tone in Super Bowl LII.

ProFootballFocus.com graded Jeffery No. 21 out of the 116 receivers this season, which was tops amongst all Philadelphia's WRs. The much-improved Nelson Agholor finished 24th while rookie Mack Hollins was 78th and Torrey Smith No. 100.

Jeffery, 28, originally signed a one-year deal with the Eagles in free agency last March before getting a four-year, big-money extension back in December.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen