Philadelphia Eagles: Passing on Ryan Grant would be a deceptive bummer

As injuries continue to pile up on the offensive side of the ball, the Philadelphia Eagles should strongly consider signing ex-Raiders receiver Ryan Grant.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ current receiving corps is bad.

Granted, they won’t be horrible forever, as Alshon Jeffery is set to make his triumphant return in Week 4 and DeSean Jackson should be back by early-to-mid-October, but one could make the argument that Philly could be 2-1, if not 3-0 with a bit more depth at their “deepest position”.

Simply put, the Eagles should strongly consider adding an experienced receiver to pad out their corps. An experienced receiver like Ryan Grant.

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A four-year contributor for the Washington Redskins from 2014-2017, the former fifth-round pick out of Tulane was just released by the Oakland Raiders – his third team in as many years – to make room for the practice squad elevation of similarly-sized UDFA linebacker Justin Phillips.

Now when a team like the Raiders releases a wide receiver, even a starter, it probably means that player isn’t very good, but thus far that hasn’t really been the case – they did release Antonio Brown after all.

While linebacker for the Raiders is a lot like wide receiver for the Eagles at the moment (ravished by injuries), passing Grant ironically along to a workout with the New England Patriots is a bizarrely shortsighted move by Mike Mayock and company, because Grant can make the team better in the right role.

Sure, he may not be the biggest (6-foot, 195 pounds), fastest (4.64 40), or most prolific receiver in the league, but Grant has caught 60.9 percent of his 202 career targets as a pro; amassing 1,333 yards and seven touchdowns over 80 NFL games.

Those aren’t starter numbers, but Grant has never started more than 10 games in a season.

In a lot of ways, Grant’s style of play is remarkably similar to ex-Eagle Jason Avant: a reliable possession receiver who can pick up chunk plays coming out of the slot or outside.

Furthermore, Grant is one of the best run-blocking wide receivers in the league (as per Madden 2020), a not too irrelevant factor that could have made him a heavy contributor for the Eagles, especially when an east-west runner like Miles Sanders is in the backfield.

While run blocking isn’t a make or break skill for a wide receiver, it’s a nice advantage for a creative offensive play-caller.

And it’s not like the Eagles haven’t noticed a need for improvement either, as the team surprisingly elevated the practice squad/preseason standout Greg Ward to the active roster before Week 3 – though the former Houston quarterback has since been waived to make way for the return of similarly signed and then waived midseason addition Craig James.

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For the sake of the fanbase, and specifically certified hero (and Nelson Agholor hater) Hakim Laws‘ sanity, let’s hope the Philadelphia Eagles’ brass has developed a game plan to get things going against the legitimately terrifying secondary of the Green Bay Packers – as the production they received over the last two weeks just hasn’t cut it. But if things go bad, Ryan Grant may be a hot name to watch in the City of Brotherly Love.

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