Eagles should not consider shifting Nelson Agholor outside
Even with Alshon Jeffery absent for a little, Nelson Agholor needs to remain in the slot where he belongs.
The Philadelphia Eagles can’t make the same mistakes twice. Remember when the unforgiven head coach Chip Kelly spent a first-round pick on an up-and-coming wide receiver from USC named Nelson Agholor? The transition into the NFL wasn’t so smooth for him. Fortunately, we found out this past season that a lot of Agholor’s struggles came from the fact that he wasn’t primed for playing wide receiver outside of the slot.
His first two seasons on the Eagles were… How do we put this nicely? Garbage. They were pure garbage. Although it’s becoming more common for first-round receivers to struggle at the next level, the Eagles just wouldn’t give up on the young receiver when they were begged to by their fan base to close the book on a struggling Nelson Agholor.
There had to be a solution. They couldn’t possibly release a former first-round pick within his first three seasons. So what did Doug Pederson do? He looked back at Agholor’s days with the Trojans and came to the conclusion that his third season should be spent in the slot.
The gameplan worked for Agholor as he hit career highs all across the board. Now, Agholor is anticipating yet, another big season as he is finally starting to hit his stride in the pros. There’s only one problem, though. His sidekick Alshon Jeffery is expected to miss at least two games to start the season. Now, the Eagles have a few questions at the position to start off the season, and there are only so many answers to come up with. We don’t know what solutions are possible, but we do know one thing; Nelson Agholor should not be moved out of the slot at all.
Why not experiment?
Experimenting with Agholor on the outside is too much of a risk for a team that is defending a title. We’ve seen two seasons of Agholor outside of the slot, and we’ve seen enough. If the Eagles were to throw another receiver in the slot, then we not only have a question on the outside with Jeffery temporarily out of the picture but then we have a question mark on whoever is in the slot.
This is a similar situation to when Eagles left tackle Jason Peters went down with a knee injury last season. Everybody called for right tackle Lane Johnson to switch sides and protect Carson Wentz’s blindside. Johnson shot down the idea immediately by explaining how switching sides is practically like learning an entirely new position. If Johnson were to go to the left side, then we would have questions on both sides of the line, rather than one.
Next. Another of Carson Wentz’s goals becomes reality. dark
For the wide receiver position, this is the same case. The Eagles know what they can get with Agholor in the slot, so why confuse things early on? Plus, Jeffery’s absence could only last a few weeks. Once he’s back, Agholor would move back to slot anyway, so why take the chance? Leave him where he belongs, and minimize the chances of Agholor getting back to his old ways this season.