What happened to that Philadelphia Eagles revamped wide receiver corps?

Are we still talking about these Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers?.

We all were really excited about the changes the Philadelphia Eagles made to their wide receiver corps this past offseason. It felt as though, after Philly addressed the position in the most recent NFL Draft, taking three and trading for another, better days were ahead on offense.

There was also Greg Ward, who matured nicely in 2019. Coming into the current campaign, the belief was DeSean Jackson would finally healthy after being affected by the injury bug last season and that JJ Arcega-Whiteside was ready to take the next step. The ‘Birds’ were supposed to have an improved group that would provide quarterback Carson Wentz with an array of weapons. Then Marquise goodwin opted out of the 2020 season. Things only got worse from there.

Sure, Alshon Jeffery was hurt, but even if he didn’t play a down in 2020, the Eagles should have still had a lethal wide receiver corps, or so we thought. Two games into the season, this wide receiver corps has failed to make an impact. ‘D-Jax’ is their leading receiver with eight receptions for 110 yards. It’s true that Wentz hasn’t played up to his potential but his surrounding cast isn’t playing up to an acceptable level either.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ wide receivers have to turn this around.

JJ Arcega-Whiteside has had two passes thrown his way in two weeks. One resulted in a disastrous interception. The other was a drop on third down that would have kept a drive going. Sure, the pass was slightly behind him but nothing an NFL receiver shouldn’t be able to pull in. Here’s what’s disheartening. Even if he saw increased playing time, it’s unlikely he would make the most out of it. Greg Ward has hauled in six catches, but his 6.0 yard-per-reception average is even lower than it was in 2019.

The ‘Birds’ rookie wide receivers haven’t done much either. Jalen Reagor has been the best of the bunch, and even though his impact didn’t show in the stat sheet, everyone saw glimpses of what made him a first-round selection. As mentioned, he’s sustained a UCL tear in Week 2, so he’ll miss multiple games before he can resume playing.

Then, there’s John Hightower, and as mentioned earlier, he hasn’t shown that he’s ready for the big stage. He caught a pass for negative yardage (-2 yards) in Week 1 and wasn’t targeted at all in Week 2. Now that Reagor is out, Arcega-Whiteside and Hightower may see increased roles. They could end up playing well in spite of their early struggles, but they haven’t given us any indication that we should expect for that to happen in the foreseeable future.

Philly needs to get more out of their wide receiver group in the upcoming weeks. Regardless of how ’11’ plays, this unit needs to do a better job of getting open and coming down with catchable passes. They are one of the reasons the team currently holds a 0-2 record. If they want to change that, they need to become an asset to the offense immediately.