Howie Roseman didn’t need to say the names of the two receivers he was talking about. Fans have said them enough over the last two season.
But speaking for the first time since the Eagles’ 2020 season came to an end, Roseman was asked about the team’s two major misses the last few seasons, passing on Justin Jefferson for Jalen Reagor in 2020 and selecting J.J. Arcega-Whiteside instead of D.K. Metcalf in 2019.
Again, Roseman didn’t say their names — but here is his answer in full so you can read between the lines:
“I’d say, one, obviously the guy you are talking (Note: Roseman seemed to mean Jefferson) about had a phenomenal year. It is not like our heads are in the sand and we don’t see that and we didn’t spend a lot of time on that guy. Obviously I think when you talk to other general managers in this league, if everyone knew what those guys were going to do, they wouldn’t even have been close to the pick we were at, and there were other receivers taken. We went into the draft trying to find the right guys for our team in terms of what we thought we needed to have a better offense. That is with a lot of discussion with our scouts, with our coaches. There was definitely a lot of opinions on this draft class and this receiver class for sure. I would also say Jalen is a very young player. He just turned 22. He missed a bunch of games with injuries. He didn’t really have durability issues in college. And sometimes those things over a period of time, they play out. I think about it this morning, I was thinking about the 2010 draft, and how it went with Brandon Graham and the guys that maybe started their careers fresh. I am not saying one guy is going to be better than the other at the end of their career, but sometimes guys, it hits later than other for those guys. We are counting on both of those guys to take a big step this offseason, J.J. too. I was happy J.J. got an opportunity yesterday. But there is no doubt — we are not sitting here, not watching that, not seeing that and not going through it in what made that decision when we looked at all those guys. Sometimes, also, you see it and we talk about this all the time — sometimes there are medial grades. I am not talking about this particular situation in the first round, but sometimes there are medical grades and sometimes guys are off our board. It is just the nature of this business.”
While he didn’t mention Metcalf by name, it seemed fairly obvious that he was the player the Eagles passed on because of a medical grade.
Reagor ended his rookie season with 396 yards receiving and just one touchdown on 31 catches. Although he did miss time with a hand injury, Reagor did not display the kind of special, game-changing talent you would expect to see from a first-round pick.
Jefferson, meanwhile, set the NFL record for rookie receiving yards in his first season with the Minnesota Vikings, finishing with 1,400 yards on 88 catches to go along with seven touchdowns.
Arcega-Whiteside was even more disappointing, as he barely saw the field all season, and caught just four passes for 85 yards and his only touchdown came on a fumble recovery in the end zone. Metcalf has turned into one of the best receivers in the NFL, totaling 141 catches for 2,203 yards and 17 touchdowns in his two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.
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With the Eagles issues at receiver still near the top of the list of their biggest needs, Roseman will have another chance in this year’s draft to make the right pick — and needless to say, the pressure to get it right this time will be huge.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!