(Paul J. Bereswill)
In 2015, the Eagles struggled to produce with the wide outs on the roster. It was the first season without Jeremy Maclin, the team’s previous number one receiver. The lack of talent was clear, with Jordan Matthews as the new number one receiver and no clear number two. In Maclin’s last year, Matthews and Maclin combined for over 2,100 yards and 18 touchdowns. In 2015 season, Matthews put up similar numbers as his 2014 stats, but he didn’t really emerge as the star of the receiving corp, as the team had hoped, nor did he have a reliable partner on the outside. There were even times when Matthew’s was not the team’s clutch target and as a result, the team struggled to move the ball down the field.
The Birds look to change that next season with some key acquisitions this spring along with the shedding of some dead weight. In the past week the “Bird Gang” has welcomed in former NY Giant wide out Rueben Randle. The 6’2 receiver has a big chip on his shoulder and is eager to prove himself, as he felt extremely underutilized last season in the Big Apple, even with the absence of Victor Cruz. While he did score 8 touchdowns, he was only target 90 times compared to Odell Beckham Jr who saw Eli manning look his direction 159 times. Look for Randle to show out as big body for Sam Bradford in the midnight green.
Rueben Randle with a spectacular one-handed TD catch
Randle goes up to get it
The other two key moves made in the receiving corp were the much anticipated and mostly celebrated release of Riley Cooper, and the pickup of Chris Givens from the Baltimore Ravens. Cooper has rubbed the city of brotherly love the wrong way ever since he went on his racist rant at a Kenny Chesney concert in July of 2013. That mixed with his dreadful performance on the field meant he had to go.
No more of this…
The former Demon Deacon on the other hand was an addition that gave the birds a legitimate deep threat as Givens has career yards per catch average of 16.6 yards, an average he surpassed last seasons as he hauled in passes at 18.8 yard clip. So here’s to hoping these moves can get the once potent offense up and running again.
