Philadelphia Eagles: Hopefully Week 6 put John Hightower back on track

Has Philadelphia Eagles’ fifth-round pick John Hightower turned a corner?

When the Philadelphia Eagles selected John Hightower 168th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, the move was viewed by many outside observers as a massive steal.

Measuring in at 6-foot-1,189 pounds with great explosion and even better 4.43 deep speed, Hightower received positive comps to everyone from Kenny Stills to Robby Anderson and was projected as high as Day 2 by some talent evaluators particularly impressed by his Boise State tape.

Had literally any team other than Philadelphia drafted Hightower even one round earlier, he would be near-universally lauded as one of his franchise’s great young building blocks, but through the first 22 quarters of his NFL career, local fan perception hasn’t been quite so sunny.

More from Section 215

You see, over my oddly specific but intentionally selected timeline, Hightower has been targeted 17 times for seven receptions, 57 yards, and zero touchdowns. While that isn’t too strange of a stat line for a rookie Day 3 draft pick – it’s certainly better than JJ Arcega-Whiteside‘s production on the season – what doesn’t show up is the alarming number of pivotal drops on potentially game-changing plays that have slipped through the 24-year-old receiver’s hands.

By my hand count, with a little help from ESPN, Hightower has been unable to haul in all seven passes classified as ‘deep’ before halftime of Week 6. Of those would-be catches, three came in games decided by one score or less, and two happened in the second quarter.

Maybe it’s a tad unfair to judge Hightower without a curve, as he was probably sixth on the team’s preseason depth chart and very rarely practiced with Carson Wentz during camp. Still, at some point, a player actually has to produce to justify continued playing time, no? Travis Fulgham has certainly done all that and then some with his opportunity, and if he somehow loses snaps to either DeSean Jackson or Alshon Jeffery, I’m fairly certain fans will storm the Linc.

Sidebar: Could you even imagine one month ago that the Eagles’ top receiver would be a 25-year-old ex-sixth-round pick on his third team in as many months, and he’d justifiably deserve playing time over DeSean flippin’ Jackson? Man, 2020 is a weird year.

However, in the second half of the Eagles’ 30-28 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, things may have finally turned in a positive direction for Hightower. Targeted yet again on a deep ball, Hightower finally hauled in an absolutely crucial 50 yards that set up the Eagles’ second consecutive touchdown after the half.

Granted, that catch accounted for his only one of the day versus four targets, and Wentz was unable to connect with the receiver a few plays later on the very same drive, but I’d like to think Hightower’s first taste of deep ball success could serve as a turning point for his young career.

Again, Hightower isn’t playing because he’s the Eagles’ best receiver. At best, he’s the team’s third-string deep threat behind Jackson and Jalen Reagor and may not even be active on game days if those two were. Heck, when Jackson and Reagor were healthy, he wasn’t even being used as a deep threat, instead being used on screens to take advantage of his elusivity. He’s also a former fifth-round pick who was explicitly knocked for having below-average ball deep ball tracking ability – an observation that makes NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein look borderline prophetic.

In an ideal world, Hightower would have benefited greatly from spending his rookie season on the sidelines, learning his craft from players like Jackson while slowly working his way up the depth chart. That obviously isn’t what went down, as the Eagles’ receiving corps has yet to be at full strength at any point this season, but playing the rookie an average of 50 snaps a game when he clearly isn’t ready is a foolish endeavor that will only breed contempt among an already uneasy fanbase.

Then again, because Hightower has received this baptism by fire, taken his licks, and finally come out on top with a 50-yard catch under his belt, maybe his young career has taken a turn for the better?

While it may not be as impressive now thanks to Fulgham’s sheer dominance, Hightower joins Reagor as the only receiver to haul in a pass of 50 yards since Jackson in Week 1 of the 2019(!) season. And hey, if Hightower can start to pick up chunk yardage with more regularity, it’ll go a long way to opening up the field for a more dynamic offense moving forward.

Imagine, if you will, an offense featuring Reagor, Hightower, Fulgham, Dallas Goedert, and Miles Sanders all on the field together. Why? No reason in particular, other than it’d be really fun to watch and even harder to cover.

Next. It’s time to acknowledge Jake Elliott’s poor play. dark

Whether Week 6 serves as an inflection point in John Hightower’s career or a statistical anomaly remains to be seen. It’s possible he could build on the momentum of his first big play and continue to progress charged up by a newfound confidence or find his playtime dashed due to the returns of DeSean Jackson and Jalen Reagor. But as a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, there’s no reason to hold Hightower’s initial struggles against him, as he’s really not supposed to be playing this much this early in his career and could still put it all together down the line. Need proof? Look no further than Travis Fulgham, who didn’t record his first 50-plus yard catch until… well, never actually.

Home/Philadelphia Eagles