One of the interesting aspects of the first three weeks of free agency for the Philadelphia Eagles is how they added some depth to the wide receiver position.
After losing Jahan Dotson to the Atlanta Falcons, Philly responded by signing Marquise "Hollywood" Brown and Elijah Moore. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman shared with reporters at the league meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the thought process behind Brown and Moore.
"Going back and looking at the team the last couple of years, felt like, we probably needed more depth at that position," Roseman said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "And you look throughout the league and teams that were playing late in the season, in the playoffs, and seeing that they, too. had problems with that position, and you really want to build your receiving corps with different sizes, different skill sets. And so both those guys have different skill sets. We thought there were things that they can add."
Howie Roseman speaks on Marquise Brown and Elijah Moore's additions
Despite just one 1,000-yard season in his seven-year NFL career, Brown has been considered one of the top deep threat receivers in the game and can help the Eagles stretch the field. Roseman had that thought process when deciding to sign Brown.
"I think (when we talk about) Hollywood: There have been times on our offense we've had really that vertical skill set, but also a guy can separate at the top of his routes. And we had that a little — I was looking at our teams in ‘17. I thought Nelson (Agohlor) did a great job of that, bringing that to the team. I think you looked at ‘22, and Quez did a good job of that. I think the ‘24 was constructed a little bit differently, but I think that really fits the skill set of our quarterback."
Last season with the Chiefs, Brown caught 49 passes for 587 yards and five touchdowns. As for Moore, Roseman sees potential to develop him into one of their top receivers.
"Elijah, we look at as we go into free agency, we look at guys who we did a lot of work on coming out, have tools and traits in their body, maybe haven't had quite the career they wanted, and feel like, 'Hey, maybe these are guys we can work with and develop and give an opportunity to.’”
After five straight seasons of at least 446 yards receiving, last year was a massive disappointment for Moore, who didn't get a ton of snaps with the Bills. He finished the season with nine catches for 112 yards and zero touchdowns, all career lows for Moore.
There's definitely going to be a lot more competition at receiver with Johnny Wilson and Darius Cooper also competing for spots on the team. That doesn't even include the rookie wide receiver that most draft experts expect them to do in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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Training camp will have plenty of battles at the wide receiver position, but Roseman certainly accomplished his goal of getting as much depth there as possible.