The hope is that a new city and coaching staff will get Carson Wentz back on track. With better stuff around him, maybe he can get back to being the emerging star he was back in 2017. I think he’ll be one of the second 10 quarterbacks chosen.
But Wentz in the first five years of his career hasn’t had much success throwing to wide receivers. He has not, in fact, ever had a 900-yard wide receiver. Using PPR scoring, he’s never had a wide receiver finish with top-20 numbers.
| PHILADELPHIA WIDE RECEIVERS (last 5 years) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2017 | Alshon Jeffery | 120 | 57 | 789 | 13.8 | 9 | 195.9 | 21 |
| 2017 | Nelson Agholor | 95 | 62 | 768 | 12.4 | 8 | 193.5 | 23 |
| 2018 | Alshon Jeffery | 92 | 65 | 843 | 13.0 | 6 | 185.3 | 27 |
| 2016 | Jordan Matthews | 117 | 73 | 804 | 11.0 | 3 | 171.4 | 44 |
| 2018 | Nelson Agholor | 97 | 64 | 736 | 11.5 | 4 | 165.6 | 34 |
| 2020 | Greg Ward | 79 | 53 | 419 | 7.9 | 6 | 133.3 | 59 |
| 2019 | Alshon Jeffery | 73 | 43 | 490 | 11.4 | 4 | 122.2 | 60 |
| 2020 | Travis Fulgham | 67 | 38 | 539 | 14.2 | 4 | 115.9 | 66 |
| 2019 | Nelson Agholor | 69 | 39 | 363 | 9.3 | 3 | 96.0 | 75 |
| 2017 | Torrey Smith | 67 | 36 | 430 | 11.9 | 2 | 90.7 | 74 |
| 2016 | Nelson Agholor | 69 | 36 | 365 | 10.1 | 2 | 87.9 | 86 |
| 2020 | Jalen Reagor | 54 | 31 | 396 | 12.8 | 1 | 87.2 | 91 |
| 2016 | Dorial Green-Beckham | 74 | 36 | 392 | 10.9 | 2 | 87.2 | 87 |
| 2018 | Jordan Matthews | 28 | 20 | 300 | 15.0 | 2 | 62.0 | 105 |
| 2019 | Greg Ward | 40 | 28 | 254 | 9.1 | 1 | 59.9 | 101 |
| 2020 | DeSean Jackson | 26 | 14 | 236 | 16.9 | 1 | 44.8 | 125 |
| 2017 | Mack Hollins | 22 | 16 | 226 | 14.1 | 1 | 44.6 | 115 |
| 2019 | DeSean Jackson | 10 | 9 | 159 | 17.7 | 2 | 36.9 | 129 |
| 2019 | J.J. Arcega-Whiteside | 22 | 10 | 169 | 16.9 | 1 | 32.9 | 136 |
| 2020 | John Hightower | 29 | 10 | 167 | 16.7 | 0 | 28.8 | 147 |
| 2020 | Quez Watkins | 13 | 7 | 106 | 15.1 | 1 | 23.6 | 154 |
| 2020 | Alshon Jeffery | 13 | 6 | 115 | 19.2 | 1 | 23.5 | 155 |
| 2016 | Paul Turner | 14 | 9 | 126 | 14.0 | 0 | 21.6 | 145 |
| 2020 | J.J. Arcega-Whiteside | 8 | 4 | 85 | 21.3 | 0 | 20.5 | 160 |
| 2016 | Bryce Treggs | 12 | 3 | 80 | 26.7 | 0 | 11.7 | 164 |
| 2018 | Kamar Aiken | 7 | 6 | 53 | 8.8 | 0 | 11.3 | 169 |
| 2017 | Marcus Johnson | 8 | 5 | 45 | 9.0 | 0 | 9.5 | 168 |
| 2019 | Deontay Burnett | 4 | 2 | 48 | 24.0 | 0 | 6.8 | 176 |
| 2018 | Shelton Gibson | 3 | 1 | 48 | 48.0 | 0 | 5.8 | 180 |
| 2020 | Deontay Burnett | 4 | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 0 | 4.9 | 200 |
| 2017 | Shelton Gibson | 3 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 | 3.1 | 187 |
The question of why can be debated. The Eagles haven’t been overloaded with talented players at the position. They’ve also had Zach Ertz in recent years, who’s listed as a tight end but arguably operates more like a wide receiver. Ertz has gone over 100 catches.
Philadelphia’s wide receivers last year were led by unheralded Greg Ward (a quarterback in college) and Travis Fulgham (who had been released by the Lions).
Nonetheless, Wentz hasn’t had much of a track record of doing great things with wide receivers, and the Colts don’t have a wide receiver who’s looking super juicy for 2021. T.Y. Hilton has had some good seasons, but he’s a small guy at the tail end of his career. Michael Pittman and Parris Campbell have joined them in recent years, but neither has yet established themselves as big-time threats.
I haven’t stacked a board yet, but I’m thinking I’ll have Pittman (pictured) as the highest-ranked Indianapolis receiver. He will not, however, be in the top 20 at the position.
—Ian Allan