Philadelphia Eagles: Five players that could disappoint

Philadelphia Eagles training camp is just around the corner and optimism is high among the Eagles fan base. Whilst I like the optimism and despite having high expectations for the upcoming season myself, I accept that there will be players that disappoint me as there is every season. Below I have tried to predict five players that may disappoint you in 2015, hopefully I’m wrong about every single one of course:

Josh Huff

I recently wrote about why I didn’t think Josh Huff would breakout and you can read that here. To summarize briefly, I’m just not sure Huff is good enough yet to deserve a lot of playing time and he is probably one year away from contributing significantly as a receiver. Huff is clearly talented but he also needs a lot of work on his catching and he proved that last year. Some people think Huff could be extremely good this season but I don’t see it just yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if both Riley Cooper and Miles Austin play more snaps than Huff next season. I can’t see Huff drawing targets away from the likes of Jordan Matthews, Zach Ertz or Nelson Agholor either.

Walter Thurmond

The safety position is fixed!

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Nelson Agholor

I like Nelson Agholor but I really like Jeremy Maclin and I’m still angry that he won’t be with us next year. I think people have completely forgot just how good Maclin was for the Eagles last year and this has lead to a lot of people assuming Agholor can essentially replace Maclin’s production without missing a beat. Maclin had 85 catches, 1318 yards and 10 touchdown. There is no way Agholor will step in and replace that production immediately, he probably won’t ever reach those heights. I expect Agholor to have around 800 yards which would still be a good rookie season but maybe not as high as some expect, I wouldn’t be used if Agholor is used mainly as a deep threat and on screens whilst Matthews, Ertz and Sproles catch the majority of the short passes.

Ryan Mathews

I think Ryan Matthews is a good football player but DeMarco Murray is significantly better. Some people believe Matthews and Murray could end up splitting carries about 50/50 or 60/40 next season but I cannot see this happening. I don’t think the Eagles gave Murray $40 million over 5 years to split carries with Matthews. I think Matthews will be used to give Murray a rest every so often and that will be it. Murray is a workhorse back and to properly utilize him you need to feed him the ball. Unless Murray gets injured, I don’t expect Matthews to play a significant role next season.

Byron Maxwell

I have no problem with putting Maxwell here but I think it depends what you are expecting out of him. I don’t think he will disappoint me but I think he may disappoint a lot of others. If you are expecting a solid season from a starting cornerback then I don’t think he will he disappoint you. However, I don’t think he is worth what the Eagles paid him yet I think they were right to pay him that much, they desperately needed a cornerback. I’m not expecting Maxwell to live up to his price tag in year one and it might take him a while to get used to playing without Earl Thomas behind him. I think Maxwell is a very good cornerback but I don’t expect him to be shutting down receivers like Dez Byrant and Odell Beckham just yet. If you expect him to play like a top 5 cornerback and live up to his money, you may be disappointed by him next season.

Next: Philadelphia Eagles Breakout Candidate: Zach Ertz

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