Philadelphia Eagles Critics Missing The Point on Role of WR Quez Watkins

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles have been so good since the start of the last season with many stars to watch that critics who need their pound of flesh have been banished down the roster to find fault with role players.

The defensive punching bag is often 2017 first-round pick Derek Barnett, who never lived up to his college hype as a pass rusher coming out of Tennessee. Those top-of-the-draft expectations follow Barnett no matter how many times the coaching staff insists there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the seventh-year player, however.

If there’s an offensive counterpart to Barnett, it’s receiver Quez Watkins, who has frustrated many fans with an inability to make plays when they’ve been there.

The speedy Watkins, though, didn't come in with Barnett’s expectations as a 2020 sixth-round pick who outlasted the higher-pedigreed Jalen Reagor and John Hightower as Philadelphia carpet-bombed a long-standing need.

The real answers at receiver didn’t come until the Eagles traded up to draft DeVonta Smith in the first round of the 2021 draft and doubled up by trading a 2022 first-rounder for A.J. Brown.

Watkins, meanwhile, has somehow morphed from overachiever in 2021 to persona non grata in 2023.

The culprit is part Watkins part context, or lack thereof.

Ill-suited for the role of WR2 in 2021, Watkins was given traffic because he was the next-best option to a then-rookie Smith, snaring a career-high 43 receptions for 647 yards while playing 69 percent of the offensive snaps.

Pushed back to the WR3 role when Brown was acquired, Watkins’ traffic declined and he caught 33 balls for just 354 yards while playing through a shoulder injury. Too often when plays did come Watkins’ way, the Southern Mississippi product was unable to deliver, which included a near miss in Super Bowl LVII that could have tilted the big game toward Philadelphia.

When Watkins suffered a hamstring injury in Week 2 against Minnesota, veteran Olamide Zaccheaus got his opportunity and delivered with two big catches at Tampa Bay, including a 34-yard touchdown from Jalen Hurts.

Despite that success, when Watkins was deemed healthy for the 23-14 win in Los Angeles on Sunday, he played 52 offensive snaps (66 percent) compared to nine for Zaccheaus (11 percent).

Watkins was given two opportunities to deliver, a game-opening bubble screen in which he kept the offense on schedule and another bubble on third-and-2 from the Rams’ 15-yard line. Instead, of putting his foot in the ground and delivering a first down, Watkins tried to push it outside and lost a yard, turning a potential touchdown drive into a 34-yard Jake Elliott field goal.

Making matters worse was Nick Sirianni’s live reaction to the poor on-field decision by Watkins.

“I just told Quez the coaching point on that play,” Sirianni said after the game. “I think I'll just keep that between him and I. I don't know, maybe y'all can read my lips on that one. ...maybe.”

Sirianni then pivoted toward the positive with Watkins.

“Quez made a big play on the first play of the game to get us out of a little bit of trouble on that play and we're going to need him to make plays,” he said. “I know this, when his speed is on the field, it changes us as an offense. So we'll make the correction. It's just the way football is. There's a lot of emotions in it and like I said, that's our culture.”

When the emotion wore off by Monday, Sirianni provided more context when it comes to Watkins’ value to the offense.

“One thing with Quez is sometimes Quez's abilities aren't always shown,” said Sirianni. “Like Quez has to share the ball with a lot of guys, right and so you're not going to see -- like what Quez did in 2021, you might not see as much because we have A.J. and we have DeVonta and we have Dallas [Goedert] and we have D’Andre [Swift], right, all these different targets.”

Watkins’ role in this offense is about what modern offensive football has become – spacing.

“What is unknown about Quez, what can't ever show up on a stat sheet with Quez, is his ability to stretch the field,” Sirianni said. “His speed is real. And so, there's a lot of things that happen where maybe it's a slant that A.J. catches where Quez clears the middle to make it a cleaner throw.

“So Quez's speed brings a real factor.”

If the Eagles needed actual statistical production from the position absent Brown, Smith, or Goedert, perhaps Zaccheaus would be the better option. For the role needed when the stars are on the field, the Eagles remain very comfortable with what Watkins’ 4.35 speed creates for others.

The Eagles visit the New York Jets on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.