Is Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor overpaid?

Recently, Bleacher Report listed each NFL team’s most overpaid player. For the Philadelphia Eagles, they selected wide receiver Nelson Agholor.

The NFL is a tough business for the players. Guys can have one bad season and just like that, they are released and set free onto the open market. Unfortunately, if they outperform their contract, they have to make a bit of a scene about it and further risk their future on the current team they are trying to squeeze more money out of.

You know, kind of like the Malcolm Jenkins situation. But we’re not here to discuss who is underpaid on the Philadelphia Eagles — instead, we want to consider who might be overpaid on the team. Recently, our friends over at Bleacher Report decided to put together a list of each 32 NFL team’s most overpaid player. And for the Eagles, they selected wide receiver, Nelson Agholor.

How shocking is that selection? Well, if you have been paying attention, it would come as no surprise that Agholor seems a bit overpaid. The former first-round pick has had his struggles throughout his first two years in the NFL, and it truly felt like Agholor wouldn’t play out his entire four-year rookie contract. However, a third-year turnaround actually earned him a fifth-year.

As a first-rounder, Agholor had a fifth-year option looming. His stellar third season forced the Eagles to pick it up, but his average fourth-year sort of gave them buyer’s remorse. Over the offseason, the Eagles didn’t plan to get rid of Agholor by cutting him. But they inevitably weren’t opposed to trading him if the value was fair. At this point, it seems like Agholor is locked in with the Eagles for the 2019 season — but will he be here for the long haul?

Is Agholor truly overpaid?

Nelson Agholor is set to make $9.4 million in 2019. Last season, he caught 64 passes for 736 yards and four touchdowns — quite the downgrade from the 2017 run. So already, Agholor has regressed from his breakout season. And the unfortunate part about his failure to follow up with a better year in 2018 was the fact that he had less help around him, making him more of a primary target and further proving that Agholor cannot really be much of a playmaker on his own.

At this point, it’s become clear that Agholor is strictly a slot receiver. Many times he’s been given the opportunity to play on the outside, and he has yet to prove he can succeed in doing so. That’s not so bad, considering the Eagles are now set on the outside, but is Agholor still worth over $9 million for the next season? Let’s see: there are currently three receivers in the NFL right now who signed new deals in 2019 that average a salary of around $9 million.

Those wideouts are Quincy Enunwa, Golden Tate, and Adam Humphries. Last season Enunwa started ten games, had under 500 yards, and only one score. Tate had a similar stat line to Agholor’s, which he produced while on the Detroit Lions and with the Eagles.

Considering his age, we would say the New York Giants were quite generous with Tate’s new contract. And last but not least, Adam Humphries. Last season, Humphries had a solid year with over 800 yards and five scores. Not great, but also not bad. So seeing what kind of money these other slot guys are making in the new market, Agholor’s contract doesn’t seem so bad.

Will the Eagles keep paying him this much beyond 2019? Most likely not if he doesn’t improve. However, the decision to keep him on board for the $9.4 million isn’t a bad idea at all. So he can be labeled as overpaid, but it doesn’t mean the Eagles are wrong in doing so.