A Decision at WR Doesn't Have to be Difficult for Doug Pederson

For the Eagles head coach, too many options at wide receiver is something the coach typically hasn't had to deal with

PHILADELPHIA - Every decision isn’t a difficult one.

For Doug Pederson, too many options at wide receiver is something the coach typically hasn't had to deal with, but framing the issue as a good problem to have is probably overstating things.

The potential returns of veterans DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery for Week 6 against Baltimore does have to be addressed, however.

Pederson expects both Jackson and Jeffery to be incorporated more into practice this week just as Travis Fulgham is coming off a career-game in Pittsburgh and John Hightower is providing some helpful attributes to the offense despite no real discernable efficacy, at least not yet.

"We're hopeful that DeSean gets incorporated into practice this week," Pederson said Monday. "We're obviously hopeful that Alshon gets back out there this week."

Maybe the best description of the problem is to remove the adjective difficult in front of the word decision and understand Pederson has two paths in front of him, default to experience or start rebooting this entire thing with youth.

At this point it's hard to imagine either Jackson (33) or Jeffery (30) around in 2021 so why not keep building on what you have with the young WRs while slowly adding Quez Watkins and ultimately Jalen Reagor slowly back into the mix?

In another division, that path might be more obvious but the NFC East is so bad the Eagles are one-half game out of first place despite a 1-3-1 start, and the "frontrunners," the Dallas Cowboys, just lost starting quarterback Dak Prescott for the season.

That means a fourth straight postseason appearance might even remain likely and squeezing everything you can get out of Jackson and Jeffery makes that path at least a little more understandable.

In the short-term, the answer for Pederson seems to be an easy one, split the hand. In this case, that means riding with Fulgham after a 10-catch, 152-yard performance against the Steelers while integrating Jackson back in as the deep threat in place of Hightower, who is generating consistent separation but not finishing plays.

Pederson seemed to be laying the seeds for that decision earlier in the week.

"You know, we've got to make sure that [Jackson and Jeffery] are healthy first, right, No. 1, and make sure they are 100 percent heading into the game," he said.

On the surface Hightower has not played well, graded out as No. 116 of the 118 receivers around the league who've played enough to join the pool by ProFootballFocus.com.

He whiffed on a potential deep touchdown in Pittsburgh and didn't seem to track the football out of his break on an earlier deep throw by Carson Wentz that had most pointing fingers at the quarterback for an overthrow. Then there was the rookie mistake when he failed to get out of bounds late in the second quarter, a faux pas that likely cost the Eagles three points after the subsequent rare Wentz to J.J. Arcega-Whiteside over-the-shoulder completion.

"On both plays, I thought he ran good routes," Pederson said of Hightower's deep-ball opportunities. "... on the first one, he was kind of the second part of that play. It's all based on the safety read and all that. But Carson had to get the ball out just a touch sooner than he would like. Did take a shot on the play, but just missed by about a yard or so on that one.

"And then on the second one, with an opportunity in the end zone, had he made the play, I'm not sure if he would have been inbounds, anyway. The ball was kind of carried, the momentum would have been out of the back of the end zone."

The good from Hightower comes when you peel back on the analytics. According to Next Gen Stats, the rookie speedster is averaging 3.7 yards of separation when targeted, a number that puts him in the top half of the NFL. Hightower also leads the league in average air yards per target at 18.8, putting something on film that opponents have to respect.

"For us and him to put that out there on tape to show his speed, obviously, is something that opponents are going to see, and they are going to be aware of that and be cautious of that," Pederson said. "It's something we can continue to build upon."

Conversely, it's easy to see Fulgham's success. 

PFF graded him as the top WR in the NFL for Week 5 heading into Monday night and Wentz's passer rating when targeting the Old Dominion product was 146.5. More stunning that that was how the Eagles used Fulgham, lining him up all over the formation, despite the fact he just arrived on Aug. 20.

"He just attacks each day ready to learn, ready to get better," Pederson said of Fulgham. "He's always throwing with Carson. Carson's grabbing him between periods at practice and working on routes and details of routes and timing of routes and that's what it takes with everybody and not just one guy. It's a pleasant surprise to see him step up the way he has the last couple of weeks."

Last week Jackson was limited in practice and Jeffery’s timetable was derailed a bit by illness.

So what do you do?

"You're trying to build chemistry," Pederson said. "You're trying to build sort of I guess a package of plays that these guys are comfortable with, and at the same time, you're bringing back - hopefully bringing back a couple of veteran players that could give your offense a boost."

If Jackson is ready to go he plays over Hightower at least until positive traits turn into production for the latter. Fulgham, however, has earned the right to play himself out of the lineup, something you can explain by allowing rehab from Lisfranc surgery to be the excuse for slowing down Jeffery even further.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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