Birds of Pray: Eagles pin their hopes on Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith
The Eagles are taking free agency seriously when it comes to revamping their receiving corps as they signed both Torrey Smith (three years, $15 million) and Alshon Jeffery (one year, $14 million) today. The moves should provide a massive upgrade on their offense while they develop their young quarterback, Carson Wentz. The moves have far reaching impact within the Eagles organization. Let’s examine the players involved as free agency has truly hit frenzy status.
Alshon Jeffery, WR PHI
There’s no doubt Jeffery is a risk to get injured. However, I love this deal in the short term for dynasty owners as he signed a one year “prove it” contract and is undoubtedly betting on himself to have a monster season and cash in at this time again next year. Jeffery has proven to be very productive when healthy, as proven by his 2013 season that featured a whopping 89 catches, 1,421 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He’s had his ups and downs but he reportedly turned down a multi-year offer from the Vikings and had interest from the Colts as well. He has every reason to give it everything he has and produce on the field this season as he positions himself for a big-time, big-money deal at this time next Spring.
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Jeffery will enter 2017 as the Eagles best option outside and should have every opportunity to push for WR1 status if (a huge if) he can stay healthy. If I’m a contending team and an owner is souring on Jeffery, I’d certainly kick the tires to see just what it would take to acquire him. There’s a major risk/reward to having him but some dynasty owners are going to have the same courage Jeffery has with himself and go “all in.” In short, I love the move here. Jeffery is currently our WR14 and I doubt that moves much either way with this move.
Torrey Smith, WR PHI
Most everyone believed Smith was destined to return to Baltimore but he chose the City of Brotherly Love instead. He is signed to a very reasonable contract and should also have the opportunity to revamp his career after a nightmare of a season in San Francisco. This deal is also of the “prove it” variety as Smith gets only $500,000 guaranteed and the contract includes $5 million options in the next two seasons. With this contract, the Eagles should have two very motivated receivers who are ready to show the rest of the NFL they still have what it takes to be relied upon.
Smith had fallen all the way down to the WR83 in our rankings but this move should give him every chance to move up. He’d make for a nice “throw in” if you’re a savvy owner and talking dynasty trades. His speed will certainly be used in Philly.
Carson Wentz, QB PHI
Well, that’ll help. It was believed the Eagles would be looking at the draft to add to their receiving corps and while they still could, getting two established veterans who are basically in contract years should do nothing but help Wentz and his development. He’s still a QB2 in dynasty leagues but he has some nice upside moving forward. You really have to love what the Eagles did here. If these two signings pan out, they have a nice offense. If they don’t, they’re not strapped for cash moving forward with an inability to help Wentz out in the future.
Zach Ertz, TE PHI
Ertz has reached established veteran status at this point. While it’s possible some targets are taken away from him, he should remain a focal point of the offense moving forward.
Philadelphia Receivers
Every signing has a ripple effect and these really hurt the existing group of receivers for the Eagles. Jordan Matthews is said to be on the trading block and that would certainly be no surprise. However, he should still start out wide and move Smith to the third option – he just won’t be the primary focus in the wideout passing game moving forward with Jeffery around. Meanwhile, the growth of both Dorial Green-Beckham and Nelson Agholor is going to be ground nearly to a halt. There are likely more moves to come in terms of this depth chart but as of now, these signings aren’t good news for Matthews, DGB or Agholor owners. Such is life in the NFL and in dynasty leagues.
Minnesota Receivers
Just a note here. If the interest from Minnesota in Jeffery (a multi-year deal) was that substantial, what might that say about their feelings about Laquon Treadwell long-term?
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Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
