Philadelphia Eagles: DaeSean Hamilton is a Senior Bowl player to watch

As the Philadelphia Eagles prepare for the Super Bowl, their scouting department is at the Senior Bowl. Here’s why WR DaeSean Hamilton is a player to watch.

Though there isn’t a professional football game this weekend, there is a game that could have a significant impact on the Philadelphia Eagles‘ future.

And no, I don’t mean the Pro Bowl.

On Saturday, January 27th some of the nation’s best football players will descend upon the city of Mobile, Alabama to take part in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, a game that pits some of the nation’s best senior college football prospects against one another right in front of representatives from all 32 NFL teams.

While the Eagles will obviously be focusing the vast majority of their attention on their fast approaching bout against the New England Patriots for a chance to be named Super Bowl LII champions, the team simply can’t overlook the Senior Bowl if they want to continue to build championship caliber rosters for years to come.

With current stars like Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson, and Carson Wentz all cutting their teeth as Senior Bowl standouts, the Eagles could very well find their next great player this week in Alabama.

Here’s why Penn State wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton is a player watch at the 2018 Senior Bowl.

Philadelphia Eagles DaeSean Hamilton /

Meet the Prospect

DaeSean Hamilton, a four-star recruit who was born in Japan, but went to school in Stafford, Virginia originally committed to Penn State to play for then head coach Bill O’Brien, but unfortunately never got a chance to play in O’Brien’s pro-style offense, and he left to become the head coach of the Houston Texans in the spring of 2014.

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But that didn’t stop Hamilton from finding near-immediate success in new head coach James Franklin‘s spread offense as a rookie.

After redshirting during his first season on campus, Hamilton came alive as a freshman while playing with current Jets‘ bench warmer Christian Hackenberg, recording a career-high 899 yards on 82 catches and two touchdowns as the team’s number two receiver behind current Jaguars‘ star Allen Robinson.

But unfortunately for Hamilton, he struggled to replicate that success for the remained of his college career.

After staring in OC John Donovan‘s fairly rudimentary offensive scheme as a supplemental receiving threat, Hamilton struggled in the spotlight without Robinson and fell behind fellow sophomore receiver Chris Godwin and tight end Mike Gesicki on the stats sheet.

Between the 2015 and 2016 season, Hamilton only recorded 1086 yards on 79 catches for seven touchdowns, which would be good stats for one season, but is incredibly pedestrian in today’s pass-happy college football landscape.

With many fearing that Hamilton was a one year wonder, a slight position change into the slot brought new life to the receiver in his senior season.

Now operating as a Jordan Matthews-esque big slot receiver in Joe Moorhead‘s uptempo, high powered spread offense, Hamilton saw an uptick in targets, yards, yards per catch, and touchdowns, and finished the season with a much improved 857 yards on 53 catches with a team-high nine touchdowns.

While his college career was up and down, Hamilton left Penn State as the team’s all-time receptions leader with 214 catches for 2842 yards and 18 touchdowns. Though it wasn’t always pretty Hamilton will go down as one of Penn States’ most prolific receivers and has earned a fair share of support across the Keystone State.

(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /

Why he’s a fit with the Philadelphia Eagles

After fielding one of the worst wide receiving cores in the entire league in 2016, Howie Roseman and company made it a priority to bolster the position, in both free agency and in the draft to give second-year quarterback Carson Wentz some legitimate receivers to take his game to the next level.

And for the most part, the results were mixed.

Sure, Alshon Jeffery played incredibly well, even if his numbers were only average, and Nelson Agholor blossomed into a legitimate star in the slot, but the team consistently struggled to find production from their Y receiver spot.

Whether it be free agent acquisition Torrey Smith or rookie draft picks Mack Hollins and Shelton Gibson, the Eagles struggled to find a consistent big-play deep threat receiver to take the top off of opposing defenses, and will likely continue to look for more production from the position going into 2018.

But unfortunately for the Eagles, that’s not Hamilton’s game, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Though Hamilton established himself as a sure-handed receiver both outside and in the slot over his four-year college career in Happy Valley, he was never used as a pure deep threat in college, instead getting the vast majority of his production across the middle of the field.

Hamilton’s longest catch in college came as a junior in a 45-31 win over the Indiana Hoosiers. Though this catch was impressive, it was, for the most part, an outlier, as the 6-foot-1 receiver only averaged 13.3 yards per catch over his four seasons in college. While this isn’t a terrible average, it’s far from what the Eagles have been looking for when scouting receiving talent in the Pederson era.

Both Hollins and Gibson finished their college careers averaging over 20 yards per catch and were viewed as two of the best legitimate deep threats in the entire 2017 NFL Draft by many talents observes.

And when you factor in that Hamilton hasn’t shown any promise as a return man, a sneaky need if Darren Sproles follows through on his decision to retire, it makes Hamilton a less than ideal fit for the Eagles roster as it’s presently constructed.

But one thing that could help Hamilton’s case, and make him a player to watch for the Eagles’ front office is the lack of appreciation the former Lion has received on the national stage.

Currently ranked the 19th best receiver, and 146th overall prospect by CBS Sports, Hamilton is firmly a day three pick, but that all could change if he has a good week in Mobile. Though there have only been two days of practice so far, the former Lion has already started to turn heads, and could slowing work his way up the mid rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft, especially if he performs well at the NFL Combine.

Hamilton’s former teammate, Chris Godwin, was also overlooked by many talent evaluators before running 4.42 and the combine, which ultimately vaulted him into the third round, where he was selected 84th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and became a solid contributor as a rookie.

While even an unreal 40-time likely won’t make Hamilton a day two pick, it could go a long way to raising his draft stock, and where his name ultimately gets called in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Though he isn’t a true deep threat, Hamilton has established himself as a solid possession receiver who doesn’t have one elite trait but is good enough at every to become a consistent contributor in any scheme as a balanced, consistent possession receiver.

Though he probably won’t start off his career as a day one starter, Hamilton has the talent needed to eventually become a top three receiver for virtually any team in the NFL.

Draft Projection: Rounds 4-6

NFL Comparison: Jason Avant

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Bottom Line: If the Eagles decide to selected DaeSean Hamilton in the waning rounds of the NFL Draft, he has the potential to develop into a solid supplemental receiver in the vain of former Eagle Jason Avant, and could give the Wentz yet another weapon to plug into Doug Pederson‘s high powered offense. Though he may never become a star, Hamilton could eventually become a solid number two receiver in a pro-style system, and put together a long, consistent career in the NFL.

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