Philadelphia Eagles: Grading the 2017 rookie draft class
WR Shelton Gibson, 5th Rd
When the Eagles selected Shelton Gibson in the fifth round, fans couldn’t help but compare him to DeSean Jackson. An undersized speedster who was able to stretch the field a lot back in West Virginia. Not only did he seem like he would become a solid receiver, but his quickness had us thinking that he could potentially do some damage in the return game.
Considering the Eagles went out and signed Kenjon Barner when Sproles went down, it’s pretty clear that Gibson did not gain enough interest to earn a shot from his coaching staff. He did eventually earn a special teams spot later on down the line, though. It just wasn’t as a returner.
The future for Gibson doesn’t have a ton of interest from the Eagles. His struggles with dropping passes in individual drills were concerning enough to not really let him get many snaps on offense during the preseason or regular season. In fact, it took a while for the Eagles to want to activate Gibson on gameday. Luckily for him, he showed more promise on special teams than Marcus Johnson did. But with another round of rookies coming through for next season, there’s no telling if Gibson’s spot is safe in 2018.