Philadelphia Eagles: Alshon Jeffery’s season needed to be over yesterday

See you at the Philadelphia Eagles reunion, Alshon Jeffery.

Do you think the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles will have a Super Bowl reunion?

I know, I know, weird question, but hear me out. The ’88 Bengals had a 30th-anniversary party in 2008, as did the Dallas Cowboys for the 25th anniversary of their 1993 Super Bowl-winning run in 2018. A quick google search will find a slew of these sort of high school reunion-esque soirees where players, coaches, and even staff members reconvene after years apart to celebrate their shared accomplishments.

Assuming the team doesn’t go on a massive, Patriots-esque run and string off a half dozen more championships over the next decade, Eagles fans in the City of Brotherly Love very well may be fondly hanging onto those Super Bowl 53 pennants like their Phillies counterparts have been since their one-and-done World Series run in 2008.

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Unfortunately, losing kind of runs in this city’s blood.

But why, you may ask, is this relevant? Because that hypothetical reunion – if it happens at all – is the next time Alshon Jeffery should don a midnight green jersey because, as far as I’m concerned, his season needed to be over yesterday (12/06/2020).

After having his contract erroneously guaranteed for the 2020 season as part of a Howie Roseman restructuring in 2018, Jeffery’s inclusion on the Eagles’ active roster for the entirety of this current NFL season was assured. While in hindsight, it would have been wise to simply bite the bullet and prematurely end his season before it could even begin with a preseason IR designation, the Eagles’ brass was confident that that the 30-year-old St. Matthews, South Carolina native could contribute something of value to a team with sky-high local aspirations.

That isn’t what happened.

No, instead, the team kept Jeffery on their active roster, even though he was still months away from being ready to play following Lisfranc surgery in December of 2019. Though Jeffery would occasionally make waves for appearing at practice in pads, he ultimately didn’t make his season debut until Week 10, where he played 18 snaps against the New York Giants and was targeted one time with zero catches. From there, Jeffery only logged five snaps in Week 11 before taking on a more expansive role in Weeks 12 and 13, where he played an average of 35 snaps (52.5 percent) and was targeted five times for 15 yards.

And want to know the worst part of all? Jeffery’s uptick in snaps has come directly at the expense of one of the few bright spots this season has had to offer, Travis Fulgham.

Over the team’s last two games, Fulgham has seen his average snaps halved from his Weeks 6-11 peak and has even been ‘demoted’ out of the starting lineup in favor of Jeffery for no real reason in particular. Granted, it’s not like Fulgham has really been a distinctly impressive performer over the last month, as he hasn’t recorded a game with more than 20 receiving yards since Week 8, but benching him for Jeffery? How does that make any sense?

While yes, the Eagles are technically only a game and a half back in the NFC East behind the Giants, this is 100 percent a lost season – regardless of whether it ends in Week 17 or Week 18. If the team wants to go down swinging with their remaining holdovers from their Super Bowl-winning roster, who am I to argue, but… I kind of want to argue it, just a bit.

Did you happen to catch the Eagles’ loss to the Green Bay Packers? It was a pretty bad game for the first three quarters, right? Well, when did the game get interesting? That’s right, when Jalen Hurts entered the game and brought some life to a zombie offense (more on that here). Did the Packers play soft zone and have blown coverages? Sure, but riddle me this, how tight were the Eagels being played when Wentz was in the game with the very same score? No, the Packers played off because they wanted to keep players in front of them and avoid giving up a big play on a blown assignment New York Jets-style.

Hurts’ eagerness to pick up what the defense was giving him and run for positive yards was a positive development in an otherwise lost game. The same goes for Jalen Reagor‘s sudden string of big plays both as a receiver and as a punt returner. While neither play ultimately resulted in the Eagles taking the lead or pulling off an on-the-road upset, both were – again – encouraging.

The only thing Jeffery could do this season that anyone could describe as encouraging would be to step aside and willingly give his snaps to younger players like Fulgham, John Hightower, and Quez Watkins.

Ah, John Hightower and Quez Watkins, remember them?

As crazy as it may sound, Deontay Burnett has four more receiving yards than Jeffery, and he’s only appeared in 58 snaps over two games. Even everyone’s favorite summer training camp star has been more productive than Jeffery, and he’s not even eligible to play another game this season unless he’s signed outright to the active roster.

And honestly, what makes this situation all the more shameful is that once upon a time, Jeffery was a legitimate fan favorite.

When the Eagles signed Jeffery to a one-year, $9.5 million contract in the lead-up to the 2017 NFL season, the move was universally lauded. Fans loved his effort, his 50-50 ball skills, and cheered feverishly whenever the 6-foot-3 wide receiver made an acrobatic catch like his touchdown over Eric Rowe in the Super Bowl.

His eventual contract extension, worth $27 million over four years, seemed incredibly justified nine months removed from his initial acquisition, and many assumed that he and Carson Wentz would form the best one-two tandem in the NFC East for years to come.

But now? Now there are very real questions about Carson Wentz as a franchise quarterback, Doug Pederson as a head coach, Howie Roseman as a general manager, and whether the Eagles will return to their winning ways anytime soon.

I guess 2017’s afterglow has officially worn off.

As tough as it is to admit, the Philadelphia Eagles are no longer one of the league’s best teams. If we’re being totally honest, they aren’t even the consensus best team in the NFC East anymore, even in a year where Andy Dalton, Alex Smith, and Colt McCoy are starting meaningful games into December. If the Eagles want to at least make something out of this otherwise lost season, they need to prioritize getting young players on the field and attempt to determine who is worthy of a spot on the depth chart next season. If that means scratching players like Alshon Jeffery who aren’t contributing much on the field on lame-duck contracts, then so be it. There’s always the reunion.