The Eagles recently signed Carson Wentz to a monster contract extension, the thinking being that he’ll grow into a franchise-type quarterback this year. But Wentz didn’t play at that level in 2018.
Wentz, in fact, wasn’t as good as Nick Foles at connecting with his wide receivers.
Nelson Agholor, for example, played 11 games with Wentz last year. He caught 37 passes for 451 yards in those games, with no touchdowns. Agholor caught 49 passes for 501 yards, with 4 TDs, in his last 11 games with Nick Foles.
Agholor caught 73 percent of his targets in those Foles games; he caught only 62 percent when Wentz was starting.
Alshon Jeffery (pictured) last year caught 49 passes for 542 yards and 5 TDs in 10 games with Wentz. Jeffery has caught 40 passes for 673 yards and 4 TDs in his last 10 games with Foles – fewer catches, but he’s averaged almost 6 more yards per catch and averaged 13 more yards per game.
I’m not disagreeing with the decision to extend Wentz. I think he’ll come around. Last year, recall, he was coming back from a torn ACL – he sat out the entire offseason and the first two regular-season games. (Jeffery also missed the entire offseason last year after shoulder surgery.) But Wentz is not a shoo-in type quarterback; I don’t consider him to be up there with the likes of Andrew Luck and Matt Ryan.
And with the wide receivers, I’ll feel more comfortable about selecting them after I see them connecting on a few key completions with Wentz in the preseason.
Philadelphia has a pair of good tight ends (Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert). I expect most commonly, we’ll see Jeffery and DeSean Jackson lining up as their outside receivers, with Agholor in the slot. With their other wide receivers, I think they’ll be just spot-duty guys until somebody gets hurt.
JEFFERY GAME LOGS (2017-18) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR |
Wentz | at Was. | W 30-17 | 7 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | .3 | 8.8 |
Wentz | at K.C. | L 20-27 | 13 | 7 | 92 | 13.1 | 1 | 22.2 |
Wentz | NYG | W 27-24 | 8 | 4 | 56 | 14.0 | 0 | 9.6 |
Wentz | at LAC | W 26-24 | 6 | 3 | 29 | 9.7 | 1 | 11.9 |
Wentz | Ariz. | W 34-7 | 4 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 6.1 |
Wentz | at Car. | W 28-23 | 10 | 4 | 71 | 17.8 | 0 | 11.1 |
Wentz | Was. | W 34-24 | 6 | 2 | 37 | 18.5 | 0 | 5.7 |
Wentz | S.F. | W 33-10 | 8 | 2 | 62 | 31.0 | 1.3 | 16.2 |
Wentz | Den. | W 51-23 | 11 | 6 | 84 | 14.0 | 2 | 26.4 |
Wentz | at Dall. | W 37-9 | 7 | 4 | 67 | 16.8 | 1.3 | 18.7 |
Wentz | Chi. | W 31-3 | 9 | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 1 | 16.2 |
Wentz | at Sea. | L 10-24 | 6 | 4 | 61 | 15.3 | 0 | 10.1 |
Wentz | at LAR | W 43-35 | 11 | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 1 | 16.2 |
Foles | at NYG | W 34-29 | 10 | 4 | 49 | 12.3 | 1 | 14.9 |
Foles | Oak. | W 19-10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | .0 |
Foles | Dall. | L 0-6 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 1.8 |
Foles | Atl. | W 15-10 | 5 | 4 | 61 | 15.3 | 0 | 10.1 |
Foles | Min. | W 38-7 | 5 | 5 | 85 | 17.0 | 2 | 25.5 |
Foles | v. N.E. | W 41-33 | 8 | 3 | 73 | 24.3 | 1 | 16.3 |
Wentz | at Ten. | L 23-26 | 9 | 8 | 105 | 13.1 | 1 | 24.5 |
Wentz | Min. | L 21-23 | 8 | 2 | 39 | 19.5 | 0 | 5.9 |
Wentz | at NYG | W 34-13 | 12 | 8 | 74 | 9.3 | 2 | 27.4 |
Wentz | Car. | L 17-21 | 10 | 7 | 88 | 12.6 | 1 | 21.8 |
Wentz | at Jac. | W 24-18 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 8.8 | 0 | 7.5 |
Wentz | Dall. | L 20-27 | 8 | 4 | 48 | 12.0 | 0 | 8.8 |
Wentz | at N.O. | L 7-48 | 5 | 4 | 33 | 8.3 | 0 | 7.3 |
Wentz | NYG | W 25-22 | 3 | 3 | 39 | 13.0 | 0 | 6.9 |
Wentz | Was. | W 28-13 | 5 | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 6.1 |
Wentz | at Dall. | L 23-29 | 9 | 6 | 50 | 8.3 | 1 | 17.0 |
Foles | at LAR | W 30-23 | 8 | 8 | 160 | 20.0 | 0 | 24.0 |
Foles | Hou. | W 32-30 | 5 | 3 | 82 | 27.3 | 0 | 11.2 |
Foles | at Was. | W 24-0 | 5 | 5 | 59 | 11.8 | 1 | 16.9 |
Foles | at Chi. | W 16-15 | 9 | 6 | 82 | 13.7 | 0 | 14.2 |
Foles | at N.O. | L 14-20 | 8 | 5 | 63 | 12.6 | 0 | 11.3 |
AGHOLOR GAME LOGS (2017-18) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR |
Wentz | at Was. | W 30-17 | 8 | 6 | 86 | 14.3 | 1 | 20.6 |
Wentz | at K.C. | L 20-27 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 1 | 7.9 |
Wentz | NYG | W 27-24 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | 4.0 |
Wentz | at LAC | W 26-24 | 4 | 3 | 58 | 19.3 | 0 | 8.8 |
Wentz | Ariz. | W 34-7 | 5 | 4 | 93 | 23.3 | 1 | 19.3 |
Wentz | at Car. | W 28-23 | 7 | 4 | 55 | 13.8 | 1 | 15.5 |
Wentz | Was. | W 34-24 | 5 | 4 | 45 | 11.3 | 1 | 14.5 |
Wentz | S.F. | W 33-10 | 3 | 3 | 26 | 8.7 | 0 | 5.6 |
Wentz | Den. | W 51-23 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 0 | 5.6 |
Wentz | at Dall. | W 37-9 | 5 | 1 | -2 | -2.0 | 0 | .8 |
Wentz | Chi. | W 31-3 | 6 | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 1 | 12.2 |
Wentz | at Sea. | L 10-24 | 12 | 7 | 141 | 20.1 | 1 | 27.1 |
Wentz | at LAR | W 43-35 | 11 | 8 | 64 | 8.0 | 0 | 14.4 |
Foles | at NYG | W 34-29 | 9 | 7 | 59 | 8.4 | 1 | 18.9 |
Foles | Oak. | W 19-10 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 8.8 | 0 | 7.5 |
Foles | Dall. | L 0-6 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 3.7 | 0 | 4.1 |
Foles | Atl. | W 15-10 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 8.0 | 0 | 5.4 |
Foles | Min. | W 38-7 | 4 | 3 | 59 | 19.7 | 0 | 8.9 |
Foles | v. N.E. | W 41-33 | 11 | 9 | 84 | 9.3 | 0 | 17.4 |
Foles | Atl. | W 18-12 | 10 | 8 | 33 | 4.1 | 0 | 11.3 |
Foles | at T.B. | L 21-27 | 12 | 8 | 88 | 11.0 | 1 | 22.8 |
Wentz | Ind. | W 20-16 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 6.0 | 0 | 6.4 |
Wentz | at Ten. | L 23-26 | 12 | 5 | 22 | 4.4 | 0 | 7.2 |
Wentz | Min. | L 21-23 | 4 | 4 | 45 | 11.3 | 0 | 8.5 |
Wentz | at NYG | W 34-13 | 5 | 3 | 91 | 30.3 | 0 | 12.1 |
Wentz | Car. | L 17-21 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 3.3 | 0 | 8.0 |
Wentz | at Jac. | W 24-18 | 6 | 3 | 49 | 16.3 | 0 | 7.9 |
Wentz | Dall. | L 20-27 | 7 | 5 | 83 | 16.6 | 0 | 13.3 |
Wentz | at N.O. | L 7-48 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | .0 |
Wentz | NYG | W 25-22 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 1.2 |
Wentz | Was. | W 28-13 | 8 | 4 | 56 | 14.0 | 0 | 5.6 |
Wentz | at Dall. | L 23-29 | 3 | 2 | 49 | 24.5 | 0 | 4.9 |
Foles | at LAR | W 30-23 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 1.8 |
Foles | Hou. | W 32-30 | 7 | 5 | 116 | 23.2 | 1 | 22.6 |
Foles | at Was. | W 24-0 | 6 | 5 | 40 | 8.0 | 2 | 21.0 |
Foles | at Chi. | W 16-15 | 6 | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 0 | 6.2 |
Foles | at N.O. | L 14-20 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 0 | 1.6 |
—Ian Allan