USA Today
Mike Groh: Nelson Agholor the Same Player he was in 2017
During the Eagles’ bye week, Eagles receivers coach Carson Walch praised Mack Hollins for his ability to get lined up properly and for his blocking. That Hollins still hasn’t caught a pass since Sept. 26 doesn’t seem to matter, at least by Walch’s way of reckoning.
On Tuesday offensive coordinator Mike Groh said that Nelson Agholor hasn’t regressed since his one-and-only breakout season of 2017. It’s a defense that betrays the eye test, as Agholor continues to have too many drops and seems to have trouble tracking the ball in the air on deep throws.
“I would say that that's probably not fair,” said Groh. “I would say that over the last two years, he's had to wear a lot of different hats in our offense due to the attrition at the position, and one of his strengths is his mental flexibility and his ability to learn. He knows the entire system as well as anybody. So, he's able to handle a lot from that standpoint.”
So it’s a too-many-hats thing?
“The flipside of that coin is that then he gets moved around,” said Groh. “In 2017 he was really able to really just kind of stay in one spot each and every week. We were healthy the entire year and we had the same three, four guys rotating and performing the same job. His job description has changed over the last couple years due to necessity, and I understand the question, but to me he's still the same player.”
Groh was as responsible as anyone for Agholor’s 2017 since it Groh was the receivers coach at the time, but Agholor looks like the receiver this year that he was in 2016 when Pederson sat him on the bench for a game in order for him to clear his head after struggling with drops.
Agholor, who deactivated his Instagram account on Tuesday, doesn’t seem to be in any jeopardy of a benching. He does need to improve his production.
In Sunday’s 17-10 loss to the New England Patriots, Agholor was targeted nine times but made just four catches for 40 yards. For the season, he has 36 catches for 322 yards (8.9 yards per catch).
The Eagles, though, continue to try to get the ball deep to Agholor, since they believe he is their replacement deep threat to make up for the season-long loss of injured DeSean Jackson. The result has been too often an incomplete pass.
