Jalen Reagor a "Different Person" Heading into Year Two
PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Reagor wanted to please everybody as a rookie.
The 2020 first-round draft pick was hard on himself when he made a mistake. He pressed.
When things didn’t go smoothly, he put even more pressure on himself wanting to prove that he was worthy of being the 21st player taken overall.
“The thing about Jalen, he wants to be so good, not for Jalen, but he wants to be so good for Philadelphia, he wants to be so good for our organization here and he puts a lot of pressure on himself,” said WR coach Aaron Moorehead.
Those were Moorehead’s words last year.
This year, Reagor insists his attitude toward trying to be too perfect and too pleasing has changed.
“I feel like I’m a totally different person, so (fans) will see a different player, a different attitude,” said the second-year WR on Thursday, ahead of the team's season opener Sunday in Atlanta (1 p.m./FOX).
“I’ll be out there having fun, for sure. I’m sure they’ll see something different for sure.”
Fans and the Eagles certainly hope so.
Year Two has to be better than 2020 when he had just 31 catches for 396 yards and only one touchdown. His pards per catch weren’t bad, 12.6, and he had another TD on a 73-yard punt return against the Green Bay Packers.
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Still, he is being counted on to do more, and now, he is being counted on to become part of the chemistry test being conducted at wide receiver, where Reagor and two other young receivers, DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins, are being viewed as a potential triple threat for years to come.
“Once they keep going over years and years and you get that nucleus, right, and those guys stay together for a while,” said offensive coordinator Shane Steichen on Thursday. “All the really good ones that have been together for a while, you can see that chemistry. So, I think that's big. Those guys keep growing together and creating that chemistry.”
So, how different is Reagor from last year and can he become a correct answer on this chemistry test?
The WR said he is different mentally.
“Just knowing that football is my job,” he said. “This is something that, there’s millions and millions of people in the world that wish they could do as a job. That’s why I say when it goes back to looking at the good in things, no matter how bad it gets, I play football.
“This is a game I grew up playing as a child and now I do it professionally as a job. Just being happy, having fun, and just being grateful to be here.”
Reagor said he still has social media accounts but has learned to balance the good and bad, even bringing up something head coach Nick Sirianni told them as it relates to Alabama coach Nick Saban, who called social media posts “rat poison.”
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“I don’t look at it,” said Reagor. “Last year, it was easy to see negative comments and it was easy to see good comments, but now it’s a happy medium. I don’t worry about either. I know both are going to come regardless.
“I look back when I was in college, it was always good talk and there was bad talk, but I didn’t really pay attention to it because I wasn’t really into it, but being a professional I was young and started paying attention to everything. Now I don’t. I really don’t. I don’t really care for it. It keeps me in a good mental state.”
Reagor retweeted what short video clips the Eagles tweeted of his two one-handed, end zone catches during training camp this past summer, because, he said, he has two little brothers and a little sister at home and “I’m somebody’s hero, so I have to make sure they see those memories, but I don’t look for pats on the back from anybody now.”
If he can build upon a rookie season and reach the expectations himself, the team, and fans have, he will be a hero to many others.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
