Weapon X Mailbag: What should the Eagles do with Jalen Reagor?

WELP, that sucked. Have I lost faith in a Wild Card run in the trash NFC playoff picture? I have not. It’s time to bounce back at the Meadowlands.

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@IrishIggles: Do you think Nick Sirianni doing to Jalen Reagor what Doug Pederson did with Nelson Agholor in 2016 would work? Or is he a lost cause?

Head coach Nick Sirianni has already said that he will not bench much-maligned receiver Jalen Reagor:

Sirianni points out that doing so wouldn’t be in the best interest of the team, but could it be in the best interest of Reagor’s long-term outlook as an NFL receiver? I believe so.

The Nelson Agholor comparison is apt.

Agholor was a 2015 first-round pick during the final year of the Chip Kelly era. He was in his second season in 2016 under a new regime with Doug Pederson as the head coach. Agholor struggled mightily with drops. The Eagles were in dire need of production at wideout and Agholor frankly couldn’t provide that. After multiple crushing mistakes in a loss to Seattle in Week 11, Agholor was inactive the following game as a mental reset and palette cleanser.

That was an inflection point in Agholor’s career. He was hated on back then (and, well, would receive that venom once again in the future), but he completely transformed himself in 2017 with a 62-768-8 stat line. He led all Eagles wide receivers in receiving yards in the freaking Super Bowl!

Would sitting Reagor for a game or two mean that he’ll have nine catches for 84 yards in next year’s Super Bowl? Obviously not. Doing so, however, could correct the course of his career and help him cool off and ready himself to become a legitimate pro receiver.

I’m infuriated with his play, but he’s a first-round pick who will likely be here for the next two seasons. The Eagles, no matter how angry fans like myself may get, still want to see what they have in him.

Also... is Reagor going out there and performing at his current level even in the “best interest” of the 2021 Eagles? I can’t help but disagree with Sirianni there.

Todd Siddons (via email): As much as we’d love to see it happen, we’re not cutting Reagor. I get it. But is there a world where we see the Birds sign a street free agent for the rest of the season? A quick search showed John Brown, Golden Tate, Devin Funchess, and others as guys who are waiting for a call. I know these guys are FAs in Week 13 for a reason, but our production is almost zero with Reagor and Greg Ward on the field and doesn’t it feel like while these guys might have limited upside, there’s a real benefit to having “professional” receivers on the field at this point?

I can’t envision the Eagles doing this, though I understand where you’re coming from. It’s best to see what the Eagles can get out of Reagor (I have severe doubts!!!) and Quez Watkins this season rather than bring in a retread veteran who has no value beyond 2021.

Now, if you want to make the argument that playing with Reagor and the likes of Greg Ward is hampering Jalen Hurts’ development, I can see where you’re coming from. If the Eagles want new blood in their receiving corps though, perhaps they’d be better off promoting someone from their practice squad. John Hightower might even have a worse case of the “Reagors” than Reagor himself, so I wouldn’t go down that road for him.

The Birds are probably just stuck with what they have!

@EHyungNim: Is DeVonta Smith on his way to an Andre Johnson career, or do we cry because at least the Texans continuously fed Johnson even though they sucked?

I’m going to need more info on the comparison.

Is DeVonta Smith Andre Johnson in this case because he’s going to have a fringe Hall of Fame career? That would be great! Do you mean he’ll be Johnson in the sense that the teams he plays for sucks? I don’t see that.

Yes, we all hate the Eagles at various points and to varying degrees, but they’ve been one of the more successful teams in the NFL in the last two decades. Since the Texans entered the league in 2002, they have a winning percentage of .435. Since that season, the Eagles’ winning percentage is .592.

I’m not sure what we’re crying about just yet.

@Just_That_Guy49: Where does Reagor rank on the list of all-time busts and how soon would you cut him?

Reagor’s the most frustrating Eagles prospect during my two-plus decades as a fan. At least Danny Watkins seemed like a disaster from the jump. Everyone knew it made zero sense. The dude just wanted to be a firefighter. Reagor has been given tons of opportunities to succeed and it feels like the situation is getting worse and worse. As a fan, I have no desire to watch him play football for the Eagles anymore, though, as I said above, there’s a theoretically benefit to seeing if he can rebound and become a competent NFL wideout given the pedigree.

This isn’t personal, which is what people assume too quickly when an athlete receives ample (and deserved) criticism. I can’t speak to who Jalen Reagor is as a human being just as he can’t speak to my character. Strictly in terms of football, however, I don’t want to see him on this team.