What\u2019s the Eagles\u2019 wide receiver competition going to look like at training camp? What\u2019s the holdup with Jalen Carter\u2019s contract? And an Eagles franchise record that stood for 56 years.<\/p>\n
OTAs are over, training camp is six weeks away and we\u2019re officially in the only dead zone of the NFL season, six weeks without any games, a draft, a schedule release, summer practices or free agency.<\/p>\n
The one thing the six-week dead zone does have is Roob\u2019s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations. There are no weeks off for Roob\u2019s Obs!\u00a0<\/p>\n
WHICH RECEIVERS ARE GOING TO MAKE THE ROSTER?\u00a0The competition at wide receiver this summer is going to be fascinating to watch. Howie Roseman has piled up an intriguing collection of talent behind DeVonta Smith in the absence of A.J. Brown and it\u2019s going to be fun to see everything fall into place. You start with 1st-round rookie Makai Lemon, then add offseason acquisitions Dontayvion Wicks, Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore, but there\u2019s more. The Eagles were very high last summer on 6-foot-6 Johnny Wilson, who would have made the team if he hadn\u2019t gotten hurt in camp. His size, physicality and blocking ability set him apart from every other receiver on the roster. You know Howie loves reclamation projects, and Quez Watkins is exactly that. But there\u2019s a reason he’s here, and he\u2019s still got that great speed. And there\u2019s still Darius Cooper, who didn\u2019t do anything in limited snaps to hurt his value, with nine catches and six first downs on 11 targets. There\u2019s also punt returner Britain Covey, a WR by trade, as well as 2025 holdover Danny Gray and recent acquisition Samori Toure. You figure Smith, Lemon and Wicks are locks, and Brown is close to a lock. That essentially leaves Moore, Wilson, Watkins and Cooper and the others for one roster spot. Moore averaged 50-for-541 from 2021 through 2024, Wilson averaged 23 snaps per game in 2024, 4th-highest among Eagles WRs; Watkins had that 647-yard season in 2021; and Cooper showed a lot of promise last year. My money is on Wilson just because he has such an unusual skill set and frame. He\u2019s different than anyone else, and Roseman values unique traits. With a good camp, I think he sticks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S UP WITH JALEN CARTER\u2019S CONTRACT?\u00a0I still think the Eagles and Jalen Carter will come to terms on a long-term deal before the season starts, but you can understand why it\u2019s a tricky negotiation. From a pure talent perspective, Carter has few peers in the NFL. He\u2019s 25, he\u2019s already an all-pro and two-time Pro Bowler and performances like he had in the Rams playoff win in 2024 show just how much of a game changer he can be. Talent-wise, he\u2019s a $40 million player. But there are also concerns that are understandable. There\u2019s the injuries. There\u2019s the fact that his defensive coordinator brought up unprompted that he was out of shape early last year. There\u2019s questions about his maturity, which cost him last year\u2019s season opener against the Cowboys. If you\u2019re Carter, you feel like you deserve to be one of the highest paid defensive linemen in the league. If you\u2019re the Eagles, are you comfortable putting $40 million per year in his pocket when you may have concerns about what he\u2019ll be over the long term? If Jordan Davis is worth $26 million per year, Carter has to be well into the $30s. But also none of the concerns about Carter apply to Davis. He\u2019s a safer payday. So you can see why this hasn\u2019t gotten done yet. When a contract doesn\u2019t get done it\u2019s always about the money. And in this case, the money \u2013 the value \u2013 is difficult to figure out.<\/p>\n
IS JAKE ELLIOTT REALLY THIS BAD?\u00a0With 77.8 percent accuracy in 2024 and 74.1 percent last year, Jake Elliott is the first NFL kicker in 16 years with consecutive seasons of 25 field goal attempts and worse than 78 percent accuracy. The last kicker before Elliott to do that was. Josh Scobee of the Jaguars, who made 76.0 percent of his kicks in 2008 and 64.3 percent in 2009. Elliott is 22nd-most accurate out of 23 kickers who\u2019ve attempted 50 field goals over the last two years at 76.2 percent, ahead of only Jake Moody, who made 75.4 percent of his field goal attempts with the Bears, 49ers and Washington in 2024 and 2025. Elliott was very good here for a long time and is the 2nd-most accurate postseason kicker in NFL history. But if he struggles out of the gate this year, the Eagles are going to have to find someone else.<\/p>\n
A REVEALING DEVONTA SMITH STAT:\u00a0More evidence DeVonta Smith is ready to take over the WR1 responsibility is his career average of 9.1 yards per target. That\u2019s tied for 5th-highest among active WRs, behind only A.J. Brown (9.8), Justin Jefferson (9.7), Tyreek Hill (9.5) and Jaylen Waddle (9.3) and tied with Deebo Samuel. Interesting to note that over the past three seasons, Smith is 4th-highest in the NFL and ahead of Brown \u2013 9.4 to 9.2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A CHANCE TO SPEAK WITH CHRIS KUPER:\u00a0It was great to finally get a chance to chat with new Eagles offensive line coach Chris Kuper last week, four months after he was hired. Kuper is really going to be under the microscope this year as he embarks on replacing legendary Jeff Stoutland, but I like how he embraced his position as Stoutland\u2019s replacement, acknowledged Stoutland\u2019s unparalleled place in the o-line coaching universe and didn\u2019t run or hide from the challenge. He just said as long as the linemen realize he can help them, he\u2019ll be fine. He knows his background playing offensive line for eight seasons in the NFL gives him instant credibility, but he still needs to show his coaching chops on a daily basis. Seems like he\u2019s done that so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AN EAGLES RECORD THAT STOOD FOR 56 YEARS:\u00a0\u00a0In 1948, 32-year-old Eagles quarterback Tommy Thompson completed 57 percent of his passes with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for a 98.4 passer rating. That passer rating stood as a franchise record (minimum 200 attempts) for 56 years, until Donovan McNabb had a 104.7 rating during the 2004 Super Bowl season. To this day, only four Eagles quarterbacks have had a higher passer rating than Thompson in 1948. The closest anyone else came to breaking Thompson\u2019s record before 5 did it was Randall Cunningham with a 91.6 rating in 1990. To this day, only four QBs have had a higher rating than Thompson did 78 years ago: Jalen Hurts three times, Carson Wentz twice, Michael Vick and McNabb once each. Thompson\u2019s 98.4 is 9th-highest in Eagles history. It\u2019s also highest in Eagles history by a QB 32 or older.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER MICHAEL CARTER:\u00a0Ever since the Eagles made the trade with the Jets for defensive back Michael Carter back in October, I\u2019ve been thinking back to the other Michael Carter who was with the Eagles during the summer of 1993. Carter signed with the Eagles on July 14, 1993, the same day Keith Byars left the Eagles and signed with the Dolphins. Carter had been a phenomenal defensive tackle with the 49ers in the 1980s, making three Pro Bowl teams and three all-pro teams, including 1st-team all-pro in 1987. The Eagles cornered the market on signing washed-up veterans that summer with Erik McMillan, Keith Millard, Tim Harris, Mark Bavaro, James Lofton, Ken O\u2019Brien, William Perry, etc. Bavaro played OK in 1993 but the others were shot, including Carter, and on Aug. 16 he left training camp in West Chester and retired. What I was most interested in though wasn\u2019t Carter\u2019s football career but his track career. On June 16, 1979, as a senior at Jefferson High in Dallas, Carter threw the shot put 81 feet, 3 \u00bd inches at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento. Today, 47 years later, that remains the national high school shot put record. At the time it was only 14 years old but still an incredible achievement. Carter was notoriously quiet and did not like doing interviews, but I figured he\u2019d be stoked to talk about his shot put record. So I approached him at his locker at the Vet and asked if he knew what a huge throw that was when he released the shot and whether he was surprised the record had lasted so long. He glared at me and basically grunted and walked away. End of interview. The current Michael Carter doesn\u2019t hold any track and field records, but he is much friendlier.<\/p>\n
WHY DID THEY SIGN ALL THOSE GUYS?\u00a0Speaking of Carter, Harris, McMillan and all the other has-beens the Eagles signed back in the summer of 1993, why did Eagles GM Harry Gamble and head coach Rich Kotite have to add all those washed-up veterans? Because they drafted so poorly in the early 1990s they had no other way to build a roster. But it obviously failed miserable, and Kotite and Gamble were both fired after the 1994 season. During the period from 1991 through 1994, the Eagles drafted 41 players and only one of them \u2013 1991 4th-round pick William Thomas \u2013 made a Pro Bowl as an Eagle. Two others made a Pro Bowl after leaving \u2013 Charlie Garner and Mitch Berger. After Willie T., the Eagles drafted 38 consecutive players who never made a Pro Bowl as an Eagle, a streak that finally ended with 1995 2nd-round pick Bobby Taylor. For the sake of comparison, Howie Roseman has drafted 15 Pro Bowlers who\u2019ve made a combined 37 Pro Bowls as Eagles. If you don\u2019t draft well, you\u2019re not going to win. That was true in 1993 and it\u2019s true now.<\/p>\n
JALEN HURTS STAT OF THE WEEK:\u00a0In his first 82 career starts, Jalen Hurts has thrown 109 touchdown passes and rushed for 63 touchdowns. His 172 total TDs is 6th-most in NFL history by a quarterback in his first 82 career starts. He trails only Patrick Mahomes (208 \u2013 196 passing, 12 rushing), Aaron Rodgers (197 \u2013 179, 18), Josh Allen (192 \u2013 151, 41), Dan Marino (189 \u2013 186, 3) and Andrew Luck (178 \u2013 164, 14).<\/p>\n
208 \u2026 Patrick Mahomes [196 passing, 12 rushing]
197 \u2026 Aaron Rodgers [179 passing, 18 rushing]
192 \u2026 Josh Allen [151 passing, 41 rushing]
189 \u2026 Dan Marino [186 passing, 3 rushing]
178 \u2026 Andrew Luck [164 passing, 14 rushing]
172 \u2026 Jalen Hurts [109 passing, 63 rushing]
169 \u2026 Joe Burrow [157 passing, 12 rushing]
168 \u2026 Cam Newton [123 passing, 45 rushing]
165 \u2026 Daunte Culpepper [136 passing, 29 rushing]
164 \u2026 Brett Favre [155 passing, 9 rushing]<\/p>\n
VAN BUREN, WESTBROOK, WILBERT AND WHO???\u00a0If I told you only two running backs in Eagles history have averaged 4.5 yards per carry in four straight seasons (minimum 100 carries) and told you Steve Van Buren was one of them, how many guesses would you need for the second one? Shady? Nope. Brian Westbrook? Nah. Wilbert Montgomery? No. Keith Byars? Come on now! It\u2019s actually Miles Sanders, who was one of only three NFL running backs to average 4.5 yards per carry each year from 2019 through 2022. Nick Chubb and Aaron Jones were the others. From a pure stats standpoint, Sanders\u2019 numbers place him among the top running backs in Eagles history. His 65 rushing yards per game are 7th-most, his 5.0 yards per carry is tied with Saquon Barkley for highest, his 54 percent success rate is highest in franchise\u00a0history\u00a0and his 4,650 scrimmage yards are 10th-most. But Sanders wasn\u2019t as good as the numbers tell you. He had some moments but was never an elite running back. Interesting to note that after spending two years with the Panthers and one with the Cowboys since leaving the Eagles, Sanders is not currently on a roster. Running back is a young man\u2019s game, Sanders is 29 and this could be it for the Eagles\u2019 2019 2nd-round pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Eagles\u2019 wide receiver competition going to look like at training camp? What\u2019s the holdup with Jalen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6107,69,71,70,6444],"class_list":["post-219048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-eagles-blog","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-roobs-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}