Philadelphia Eagles: Nelson Agholor looks even better this time around

Philadelphia Eagles breakout star Nelson Agholor is having another strong training camp this year.

Last season, the Philadelphia Eagles had quite a few players take an enormous leap of progression from the previous season. Obviously, everybody can’t stop discussing Carson Wentz’s MVP caliber stretch during his Sophomore season.

The improvement in Wentz’s game was very much expected, though. The one player who went from a zero to a hero, is the former first-round pick, Nelson Agholor.

Heading into the 2017 season, Agholor was headed down the road of potentially being Philadelphia’s most despised professional athlete. Sure, we have seen our fair share of first-round busts in the past. But for some reason, Agholor could not catch a ball, I mean, break. No, seriously, Agholor could run some decent routes and find separation in his first two seasons, but nobody expected him to catch the ball when it was thrown to him.

Times were hard for Agholor back in 2016. His final stat line was 36 receptions for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Considering that he registered career-high numbers that year at the time, you can probably imagine that not a single Eagles fan was pleased with his production. In fact, the entire Eagles fanbase was calling for Agholor to be cut by the time last year’s training camp rolled around.

A Breakout year was brewing:

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We’ve heard hype around Agholor’s name before. Even though he wasn’t exactly expected to be a first-round pick, the city got excited when Chip Kelly took a chance on him. Agholor’s highlights from the USC days were stellar, and he was showing out in his first NFL training camp. He even made a ridiculous leap-and-catch touchdown in his rookie debut of the preseason. His ceiling was high, and the expectations were even higher.

Clearly, Agholor did not live up to the hype. There was speculation that his issues on the field were more mental than physical, but that didn’t matter to the standard football fan. Eagles fans wanted him out, and Agholor did everything in his power to change their minds.

More hype surrounded the veteran as he was heading into his third season. Every ball was caught, every cut was slick, every run was quick, and every play looked effortless. While nobody wanted to believe that Agholor was new and improved, he silenced his doubters and translated into one of the NFL’s best slot receivers during his third season. Now, we are all wondering. Did we see the best of Nelson Agholor? Or are we finally beginning to see a first-round talent in number 13?

Eyebrows are raising once again:

Training camp is practice, we get it. Not every player that shows out at the Nova Care Complex is going to be a star at the Linc. That’s just how it goes in the NFL. But Agholor is a different case. We’ve seen the hype and bought into it last year. He finished out contributing to a Super Bowl season with 768-yards and eight touchdowns.

His third-year progression earned him a bit of an extension when the Eagles picked up his fifth-year option in the spring. Clearly, they saw enough in him to realize that he is only going up from here. By the sounds of it, Agholor will just get better in 2018.

So far this offseason, Agholor has been described as “Especially fast,” “Having an amazing camp so far,” and apparently with Alshon Jeffery out, he just might have the best hands on the team. If the reporter’s words aren’t enough, maybe his teammates can help boost some of our confidence.

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Eagles safety Rodney McLeod has talked up the entire receivers core but singled out Agholor as a guy who has looked good from day one. Also, Agholor himself has stated that he is sure he will be a better football player this year. We have to play the waiting game once again, but at least this time around we know that Agholor has the talent and confidence to be a threat in the NFL.

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