Philadelphia Eagles: Stars aligning for a Jalen Reagor breakout game

Jalen Reagor could finally “breakout” for the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday.

Lost amongst all the Travis Fulgham hype this year is the fact that first-round pick Jalen Reagor really hasn’t had a great first half to his rookie season. The former TCU wideout suffered two injuries to start off his NFL career, and has played in just three games for the Philadelphia Eagles thus far.

Across those three games he’s recorded eight catches for 112 yards, and has just the lone touchdown that he logged two weeks ago against the Cowboys. According to ESPN.com, Reagor is on pace to finish his rookie campaign with 16 receptions for 224 yards.

Not ideal!

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While it’s obviously way too early to judge Reagor, it’s not unfair to admit that he’s yet to showcase why Howie Roseman selected him at pick #21. He had the one big catch against Washington in Week 1, but since then, he’s been pretty much a non-factor when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles offensive game-plan. He wasn’t targeted a ton in Week 2 against the Rams (nothing over the top either), and saw just a handful of short route targets against Dallas in Week 8.

The main reason the Eagles reportedly selected Reagor over someone like Justin Jefferson was due to his big play ability, but we’ve yet to really see that put on display as well. They took him off punt return duties following his Week 1 fumble, and his deep targets have been pretty much nonexistent since his lone 50+ yard reception.

Again, it’s way too early to make the statement that Reagor isn’t good, or that the Eagles made the wrong pick. However, the first-round rookie is going to need to have himself a pretty solid second half to make up for all the lost time.

With all that said, the Eagles Week 10 matchup against the New York Giants is essentially the perfect time for someone like Reagor to finally explode onto the scene. The Giants have massively struggled with their CB2 position this year, and it should – in theory – be a matchup that Reagor takes advantage of.

James Bradberry will likely line up against Fulgham for the majority of Sunday’s game, and the Giants other solid CB (Logan Ryan) tends to only operate in the slot. This leaves Isaac Yiadom stuck dealing with Reagor.

It’s possible the Giants throw someone else out on the outside to handle Reagor, but regardless, one would think that this scenario is about as good a rookie could ask for.

Whether it’s via the deep ball, crossing routes, or underneath short YAC stuff, finally implementing the playbook around Reagor should hopefully be a priority against the Giants. Fulgham has been a revelation on the outside, but Reagor was always the guy who the team projected to be their next WR1. Getting him the ball against a miserable secondary, three weeks removed off being cleared from his thumb injury, should result in the best game of his young career.

If Reagor and Carson Wentz connect on a handful of completions, then hopefully it kicks off a solid second half for the rookie wideout.