Best third-day wide receiver options Eagles will have in NFL Draft

Here are two intriguing Eagles prospects from college football’s best conference.

With some of these guys, it’s hard not to ponder what they might have been able to produce if the ball was being thrown in their direction from a better quarterback. Herndon Hooker may not wind up being a great NFL star, but we have to admit. Velus Jones was lucky to have him.

Seven of Hooker’s 31 touchdown passes landed in the waiting arms of Jones as he finished second in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns to Cedric Tillman. That earned him a First-Team All-SEC nod. A 4.31-second 40-yard dash time at the most recent combine earned him a spot on everyone’s draft board.

We love to talk about wide receivers and deep-ball instincts. Heck, sometimes we wish the Eagles would play football like some of us play EA Sports’ Madden game. Just line four guys up and send everyone on vertical routes. We know that isn’t how the game is played though.

Teams need possession guys that can keep the chains moving and give quarterbacks another target in the red zone. At six-foot-one and 212 pounds, David Bell can provide that.

His 40 time at the combine is a concern (4.65). He plays faster than that though, and something tells us that he’ll make some NFL team happy. His 93 receptions, 1,286 receiving yards, and six touchdowns were a huge assist to the Purdue Boilermakers’ offense in 2021