The Philadelphia Eagles head into the offseason with some major question marks. Such is the nature of the beast when you finish in last place and are being led by a young quarterback that struggled a great deal during his rookie season.
However, Philadelphia’s biggest concern right now has to be at wide receiver. Sure Carson Wentz didn’t play tremendous football under center. But he was not helped out by a lackluster receiving group that failed to show any sort of consistency.
Former second-round pick Jordan Matthews — expected to take on a No. 1 receiver role — struggled with drops and simply didn’t help Wentz out much throughout the season. Meanwhile, former first-round pick Nelson Agholor was so bad that Philadelphia took him out of the wide receiver rotation.
All of this had led to speculation that DeSean Jackson might be eyeing a return to the Eagles. While that could very well still be true, CBS Sports NFL insider Jason La Canfora is reporting that Philadelphia is set to target Chicago Bears receiver Alshon Jeffery in free agency.
“Several league sources anticipate the Eagles being in on Alshon Jeffery (Bears) and Philadelphia was aggressive in exploring trade options in-season on other receivers as well, like Torrey Smith (San Francisco), and they need to add more than one pass catcher this offseason,” La Canfora reported on Friday.
Jeffery, 26, was considered one of the best young pass catchers in the NFL heading into this season. Unfortunately for the former second-round pick, he dealt with myriad injuries before being suspended four games for violating the league’s policy against performance enhancing drugs (more on that here).
Ultimately, Jeffery ended up tallying 52 receptions for 821 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games. This will likely put a cap on the type of contract he receives in free agency. Add in the suspension, and it’s highly unlikely Chicago will place the franchise tag on Jeffery. If so, look for the Eagles to be major players here.