PHILADELPHIA -- The Eagles significantly upgraded the wide receiver position by signing Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery on the first day of NFL Free agency, adding an element of explosiveness at the disposal of quarterback Carson Wentz that had been lacking in recent years.
Bolstering the talent at receiver became one of the top priorities of executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman and personnel director Joe Douglas after Eagles' receivers dropped 24 passes in 2016 one year after leading the league in the dubious category.
The plan will likely be for Jeffery and Smith to start on the outside with Jordan Matthews returning to the slot, which is his natural position.
However, Douglas was quick to laud the vision behind assembling Wentz's new wide receiving corps this offseason.
"You don't want to have three receivers that do exactly the same thing," Douglas said. "And I think it's something that we discussed earlier with our offensive coaches from Doug to [Eagles offensive coordinator] Frank [Reich] to now [Eagles wide receivers coach] Mike Groh, [Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo]. I think it's very important that each of these guys bring in their own individual skill set.
"Jeffery is widely considered not only the best wide receiver that was available on the open-market this year but he is a bona fide No. 1 receiver who is equally adept at getting open downfield as he is fighting for contested balls over the middle."
Matthews saw his production take a slight dip in 2016, finishing the season with 73 catches for 804 yards and three touchdowns.
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Roseman says that he believes that Jeffery's presence and Smith's ability to blow the cover off a defense is going to give Matthews a significant boost this season.
"I don't know that this says anything other than this will help Jordan Matthews," Roseman said. "Having those guys and having the attention from Jordan, from [TE] Zach [Ertz], from our running backs, the more good players you can have, the more that it'll help those guys get free and not see as much attention.
"We want to keep our good young players -- Jordan is a good young player who's been tremendously productive, has great character, and so from our perspective, nothing has changed in that respect.Meanwhile, despite seeing his yards per catch average dip to 13.35 last season in San Francisco, Smith is a burner who specializes in stretching the field."
during his introductory press conference, Smith said that not only is he excited to play with Wentz, but he as hopeful upon signing on the dotted line that Jeffery would be joining the fold as well.
"When I came here and I knew I was coming here," Smith said. "I had the opportunity to talk to Howie and he mentioned that [signing Jeffery] was a possibility and I was hoping 'man, I hope when I leave here, I'll see my phone with some Twitter alerts saying we signed Alshon,' because he can ball."
Douglas has already put familiarity with both of the Eagles' top free agent additions into practice by getting them to sign on the first day of free agecy and now the organization hopes that the strategy behind bringing them together will pay dividends on the field in 2017 and beyond.
"I see it working out well with everyone," Smith said, when asked about how he envisioned the receiving corps taking shape. "Not just the guys that are here. Obviously we were brought in here to enhance the room and make the receiving room as good as it can be. Everyone's a part of that. We bring competition to the room and we'll see what happens. We'll try to be the best unit that we can be for this organization and for this city. This is a place that's hungry, it's an organization that's hungry and we're going to go out there and make it happen."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at MDLombardo@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardo975.
Source: www.bing.com
