Can Jalen Reagor Challenge DeSean Jackson's Rookie Record?

Eagles running back Miles Sanders grabbed one of DeSean Jackson’s Eagles rookie records last year.

Will 2020 be the year receiver Jalen Reagor takes the other rookie record owned by Jackson?

In 2008, Jackson’s rookie season as a second-round pick (No. 49 overall), he put up 912 yards receiving on 62 receptions to surpass the previous record of 869 yards held by tight end Keith Jackson, who had held it for 20 years after setting it in 1988.

Also, that year Jackson piled up 1,008 yards from scrimmage, which included 96 rushing yards on 17 caries. He also had another 440 yards in punt returns.

Sanders took the scrimmage yards record away, with a 2019 season that saw him amass 1,327 yards.

Many of tried to break Jackson’s record, but it has withstood the test of time – 11 years to be precise.

There was Jeremy Maclin, who was picked in the first round a year after Jackson arrived. He had 56 catches but fell short with 773 yards.

Jordan Matthews came oh-so-close in 2014 after being drafted in the second round. Matthews had 872 yards on 67 receptions.

The only other receiver the Eagles drafted in the first two rounds since 2008 was Nelson Agholor in 2015. Agholor had just 283 yards receiving on 23 catches.

Now along comes Reagor, the team’s first-round pick. He has the same sort of scorched-earth speed that Jackson possesses.

The oddsmakers don’t believe Reagor will do it. They have installed his over/under for yards receiving at 700.5.

That number feels like it will be close, if not trending toward the under, because Reagor also has something Jackson didn’t have, and that is playmakers.

On the team with Jackson in 2008 were Jason Avant, who 32 catches for 377 yards in that 2008 season, Hank Baskett (33-440), Reggie Brown (18-252), and Kevin Curtis (33-390). The tight end was Brent Celek, who was in just his second season and finished with 27 catches for 318 yards, and Brian Westbrook, who was the home run hitter out of the backfield and had 54 receptions for 402 yards that season.

Reagor is stepping onto a team with playmakers that include Jackson, who is 33, two dangerous tight ends in Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert, and two pass-catching running backs in Sanders and Boston Scott. There is also a veteran receiver in Marquise Goodwin, and two other draft picks, who may find a role in receivers John Hightower and Quez Watkins.

Possibly waiting in the wings is Alshon Jeffery, who may not be quite ready to start the season after rehabbing from Lisfranc surgery.

So, right now the answer to whether or not Reagor can take Jackson’s other record is probably no.

Reagor, though, may actually have an outside chance at breaking Sanders’ yards from scrimmage record, because Reagor has a running back’s background and could be a threat to put up some numbers in that area of the game as well.