Philadelphia Eagles: Week 8 Rookie Report vs San Francisco

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(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia Eagle’s rookies were front and center in the team’s Week 8 win over the 49ers. Here’s a breakdown of each player’s contributions.

One of the major keys to building a football dynasty is getting consistent contributions from each year’s draft class. With constant turnover, the norm on every NFL roster, replacing aging veterans with young talent can be the difference between a limited run of success and a constant contributor, and it looks like the Philadelphia Eagles have amassed a promising collection of rookies this season.

And after struggling mightily to get consistent contributions from draft picks in the post-Andy Reid-era, it looks like the Eagles’ front office, led by Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman, has finally started to draft well after losing his position to former head coach Chip Kelly in 2015.

With nine first-year players currently on the Eagles active roster, here’s how each player performed in the Eagles’ Week 8 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

After delivering arguably his best game as a pro the previous week, Derek Barnett continued to show off why he was the 14th pick in the NFL Draft.

While Barnett didn’t sack C.J. Beathard and the 49ers’ depleted offensive line, the former Tennessee Volunteer recorded two quarterback hits and two tackles in an incredibly rainy affair.

Even though starting defensive end Vinny Curry recorded his second sack of the season against San Francisco, Barnett clearly looks like a better player in both the short and long-term and an absolutely perfect fit for Jim Schwartz‘s attacking 4-3 defense.

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Looking equally comfortable playing against the run, the pass and even when dropping into coverage, Barnett looks like a defensive cornerstone, who will be a steady contributor to the team for years to come. If Barnett continues to play well while spelling Curry and Chris Long, expect his snaps to increase considerably down the stretch.

Sidney Jones is still on injured reserve but has the potential to begin practicing again over the next six weeks. If, over the next 21 days, the team believes that he’s healthy enough to join the active roster he can be activated from the IR, but If not, we won’t see the young former Washington Huskies until next summer.

Rasul Douglas once again saw extended action in the Eagles defensive subpackages and looked impressive as usual.

Though he again did not record an interception for the second straight game, the former West Virginia Mountaineer did record a pass breakup against Beathard and the 49ers battered receiving core, his seventh of the season.

With starting cornerback Ronald Darby eventually returning from his Week 1 ankle injury, it’ll be incredibly interesting to see what Schwartz and defensive backs coach Corey Undlin decide to do with their current stable of DB. But if Douglas continues to perform at such a high level, it’ll be incredibly hard to justify taking him off of the field.

Whenever Carson Wentz puts the ball in Mack Hollins’ hands, he makes plays.

Seriously, the rookie receiver from North Carolina is averaging an insane 20.5 yards-per-catch so far this season, and six of his eight catches have gone for first downs.

And in Week 8, Hollins came up clutch again for the Eagles when they needed him. After running the wrong route and allowing a pass to be intercepted by 49ers rookie cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, Hollins rebounded and haled in a clutch 24-yard pass to help put the Eagles in scoring position.

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Hollins currently ranks fifth on the team in passing yards, with 164. While he is currently trailing Torrey Smith by 54 yards, the rookie has done so on 19 fewer targets than the grizzled veteran. If this trend continues, don’t be surprised to see Hollins stealing snaps as a starter down the stretch.

Donnel Pumphrey is on IR and did not play.

Jake Elliott, everyone favorite rookie kicker from Memphis struggled mightily on a rainy day at Lincoln Financial Field.

The ex-Cincinnati Bengal made both of his field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder, but somehow missed two of his three point-after attempts. While the weather and a sloppy hold by punter Donnie Jones definitely didn’t help his cause, Elliott needs to make those kicks if he wants to remain in Philadelphia long-term.

Hopefully, this was just a fluke game, and Elliott will rebound going forward, but it is a new storyline to watch over the forthcoming weeks.

Much like the previous seven games, Shelton Gibson was inactive for the Eagles Week 8 game against the 49ers, a trend that will likely continue.

After joining the Eagles 53-man roster following the loss of Chris Maragos in Week 7, Nathan Gerry again received an extended look on Dave Fipp‘s special teams unit in Week 8.

After losing starting middle linebacker Jordan Hicks for the season with an Achilles’ injury the previous week, snaps became available at linebacker, but the team chose to utilize second-year linebacker Joe Walker in their base package instead of Gerry, a trend that will likely continue going forward.

Elijah Qualls was inactive again this week.

Corey Clement had his best game as an Eagles in front of his home crowd.

After only receiving two offensive touches the previous week, Clement received a season-high 10 carries and recorded 54 yards rushing, good for a 5.4 yards-per-carry average against the 49ers defense.

While not exactly a breakout game in the typical sense, it’s incredibly encouraging to see the undrafted free agent continue to makes plays and contribute on offense regardless of the volume of touches he receives on any given week. Once listed as the team’s fifth-string running back, Clement has firmly surpassed Wendell Smallwood on the team’s depth chart and is now behind LeGarrette Blount and recent addition Jay Ajayi.

Next: Is Jay Ajayi the missing piece to the Philadelphia Eagles championship puzzle?

If Clement can continue to put in work and progress as a player, he may eventually turn into a long-term piece for the Eagles offense moving forward.