Why Nelson Agholor is the Eagles’ breakout player this season

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor, as far as I can tell, is a bit of whipping boy for the fans up there. A lot of people seem to think that all fingers point in Agholor’s direction when it comes to the problems with the Eagles passing offense.

Now I can understand that to a certain extent. He does have quite a few drops over the course of his first two seasons in the league, which exposed the inconsistency of his hands at times. And let’s be honest, a receiver’s No. 1 job is to catch the football.

Doesn’t matter how tall, how big, or how fast you are, if you can’t catch you are kinda worthless as a receiver.

What encourages me about Agholor after watching his film is that he does generally try to catch the ball the “right” way with his thumbs together. That usually gives a guy the best chance to catch the football and usually means when that guy has a drop its because of concentration rather than having the dreaded “feet for hands.”

I trust a guy to be able to focus a little better to cut down on drops over a guy who has always caught the ball the “wrong” way suddenly being able to change the way he catches a football.

The thing that jumps off the screen to me about Agholor is that he is open. A lot! Especially on deeper routes. Say what you will about his hands, this kid is fast as hell, a damn good route runner and he seems to understand the little nuances of the position.

He is also a very good runner after the catch. If he can get his hands right, Agholor will be able to do damage from anywhere on the field, he just has to make sure he secures the ball first.

Of course any receiver is going to be heavily dependent on their quarterback to help them be productive. With Carson Wentz heading into his second season, I think he will bounce back from a mediocre second half of his rookie season and do a much better job of getting Agholor the ball. If he does, I don’t think there is any question that Agholor will best his numbers from last season, 36 catches for 365 yards and two touchdowns. I’d be very surprised if he didn’t at least come close to doubling those numbers this season.

Now that the Eagles have traded away Jordan Matthews that should only provide Agholor even more opportunities to show what he can do. I’m expecting big things out of Agholor this season, maybe even enough to get Eagles fans to come around on the kid. That’s why he is my choice for Philly’s breakout player for 2017.