The Eagles stayed put at No. 21 in the first round of the NFL Draft and selected TCU wide receiver Jalen Reagor. Should they have traded up for Jerry Jeudy or CeeDee Lamb? Should they have opted for Justin Jefferson, who was still on the board? Our writers weigh in on the pick.
Sheil Kapadia: When we went through our top 10 wide receivers for the Eagles a couple of weeks ago, I had Reagor ranked fourth overall, and above Jefferson (sixth). So this is not me drinking the green Kool-Aid. I really like the player.
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The main thing I thought the Eagles needed to focus on was finding a wide receiver who could separate. That’s the most important quality for guys playing with Carson Wentz — over other factors like yards after the catch, contested grabs and whatever else you want to put on the list. I saw Reagor consistently separate on film. His speed and athleticism really show up on the field, and he can win in a number of ways. He can dust corners on vertical routes and separate in the intermediate game and he showed great elusiveness. I thought he was one of the best “make you miss” guys in this draft class.
Reagor can line up on the outside or in the slot, and he looked good on jet sweeps and reverses. He ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash and has a 42-inch vertical. Reagor ranks in the 93.3 percentile from an athleticism standpoint when compared to other wide receiver draft prospects. Drops were an issue last year, but he had just six on 137 targets in 2018, according to Sports Info Solutions. Reagor also makes spectacular catches that help the quarterback.
Is it possible that Jefferson has the better career? Sure. But entering the draft, I didn’t think picking Reagor at No. 21 was a reach.
The big “what-if” in the first round concerns how aggressive the Eagles were (or weren’t) in trying to trade up for Jeudy and Lamb. But it’s not like they were beaten out by another team moving up, so it’s hard to say what the asking price might have been.
I’ve been wrong on wide receiver evaluations before and I’ve been plenty critical of the Eagles this offseason, but I like Reagor and think he will be a good player for them.
Grade: B
Jalen Reagor, center, reacts from his hometown of Waxahachie, Texas, as he’s selected by the Eagles. (Courtesy of the NFL)
Bo Wulf: It would have been hard to think up a scenario before the draft in which the Eagles added a dynamic weapon to an offense in dire need of something to help it escape the bog and have it feel disappointing, but that’s how the night played out. Reagor is going to be a fun player, but he, and the Eagles’ draft-day decision-makers, will be judged for the rest of his career in comparison to the two wide receivers taken on either side of him.
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At No. 21, the Eagles passed on Jefferson, the consensus No. 4-ranked wide receiver in the draft by most outside analysts, whom the Vikings then selected at No. 22. There are fair questions about whether Jefferson can play outside, and though he ran a faster 40-yard dash at the combine than Reagor (4.43 seconds to 4.47 seconds), Reagor certainly plays faster on the field. Roseman emphasized Reagor’s “fit” with the Eagles offense in the post-draft conference call and said there was a dearth of outside speed receivers in the draft.
Drafting Reagor over Jefferson is defensible, even if it relies upon trusting the Eagles to evaluate the position better than the presumed groupthink when they have not demonstrated that ability in recent drafts. I won’t complain about them prioritizing speed after I spent the offseason yelling about it. And given the inflexibility of their need at wide receiver, they couldn’t afford to trade back and hope Reagor was still on the board at the later pick.
What will haunt Eagles fans, though, is that one of the two consensus-best wide receivers looked within reach and landed in the worst imaginable place. The first wide receiver, Henry Ruggs III, was drafted by the Raiders at No. 12. Then, at No. 13, the 49ers accepted a one-pick trade down. Maybe the Eagles made an offer there to move up for Jeudy, and the 49ers didn’t want to move all the way down to No. 21. Maybe the price was too high. Jeudy went to Denver at No. 15, leaving Atlanta on the board at No. 16, with only six picks in their weekend bank, and Lamb still available. With the Cowboys on deck, either willing to draft a receiver or trade down so someone else could, this was the Eagles’ chance.
“I think for us, we looked at those options,” Howie Roseman said in his post-draft conference call. “It was important to us that certainly we kept our high picks. We haven’t had a lot of those. And guys really weren’t in a range where it was even a consideration that we could get somewhere without a really high pick.”
We can’t know what the cost would have been. But in 2018, the Ravens surrendered No. 22 and No. 65 for No. 16 and a fifth-round pick (No. 154). No deal was made, the Falcons took cornerback A.J. Terrell and Lamb landed in Dallas, where he’s sure to serve as a running reminder of this unusual draft night for the rest of his career.
Grade: C (The grade is reflective of the process that led to Thursday night, during which the Eagles telegraphed a desperate need with a deficit of assets and left themselves without the wiggle room to take advantage of what could have been a serendipitous opportunity. I like Reagor. He’s immediately their most exciting wide receiver and has the juice and play personality they need. But he’s no CeeDee Lamb.)
Jalen Reagor stiff-arms a defender last season. (Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)
Zach Berman: The Eagles needed help at wide receiver and needed to get faster, and they were able to address both with Reagor. That’s a good place to start because they added a high-upside player who will make their offense better. Reagor can stretch the field, he’s explosive with the ball in his hands and he gives the Eagles a big-play threat. The offense needed that, whether it’s to complement DeSean Jackson or eventually replace him. Reagor will also be valuable in the return game. (He averaged 17 yards per punt return in college.) He’s believed to have the competitive traits that the Eagles should want. If you were told on Thursday morning that they would draft Reagor in the first round, it would have been a fine result.
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But what if you were told Jeudy and Lamb would last into the teens, and that Jefferson would still be on the board at No. 21? Those market conditions are important to consider. As for trading up to acquire Lamb, Roseman said the Eagles wanted to preserve their high picks and couldn’t get into that range without sacrificing a high pick. Reading between the lines, it sounds like they would have needed to surrender the No. 53 pick. I can understand the desire to hold onto that second-round pick, and it obviously takes two to make a deal.
As for Jefferson, the Eagles kept harping on the fit. Roseman said there were “a lot of different flavors” at wide receiver and that “it was hard to find outside speed receivers,” which makes it seem like the Eagles were fixated on a type. And that raises my skepticism. If they believe Reagor is a better wide receiver than Jefferson, that’s their prerogative; the scouts and coaches are tasked with making those assessments. It’s not an outlandish position; Sheil rated Reagor ahead of Jefferson. But it better be because they think he’s a better player, or will become a better player, and not because they’re pushing for “fit,” which is the term Roseman used when asked why he chose Reagor over Jefferson. The idea of fit is worrisome because the Eagles need to prioritize upgrading the unit, however that comes: Add good players and find ways to maximize their ability; don’t focus on a player who can fill a certain spot in the offense, because so much changes during a season and over a player’s career. I wonder if part of this decision is a correction from the Eagles’ past emphasis on college production or not enough emphasis on speed.
I don’t think Reagor’s college production, or lack thereof, is problematic. He was undone by poor quarterback play last season (43 catches, 611 yards, five touchdowns), but his 2018 production (72 catches, 1061 yards, nine touchdowns) should alleviate those concerns. If he’d come out a year ago, the questions about production wouldn’t exist. Ideally, he’d be taller and run a faster 40-yard dash, although the Eagles believe his play speed is better than his testing speed and they see separation on tape. Reagor said he was heavier at the combine (206 pounds) than usual, and that the tape doesn’t lie about his speed. Eagles vice president of player personnel Andy Weidl said he believes Reagor can play above the rim; Reagor said he plays like a 6-foot-4 wide receiver at 5-foot-10 1/2. There are also questions about drops — he had eight last season — that cannot be ignored.
Taken together, those might seem like a lot of questions or rationalizations for a first-round pick, and that’s a fair point. When you watch Reagor play, though, the talent and speed are there. This was not the Eagles reaching for a need, but the alternatives cannot be dismissed. Jefferson checked more boxes, and I would have leaned toward him over Reagor. An aggressive trade would have given the Eagles a top wide receiver.
Ultimately, the Eagles are trusting their ability to evaluate wide receivers. They don’t have the best track record in that area. If they’re right, they’ll be celebrating a Carson Wentz-to-Reagor deep connection for years to come. But if they’re wrong, it would be a costly miss at a position that they need to get right — and one with an option perceived to be safer.
Grade: B-minus
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(Top photo: Michael Conroy / Associated Press)