Keenan Allen had a terrific season for the Chargers in 2013, leading all NFL rookies with 1,046 receiving yards – more even than DeAndre Hopkins.
A great start.
Year 2 didn’t go so well.
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Allen dropped down to 783 yards, his yards per catch fell from 14.7 to 10.2 and touchdowns were cut in half, from eight to four.
Looking back now, his position coach, Nick Sirianni, realizes that Allen just needed some help. Once Tyrell Williams established himself as a legit No. 2 receiver, Allen took off and recorded five straight Pro Bowl seasons.
Sirianni mentioned Allen Thursday (as he often does) after the Eagles acquired A.J. Brown from the Titans. Because he’s hoping that Brown becomes DeVonta Smith’s Tyrell Williams.
“I think when a guy has a really successful rookie year and goes into his second year, he's not a secret anymore,” Sirianni said. “And no one thought DeVonta was a secret, he won the Heisman Trophy. But there's still a prove it factor for a lot of these defensive coordinators in the NFL.
NFL
“I saw it with Keenan Allen. He had a little bit of a slip from Year 1 to Year 2, just the fact the defenses were keying on him a little bit more. This is going to make that an awful lot harder for defenses to do with the proven commodity like A.J. Brown on the opposite side of him.”
Smith had 916 yards last year as a rookie, and Brown has averaged 998 yards in his three NFL seasons.
Last time the Eagles had two legit wide receivers? Jeremy Maclin and Jordan Matthews had big years playing for Chip Kelly in 2014, but you really have to go back to DeSean Jackson and Maclin to find two wideouts that defenses really had to gameplan for.
They both averaged over 55 yards per game in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and no other Eagles WR tandem has ever done that.
Not even Charles Johnson and Torrance Small.
The only time two Eagles receivers had 70 catches in the same season was 1996 with Irving Fryar and Chris T. Jones, believe it or not.
The Eagles’ second-leading WR last year was Quez Watkins, who had a nice season for a 23-year-old 6th-round pick with 64-for-647, but Smith is the only Eagles WR with at least 850 yards in a season since Matthews in 2015.
It’s been eight years since an Eagles wide receiver had a 1,000-yard season. That was Maclin in 2014.
Every other NFL team has had at least one since 2015.
The Eagles won by running the ball last year, but it’s no secret Sirianni wants to throw a ton more and challenge defenses vertically. And now he has the personnel to do it.
Defenses can no longer simply put their best corner on Smith and take their chances with everyone else.
With Smith, Brown, Watkins and Dallas Goedert, someone is going to be open somewhere. Jalen Hurts just has to find them.
“We were, I believe, 25th in the NFL in passing (in 2021), and you don't ever want to be that low in anything because you're predictable to the defense,” he said.
The Eagles were indeed 25th in passing at 200 yards per game, their lowest since 2003.
Part of that was Hurts finding his way, but when Jalen Reagor is getting 750 snaps in 17 games and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Greg Ward another 415 combined, it’s not going to do wonders for your passing numbers.
“I know our passing game … needed to improve (and it) took a big step forward tonight,” Sirianni said after the trade. “I think most definitely this helps our passing game and this helps DeVonta. It's just good for the Eagles.”
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