Philadelphia Eagles seven-round 2020 NFL Mock Draft

If the first part of the Philadelphia Eagles 2019 season was defined by underperforming cornerbacks, the last month has been defined by underperforming wide receivers. With DeSean Jackson out after week one and Alshon Jeffery injured throughout the season, the team has struggled to find consistency with their receivers. In 3 of their 6 losses this year, dropped passes on the final plays of the game have defined a large part of the team’s narrative.

With Nelson Agholor being a free agent after this season, Jeffery regressing/consistently injured and DeSeans return being a huge letdown, the Philadelphia Eagles will need to find a new receiver in the 2020 draft.

Tyler Johnson of the Minnesota Golden Gophers is a good wide receiver that is projected to be available in the third round. The Philadelphia Eagles could use a receiver with his skill set on the team. For starters, Johnson is over 6-foot-2. This may not seem like an particularly important detail, but looking at Howie Roseman’s draft record shows otherwise.

In the nine drafts that Howie Roseman has been the general manager, only 2 receivers he has drafted have been under 6-foot-2 tall: Shelton Gibson and Josh Huff. And neither of those players were picked in the first three rounds. It may be hard to see from television broadcasts but from the sidelines it looks as if the Philadelphia Eagles are fielding a basketball team when they come to the field.

Besides meeting that particular benchmark, Johnson is also an incredibly talented wide receiver with Minnesota. According to ESPN, the Golden Gopher has 23 touchdowns over the last two seasons, along with 152 receptions and back to back 1,000 yard receiving years.

Watching his film, Johnson has great versatility as both an outside receiver and a player who can line up and run slot routes. Johnson’s routes are clean, he has shown the ability to run sneaky deceptive routes that fool opposing teams defenses and the ability to be a top red-zone target in Minnesota.

In 2019, the Philadelphia Eagles have had serious regression across the board with receivers being able to pull in passes in critical times of the game. With 23 touchdowns in two years, Johnson has shown that he can be a dependable receiver in the NFL.

With an average depth of catch at 15 yards in the past 2 seasons, Johnson could bring a dependable receiver to the Philadelphia Eagles locker room for a bargain as far as the draft goes. Considering going into Week 13, the top Eagle in receiving yards is Zach Ertz with 712 yards (ESPN).  This is a stark contrast to their Super Bowl year, where even players like Agholor were putting up great plays and memorable catches.

Then there is the drama revolving around Jeffery, and whether it was him who leaked complaints about the Philadelphia Eagles and Carson Wentz earlier in the season to the media. Whether or not Jeffery is the player who leaked the gossip, that his name is associated with the drama is bad news for him.

While this sort of stuff shouldn’t have anything to do with whether he should play for the Philadelphia Eagles next year, having that tension and perceived animosity in the locker room is not going to help the Eagles get this team back into its winning ways. Former team president Joe Banner said this past week that he does not expect either Alshon Jeffery or DeSean Jackson back next season in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"“My inclination is to think they’re both gone. I think they’re going to be afraid to trust either one of them and they’re going to be afraid to be back in this same situation with them next year,” Banner said. “I just think they’re committed enough to surrounding Wentz with weapons, and these guys have established clearly they’re too high risk. If I had to guess today, it would be that neither one of them is back, unless they agree to restructure their contracts. Maybe DeSean will be willing to convert part of his salary to bonuses so that if he’s actually healthy and playing he makes what he’s supposed to, but otherwise he doesn’t.”"

Yikes. If that is the case, The Philadelphia Eagles will have to invest early in a wide receiver and Johnson seems to be a perfect fit for this team. A fresh start for Wentz could be what it takes for this team to return to its high-flying days of old.