3 Biggest Eagles Training Camp Battles to Watch

3. Wide Receiver 3: Olamide Zaccheaus, Quez Watkins

This race is probably more wide open than just coming down to Olamide Zaccheaus and Quez Watkins, but those look like the two early favorites to earn the WR3 job in the Eagles’ offense.

Obviously AJ Brown and DaVonte Smith will lock down the top spots, but things are wide open beyond them.

Watkins already has plenty of experience as an Eagle, starting 12 games in 2021 then 8 in 2022 as we finally shored up the receiver room.

He hasn’t typically wowed us in his time on the field, but he’s been totally solid, averaging 8.8 yards per target and 13.3 per reception. And the chemistry built with Hurts over those seasons certainly can’t be discounted.

The Eagles didn’t sign Zaccheaus for no reason this offseason, however.

He settled into the Falcons’ starting lineup nicely last year, turning 61 targets into a respectable 533 yards and 3 touchdowns despite the team’s passing game generally being terrible. Those 8.7 yards per target were actually tops for any Falcons player who saw 25+ targets on the year.

For what it’s worth, PFF grades also seem to give Zaccheaus the edge here. He received a 63.4 overall grade in 2021 and a 64.6 in 2022, while Watkins impressed with a 70.5 in 2021 but fell to 55.1 in 2022.

Neither one is likely to be so commanding of the role that we can entirely rule out some other options either. A great training camp could be enough to elevate someone like Tyrie Cleveland or even a healthy Greg Ward (though I project Ward to be a training camp cut instead).