Evaluating Garrett Wilson’s fit with the Philadelphia Eagles
By Hunter Doyle
After Garrett Wilson said that he grew up as a Philadelphia Eagles fan, the jersey swaps became much more prevalent on social media. It was a beautiful thing.
It’s no secret that Ohio State has been home to some top-tier wide receiver talent over the years including Michael Thomas and Terry McLaurin. The best Ohio State wideout might be the one that’s still in Columbus: Jaxon Smith-Njigba. That’s a prospect we’re very excited to talk about next year.
Not every player has turned into the star-caliber players that Thomas and McLaurin are. Devin Smith never ended up translating as expected. However, Wilson and his teammate Chris Olave seem to have pretty high ceilings and floors as prospects and it’s difficult to see them just being floor prospects.
Garrett Wilson would make perfect sense for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaking specifically to Wilson, he had just one game under 70 yards receiving this year. It was a 54-7 blowout versus Indiana so there wasn’t much need to force-feed him the ball. One of the primary reasons for his 1,000-yard season was that his quick feet consistently put him in an amazing position to get free off the line of scrimmage and create separation.
The suddenness with which he sticks his foot in the ground and sells routes with his eyes is unmatched. He won’t be someone who you have to play as a flanker off of the line every snap. He can handle press coverage.
In his initial stem, he sells the vertical route with ease. With his ability to dominate at all three levels of the field, cornerbacks have to respect his second gear downfield, or else they’ll be left in the dust.
In addition, Wilson isn’t shy about going up to high-point the football and winning contested catches. That may happen less frequently against some of the bigger corners in the league, but the body control he has in the air and on the sideline will translate.
Wilson isn’t your prototypical boundary X, but neither was DeVonta Smith. We’ve seen what he can do when airborne.
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Wilson has some focus drops he could clean up but they don’t happen often and he makes up for them in a big way. The other area he’ll have to clean up is playing through contact but it isn’t as big of a problem for him as it is for other wideouts.
He still finds ways to fight and get creative to get free. The Eagles would be adding an explosive threat next to DeVonta Smith who can attack defenses at any part of the field.