Philadelphia Eagles: 4 theories that support promoting Deontay Burnett

1. Burnett’s been producing even before joining the Philadelphia Eagles.

Last year, Deontay Burnett was called up for the final game of the regular season. In just 15 offensive snaps, he was targeted four times and hauled in two of those targets for 48 yards. Most fans will remember his 41-yard reception that put Philly in field goal range at the start of the fourth quarter. That led to a 50-yarder by Jake Elliott to put ‘the Birds’ up by a 20-17 margin in a win-and-in game versus the New York Giants. In the Wild Card game that followed, he saw just 13 offensive snaps and hauled in one catch for five yards.

Sure, that isn’t a lot of production, but he was thrown into the fire. One also has to consider that he wasn’t with the team for the majority of the season. Former Dallas Cowboys’ slot receiver Randall Cobb put up 828 yards on 55 catches in 720 offensive snaps in 2019. If Burnett had played the same amount of snaps and we stretch what he did in limited activity over the course of 16 games, we might be looking at around 77 receptions on the season.

While that isn’t a completely reliable system, Burnett’s track record shows that he might be able to contribute consistently if given a chance in some type of role. That’s not to say he’ll rack up numbers similar to those of an experienced slot receiver like Randall Cobb but he can definitely make some plays here and there.

In 2018, he saw some action with the New York Jets. He didn’t set the world on fire but there were two games where he saw extensive playing time. In a Week 8 matchup with the Chicago Bears, Burnett was named a starter and played 41 offensive snaps (76 percent of the team’s total). The result? Four catches for 61 yards. In Week 17 versus the Patriots, he played 30 offensive snaps (54 percent) and hauled in five passes for 73 yards.