

In the 2017 offseason, the Philadelphia Eagles signed Alshon Jeffery to a one year deal, and during the 2017 regular season, the team signed him to a four-year extension worth $52 million, including nearly $27 million guaranteed. Jeffery was brought to Philadelphia to make big plays down the field. He is not a burner, and he's not a big yards after the catch receiver, but he has a large catch radius which enables him to turn 50/50 balls into 80/20 balls.

During the 2017 season and early on in the 2018 season, he was used as such. But something changed midway through 2018. He was targeted much closer to the line of scrimmage, nullifying the strongest aspect of his game. Whether this was by design, a byproduct of the way teams were defending the Eagles because of the type of personnel the team was using, or simply because of a refusal to target him downfield, Jeffery morphed from an inefficient downfield receiver in 2017 to an efficient possession receiver in 2018, and as a result the entire Eagles offense suffered.

With the return of a certain *clears throat* well-endowed quarterback throwing him the football, Jeffery has returned to that downfield receiving threat that we saw in 2017 (the playoffs in particular) and is arguably playing his best football since his breakout 2013 season with the Chicago Bears.

Let's take a look at Jeffery's overall numbers over the last two seasons:



2017 2018 Games 16 13 Receptions 57 65 Targets 120 92 Catch Rate 47.5% 70.7% Yards 789 843 Touchdowns 9 6 Yards per Catch 13.8 13.0 Explosive Plays (20+ yards) 8 9 DVOA Ranking 49 13 Average Targeted Air Yards 14.5 10.8 Percentage of Team's Air Yards 33.0% 22.67%

Looking at these numbers provides some fascinating reading. He has eight more catches in 2018 than he did in 2017 despite playing in 3 fewer games after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery (an aside, the guy played the entire season with a torn rotator cuff, what a freak!). His targets dropped but only by less than half a target per game (7.5 targets per game in 2017 to 7.08 targets per game in 2018), but this was offset by his catch percentage skyrocketing by over 23% to a career-high 70.7%. This makes a lot of sense considering that his average targeted air yards per catch dropped by nearly four yards per game, resulting in a career low in yards per catch. He was being targeted a lot closer to the line of scrimmage than last year.

What doesn't make a lot of sense, however, is that he had more explosive plays in 2018 than last year. Call it the Nick Foles effect, because nothing Nick Foles does makes any damn sense whatsoever. Jeffery had five explosive plays in ten games with Carson Wentz, while he has four explosive plays in three games with Nick Foles. Foles is targeting Jeffery deeper down the field than Wentz, and it is one of the reasons the offense has thrived.

In the three games with Foles, Jeffery caught 16 of 18 targets (88.9%) for 301 yards (18.8 yards per catch) and one touchdown. In ten games with Wentz, Jeffery caught 49 of 74 targets (66.2%) for 542 yards (11.0 yards per catch) and five touchdowns.

Of course, the small sample size with Foles needs to be taken into account, but the difference in yards per catch is significant. This is even more apparent when you look at the game by game breakdown of how deep down the field Jeffery was being targeted.



Average Targeted Air Yards Percentage of Team's Air Yards Week 4 at TEN 11.0 25.20% Week 5 vs MIN 14.0 36.89% Week 6 at NYG 8.9 45.24% Week 7 vs CAR 11.5 40.79% Week 8 at JAX 7.1 14.19% Week 10 vs DAL 11.0 23.30% Week 11 at NO 7.9 13.52% Week 12 vs NYG Did not qualify Did not qualify Week 13 vs WAS 8.1 17.26% Week 14 at DAL 8.9 31.14% Week 15 at LAR 13.4 45.91% Week 16 vs HOU 20.4 27.97% Week 17 at WAS 10.4 59.65%

*Note - All numbers are per NFL Next Gen Stats, min. 5 targets per game.

Jeffery started out strong this season, but from the period between his flaming of the Carolina Panthers, and Nick Foles taking over for the injured Carson Wentz, his average targeted air yards and percentage of team 's air yards went in the toilet, and this played out in his raw production. Over that six-game stretch, Jeffery caught 24 of 35 targets (68.6% catch rate, good) for 236 yards (9.8 yards per catch, bad). In a stretch where the offense needed big plays more than ever, the biggest big-play threat on offense was not being used as such.

Nick Foles has been much more willing to throw the ball downfield to Alshon in the last three games. The 19-yard catch that Jeffery made in traffic on the game-winning drive against the Houston Texans is a prime example of the trust that Foles has with Jeffery, and is exactly the type of play that Jeffery was brought to Philadelphia for. Jadeveon Clowney was ready to put a hole in Foles' chest but he threw it up for Jeffery to make a play. For whatever reason, that kind of trust has not been there this season between Wentz and Jeffery.

This catch also reminds me of his incredible touchdown catch in the Super Bowl. It's completely unrelated to this post but I'm going to include it anyway because I feel like it.

Like BLG has said in recent times, as Alshon goes, the Eagles offense goes. The Eagles are a better football team when Alshon Jeffery is heavily involved, and it is in their best interest to keep number 17 heavily involved. The beast is hungry and he needs to be fed, and if he keeps being fed the way he has been the last three weeks, who knows, maybe lightning can strike twice.

Fly Eagles Fly.