Philadelphia Eagles: What to Expect from the Receiving Corps in 2014

The Philadelphia Eagles possessed one of the most lethal aerial attacks in the entire NFL last season. The franchise led all teams with 80 "splash" plays through the air or plays that garnered 20 yards or more, according to Jimmy Kempski of Philly.com. That's an impressive 12 more "splash" plays through the air than the Denver Broncos offense had in 2013.

Take that, Peyton Manning.

However, there's no doubt the 2014 version of the Eagles' passing offense will be drastically different after losing one of the most explosive playmakers in the NFL in wide receiver DeSean Jackson. Jackson accounted for just over a quarter of the Eagles "splash" plays in 2013.

That's some serious production that won't be easily replaced.

Regardless, that does not necessarily mean the Eagles are in worse shape on offense through the air—in fact, they may just be better off without Jackson. Why? Let's investigate. 

At the conclusion of the 2013 season, head coach Chip Kelly was adamant about changing personnel on offense, according to team owner Jeffrey Lurie.

“Chip and his people were incredibly clear that for us to get better, we need to take a step back and reconfigure the wide receiver position,” Lurie told Joseph Santoliquito of CBSPhilly.com. 

The interesting aspect about Kelly's philosophy on offense is that he doesn't need a single player to define it. In fact, in his six years in calling the plays at the University of Oregon, there were only two seasons in which the Ducks had a receiver with more than 10 receiving touchdowns. In the other four years, the touchdowns were more equally distributed between a collective group of receivers. This seems to be what Kelly is trying to accomplish in Philadelphia as well. 

So who will aid in replacing Jackson?

Enter wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who is now more than a year removed from a torn ACL and looks ready to breakout in Kelly's high-octane offense. Let's not forget that Jackson posted career numbers in his lone season under Kelly, and it shouldn't be a stretch to expect Maclin to do the same. 

The 26-year old receiver takes a lot of undeserved heat for supposedly not living up to his first-round billing, but in all actuality, he is a lot closer to Jackson in terms of production than many may think. In fact, prior to Kelly, he notched more touchdowns, averaged more receptions in a season and caught only three less receptions of 20-plus yards than Jackson in 12 fewer games. 

That's pretty staggering to think about. If Maclin's knee holds up, the Eagles should be just fine on the outside.

Now, let's also not forget about the plethora of offensive pass catchers Philadelphia has on its roster. Free-agent acquisition Darren Sproles appears to be a blueprint-type player in a Chip Kelly offense. He's also led all running backs in receptions in two out of the last three years. Also, remember that the Eagles like to use a lot of pre-snap motion and movement to help quarterback Nick Foles get a better read on what type of package (man vs. zone) the defense might be playing.

This caters specifically to Sproles' strengths, as he is someone who moved all over the place in New Orleans. Whether he was in the backfield or lined up in the slot as a receiver, Sproles is a moving chess piece who seemingly always finds holes in the defense. Expect Sproles to shine in that role in Philadelphia. Now, imagine Sproles on the field at the same time with All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy. 

Talk about a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. 

In fact, Sproles spoke to Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer in the lead up to the Eagles' Week 1 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, warning defenses about what's in store for them:

What's more, is that Kelly called a large number of screen plays last season, and Foles actually led all quarterbacks in the NFL with 16.4 percent of his passing yards coming from designed screens, according to Pro Football Focus. The Eagles have one of the most athletic offensive lines in all of football, and expect that number to increase even more in 2014 with the addition of the shifty Sproles and the ankle-breaking Shady McCoy. 

Let's also not forget about the one player who could see the biggest jump in production in his sophomore season: 6'4" tight end Zach Ertz. Ertz led all rookie tight ends in touchdown catches, and he really came on toward the end of last season, compiling 22 of his 36 catches and all five of his scores in the final eight games. He is poised to become a red-zone freak, and Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer echoed that sentiment when Ertz picked up right where he left off by scoring a touchdown in the Eagles' preseason game against the New England Patriots:

Players on opposing teams are starting to take notice of Ertz's ability, especially when the Eagles traveled to New England during training camp to take part in joint practices with the Patriots. Former first-round pick Chandler Jones raved about Ertz, according to Geoff Mosher of CSNPhilly.com:

"

He's a great player. He's very athletic. He's faster than I thought. I feel like he's more of a skill player than anything. He runs his routes very well. I've had the opportunity to cover him for these two days of practice, and he's been a handful.

"

The other tight end, veteran Brent Celek, is another player who continues to produce, and he really excelled in Kelly's offense last season on his way to over 500 receiving yards, six touchdowns, and 13 catches of 20-plus yards. Celek is arguably one of the tougher tight ends in the NFL (he's only missed one game in seven years) and plays a huge part in blocking for McCoy and protecting Foles. Expect the Eagles to go with many more two-tight end sets in 2014, which will collectively utilize the strengths of Celek and Ertz and put defenses in a bind with how they match up with the versatile pass catchers. 

The Eagles also added an explosive wide receiver in this year's draft in Jordan Matthews.

The former Vanderbilt standout turned heads in training camp and in the preseason and is poised to be a huge upgrade over former Eagles slot receiver Jason Avant. The 6'3" Matthews should be reliable in the slot, and his length should be an advantage to catch balls in traffic against shorter cornerbacks who typically play inside. Not to mention Matthews has already demonstrated he has the ability to be a go-to receiver, as he accounted for almost half of Vanderbilt's offense in 2013, per Kempski. 

On top of the aforementioned weapons, we must also not forget about the other starting wide receiver in Riley Cooper, who established himself as one of the premier vertical threats last season while grabbing eight touchdowns and 13 catches of 20-plus yards. Many considered Cooper's breakout year to be a beneficiary of Jackson's presence, but the 6'4" receiver consistently beat man coverage and made plays on his own. 

As we can see, replacing Jackson's production won't be nearly as difficult as some originally imagined. Will the Eagles have as many downfield pass completions in 2014? Probably not, yet Kelly has given Foles much to work with in his first full season as the unquestioned starting quarterback.

The organization has indeed reconfigured the wide receiver position to include much bigger and longer guys who will be able to go up and make catches in contested situations. It's no accident that the Eagles parted ways with the undersized Jackson, who stood a mere 5'10", and now carry no receiver under 5'11". 

It also should come as no surprise when Foles completes passes to as many as eight or nine guys in single games on a regular basis. He truly does have that many players who can contribute week in and week out—something that could not be said last year. 

Foles is also armed with something he did not possess last year: ultimate command of the offense. Maclin seems to agree, and he suggested as much to Mosher in practice this week.

So as the Eagles gear up for another year of football, their offense may not be quite as potent in terms of "splash" plays as it was last year, but the expectation continues to be that this is a top-five group in the NFL and should very well look the part in 2014.