Eagles Hype of Makai Lemon Masking Reality He Actually Needs Reduced Snaps

The way the Philadelphia Eagles talk about Makai Lemon, one would think he's the second coming of Justin Jefferson.

Instead, Lemon is closer to Jalen Reagor -- and that's being unfair to Reagor since he had a better two-game start in his NFL career.

Lemon has played two games and has 4 catches for 9 yards. Add in a rush of -5 yards on a backwards pass and he has 5 touches for 5 yards -- a paltry 1.0 yards per touch.

To put it lightly, Lemon isn't doing well to start his NFL career. Eagles offensive coordinator and play caller Sean Mannion thinks otherwise.

"He's doing a great job for us. I know he made the big third down play for us there. We have a lot of weapons. He's one we're very excited about," Mannion said. "I think, again, there's different ways that you're attacking the defense, you're using different motions. Sometimes the ball may be intended to go to them, but they throw a curve ball at you in terms of the coverage they're giving you.

"So we're excited about him. He does a lot of the little things well. That's why he's on the field and he's really thriving for us in his role and we're going to continue to look to get him going as the season goes on."

Lemon had six opportunities to possess the football through two games. Two are positive plays, one was incomplete, and three were negative plays. The biggest positive play was the 14-yard catch on third down, which was a good sign for Lemon's confidence early in Week 2 against the Titans.

Mannion kept bringing up the one play he made. Perhaps that was the perception the Eagles are trying to be positive regarding their first-round pick.

"He made a big play there on the third down," Mannion said. "That was a really tough catch going to the ground with a guy on his back. So he's doing a lot of stuff well for us. We're going to continue to lean into that and use him more and more."

How the Eagles are going out of their way to promote Lemon is interesting, considering the rookie should be playing less going forward -- not more.

Will Darius Cooper see more playing time?

Cooper is the third best wide receiver on this team. He may not be the third best wideout on this team at the end of the year, but right now he is -- and keeps gettin better.

Jalen Hurts likes Cooper, and clearly trusts throwing the ball to him. Hurts has a 133.3 passer rating when he targets Cooper in the young season. Even though it's only three targets, Hurts did trust Cooper to catch the football when Cooper made himself open on the winning touchdown play in the back of the end zone.

Think Lemon can do that at this stage of his career? Would Lemon have the confidence or foresight to get open on a play DeVonta Smith -- who the play was initially going to -- fell?

Cooper did, and the Eagles are 2-0. He's getting better every week with every practice, continuing to improve his game and show the Eagles he's more than just the second gunner on special teams (a position he also earned).

There's a status relationship to all of this. Lemon is a first-round pick the Eagles traded up for, while Cooper is an undrfated free agent that played his way into this position. Even if Cooper is outplaying Lemon, the first-round pick who has played two games is going to get the opportunity over the undrafted free agent.

Is it fair? Of course not.

Lemon is going to get every opportunity to succeed in the slot. The Eagles are going to be patient with him and let him grow in the offense. If the Eagles are going to run "11 personnel" as much as they have the first two games (76%), there's going to be opportunities for both Cooper and Lemon to see snaps.

The Eagles tight end situation benefits Lemon and Cooper

Even with Zach Ertz back in the fold, the Eagles are thin at tight end. Ertz is a neccessity at pass catcher thanks to Johnny Mundt being a blocking tight end and E.J. Jenkins not having enough experience.

Even with Ertz, the Eagles are still going to run a lot of "11 personnel." Dallas Goedert is going to be out multiple weeks, so the Eagles will run more "12 personnel" with Ertz -- but not as much has they would have liked at the beginning of the season.

That changes when Goedert returns, as he and Ertz would make a strong 1-2 combo if both are healthy together. The Eagles will have more games to evaluate both Lemon and Cooper and their snap counts.

For the Eagles sake, they better hope Lemon improves. Or do their best to give him plays where he can succeed.

They certainly talk a good game. It's time to back up that talk.

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