Nick Foles guides a high-scoring Philadelphia offense. (Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)
PHILADELPHIA — One of the biggest questions hovering over the Eagles this summer is the impact of losing wide receiver DeSean Jackson, a top big-play threat in Philadelphia for the past several seasons.
Jackson led the Eagles in receptions (82), receiving yards (1,332) and touchdown catches (nine) last season. The catches and receiving yards were career highs.
But in March, he was abruptly released. The reasons appear to be many and varied, from his hefty salary cap number ($12.5 million) to his itty-bitty size (5-9, 175 pounds) to his reluctance to buy into the Chip Kelly Way to questionable or unbecoming off-field associations.
While they let Jackson go, the Eagles not only get back Jeremy Maclin, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL after catching 258 passes in his first four seasons. They also spent two of their first three draft picks on wide receivers Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff.
Jackson’s supporters suggest that the rest of the Eagles’ receivers benefitted greatly from the attention opposing defenses had to pay Jackson. They specifically point to Riley Cooper, who replaced Maclin last year and had the best season of his career, catching 47 passes, averaging 17.8 yards per catch and scoring eight touchdowns.
Cooper and Maclin will be the Eagles’ two starting wideouts this season, with Matthews expected to be the slot receiver.
“DeSean Jackson is one of the most dynamic players in the NFL,” admitted the 6-3, 230-pound Cooper. “But last year, with all that being said about them always having someone over top on DeSean, if anybody knows anything about the game, they know we have the best running back in the NFL (LeSean McCoy). So teams played a single-high safety in the middle. They manned up the wide receivers, and they put the strong safety in the box to stop (McCoy). I don’t know what percent (of man coverage) we got last year. But it was way over probably 60 percent, press-man, single-high.”
Kelly echoed what Cooper said.
“Most people played us single-high coverage and man across the board. No one was getting any help. Riley was getting manned on his side. DeSean was getting manned on his side. Jason Avant was getting manned in the slot,” said Kelly. “Zach Ertz, or whoever our tight end was, was getting manned.
“No one is going to play us two-deep because if you play us two-deep, we can run the heck out of the ball.”
It’s going to be interesting this season to see the impact running back Darren Sproles is going to have on defenses’ willingness to play man coverage against the Eagles. If they play man, it would mean covering Sproles, one of the best pass-catching backs in the league, with a linebacker or safety.
NOTES: WR Riley Cooper was a spectator for the second straight practice with a minor foot injury. He is expected to return soon. … C/G Julian Vandervelde missed practice Wednesday with a back injury that doesn’t appear to be serious. … RB Chris Polk didn’t practice Wednesday. He has a hamstring injury. … NT Bennie Logan sat out his third straight practice with a hamstring injury. He should be back by the end of the week. … QB Mark Sanchez has been taking all of the reps with the second team and appears to have a significant edge over Matt Barkley for the backup job.
