{"id":167841,"date":"2025-06-29T13:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T13:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/167841\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T13:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T13:01:10","slug":"surging-eagles-receivers-may-eventually-put-pressure-on-younger-teammates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/167841\/","title":{"rendered":"Surging Eagles receivers may eventually put pressure on younger teammates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Occasional glances at the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/philadelphia-eagles\/354\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Philadelphia Eagles;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>&#8216; roster keep bringing us back to a theory that most Birds enthusiasts won&#8217;t mind repeating. &#8216;Damn, this team is loaded&#8217;. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/eagles-biggest-reason-optimism-shouldnt-150845985.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:There are arguably stars at every position;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">There are arguably stars at every position<\/a>, but as is the case with every other team, some areas need depth.<\/p>\n<p>After all, an NFL season is a challenging journey: 18 weeks, 17 games, and, if fortunate, the top performers qualify for postseason play, where the competition is fiercer and the weather is harsher than during the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>People often discuss Philadelphia&#8217;s offense, and for good reason. Their quarterback is the reigning Super Bowl MVP. Their offensive line is the best in the business. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/eagles-rightful-place-pff-ranking-123931312.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Pro Football Focus believes the same is true of their receiving corps;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pro Football Focus believes the same is true of their receiving corps<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>PFF&#8217;s theory involves Dallas Goedert, a tight end, but even though the consensus is that there is a massive drop-off in talent (which there is), <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/eagles-might-better-positioned-crucial-171649305.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:the Eagles may field a deeper receiving corps than they are given credit for;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Eagles may field a deeper receiving corps than they are given credit for<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia declined Jahan Dotson&#8217;s fifth-year option, but he&#8217;s a solid third option at wide receiver. There&#8217;s something else to consider, though. The emergence of two veterans may make it difficult for two second-year stars when we begin discussing final roster cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t be shocked if second-year WR Johnny Wilson plays himself off the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/philadelphia-eagles\/354\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Eagles;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Eagles<\/a>&#8216; 53-man roster.<\/p>\n<p>Every year in training camp, we play the numbers game. It&#8217;s probably too early for this, but let&#8217;s do some roster crunching now. Philadelphia is expected to keep about six wide receivers on the 53-man roster. That&#8217;s typically how they do business, and the league average.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Jahan Dotson are making this team. That means the other nine guys they are bringing to camp are, in all likelihood, competing for the final three spots.<\/p>\n<p>Danny Gray won a Super Bowl ring as a practice squad member last February, but his experience also gives him an edge on some of the new faces, one being newly acquired Terrace Marshall. The latter&#8217;s career didn&#8217;t work out in Carolina, but he and Gray did themselves a lot of favors with standout moments at OTAs and mandatory minicamp.<\/p>\n<p>If the Eagles like Gray and Marshall a lot, which seems like a reasonable and truthful observation. We&#8217;ve already got five names. Depending on how Ainias Smith and Johnny Wilson perform, they could be in a heap of trouble come final cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia likes Wilson&#8217;s size. Heck, they&#8217;ve been obsessed with finding big targets for several seasons now, but Wilson doesn&#8217;t catch the ball very well, which isn&#8217;t something you&#8217;d like to hear about a young wide receiver.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Smith was supposed to be more valuable because he was expected to be a wideout who provided value on special teams as a punt returner. The truth is he&#8217;s mediocre at both. It&#8217;s year two for Smith and Wilson, the NFL equivalent of a sophomore season. Circle their names and add a note.<\/p>\n<p>Both of these young men are valuable and likeable. Still, despite being drafted nearly 14 months ago, neither is assured of a roster spot and may be on a collision course with the Eagles&#8217; 16-man practice squad.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/theeagleswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/eagles\/2025\/06\/29\/eagles-wr-shakeup-could-derail-promising-young-incumbent-chances\/84402373007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Eagles WR shakeup could derail two promising young incumbents&#039; chances;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Eagles WR shakeup could derail two promising young incumbents&#8217; chances<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Occasional glances at the Philadelphia Eagles&#8216; roster keep bringing us back to a theory that most Birds enthusiasts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[8694,10489,235,3395,15457,5640,25,7,7191,10490,6,242,109,2476,425],"class_list":{"0":"post-167841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-a-j-brown","9":"tag-ainias-smith","10":"tag-carolina","11":"tag-dallas-goedert","12":"tag-danny-gray","13":"tag-devonta-smith","14":"tag-eagles","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-jahan-dotson","17":"tag-johnny-wilson","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-philadelphia","20":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","21":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","22":"tag-the-eagles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114766786754518294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}