The Eagles are releasing Alshon Jeffery. If he’s going to re-kindle his career, it will be with a new franchise. That according to a report by Ian Rapoport.
Jeffery way back when had a couple of monster seasons with the Bears. Using PPR scoring, he was a top-10 wide receiver in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. But he hasn’t gotten back to being that kind of a guy. He’s been plagued by injuries the last two years, and in each of his four previous seasons, he finished with around 800 yards. He at least help the Eagles win a Super Bowl in his first season with them.
Jeffery has been more of a serviceable starter than a standout. Looking to free up salary room, the Eagles are letting him go. That’s not a surprise (I was thinking that move would have come last summer). Philadelphia used a first-round pick on a wide receiver last year, and might go that route in the first round again this time (there are some really promising ones available).
Injuries have played a big role in Jeffery’s decline. He underwent a surgery on his rotator cuff that sidelined him for all of the offseason heading into 2018. The following season, he was shelved by hip and foot injuries (with the foot surgery shelving him for over half of last year).
Since those two top-10 seasons, Jeffery has missed 7, 4, 3, 6 and 9 games, with only one 16-game season in there (back in 2017). In the 2018-19 seasons, he played better when Nick Foles was at quarterback, not having as strong of a rapport with Carson Wentz – those two didn’t seem to get along well.
Now Jeffery is 31, and probably not as twitchy as he was earlier in his career.
There are a lot of good wide receivers who will be on the market. I would think Jeffery will have to settle for a modest, prove-it type contract from a team looking for a wide receiver willing to compete for playing time. I don’t think he’ll be one of the top two wide receivers on a team. If he can stay healthy, I would think he’ll be the No. 3 guy somewhere.
| ALSHON JEFFERY, YEAR-BY-YEAR STATS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | G | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2012 | Bears | 10 | 48 | 24 | 367 | 15.3 | 3 | 78.7 | 83 |
| 2013 | Bears | 16 | 148 | 89 | 1421 | 16.0 | 7 | 285.6 | 8 |
| 2014 | Bears | 16 | 145 | 85 | 1133 | 13.3 | 10 | 261.6 | 10 |
| 2015 | Bears | 9 | 94 | 54 | 807 | 14.9 | 4 | 158.7 | 43 |
| 2016 | Bears | 12 | 94 | 52 | 821 | 15.8 | 2 | 146.1 | 55 |
| 2017 | Eagles | 16 | 120 | 57 | 789 | 13.8 | 9 | 195.9 | 21 |
| 2018 | Eagles | 13 | 92 | 65 | 843 | 13.0 | 6 | 185.3 | 27 |
| 2019 | Eagles | 10 | 73 | 43 | 490 | 11.4 | 5 | 122.2 | 60 |
| 2020 | Eagles | 7 | 13 | 6 | 115 | 19.2 | 1 | 23.5 | 155 |
—Ian Allan