NFL Trade Rumors: Keep an eye on Alshon Jeffery

The NFL trade winds are said to be blowing and one rumor out there involves Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

I can’t say I’m familiar with Pro Football Network as a reputable source. I do know that Tony Pauline is trustworthy and he writes for PFN, though he’s not the one directly putting this Jeffery smoke out there.

So, as with any rumor, take this with a grain of salt. It’s entirely possible this is all much ado about nothing.

I tend to think there isn’t much to this one. It doesn’t really pass the sniff test. Why are the Eagles going to trade a key contributor in a year where they’re aggressively trying to win the Super Bowl? Trading Jeffery for draft pick(s) makes zero sense since that won’t improve the team in 2019. The Eagles would have to be moving Jeffery for a key player in return.

Could that player be Jadeveon Clowney?! I don’t think so. The Texans are already set at wide receiver. The Ringer ranks Houston with the third best receiver corps in the NFL while Pro Football Focus ranks them in fifth place. I also think the Eagles like what they have at edge rusher with Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Vinny Curry, and Daeshon Hall as their top four guys. Not to mention we’ve previously heard it reported that the Eagles are NOT strong players for Clowney.

Trading Jeffery would leave the Eagles with DeSean Jackson, Nelson Agholor, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside as their main starters. JJ obviously looked great in the Eagles’ third preseason game but that hardly means they should be rushing Jeffery out the door in favor of an unproven rookie. If the Eagles trade Jeffery, they’re one injury away from Mack Hollins or Greg Ward suddenly being a starting receiver. That’s not ideal.

I can totally buy the Eagles moving on from Jeffery AFTER the 2019 season. He turns 30 in February and he’ll be carrying a $15.975 million cap hit in 2020. The Eagles can either trade or cut Jeffery to clear just over $10 million in cap space with just under $6 million in dead money.

For now, though, I fully expect Jeffery to be on the 2019 Eagles.

UPDATE: BGN alumnus and PhillyVoice’ writer Jimmy Kempski says there’s nothing to the Jeffery rumors. Shocker!