Alshon Jeffery Reportedly to Be Cut by Eagles After 4 Seasons with Team
February 22, 2021
The Philadelphia Eagles are planning to release wide receiver Alshon Jeffery at the start of the new league year, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The 30-year-old played four seasons with the Eagles and was the team's No. 1 wideout en route to their Super Bowl LII victory.
The ex-South Carolina star began his career with the Chicago Bears after the team selected him with the 45th overall pick in the 2012 draft.
Jeffery played in Chicago for five seasons and enjoyed a particularly successful two-year stretch from 2013-14 in which he snatched 174 passes for 2,554 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Injuries and a four-game suspension for violating the league's performance-enhancing drug policy kept him off the field for 11 total games in 2015 and 2016.
Jeffery signed a one-year prove-it deal with the Eagles in 2017 and amassed 57 catches for 789 yards and nine scores for the league's No. 3 scoring offense. He inked a four-year, $52 million extension in December 2017.
In the playoffs that season, the Eagles' No. 1 wide receiver dominated with 12 catches for 219 yards and three scores. His 34-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter of Super Bowl LII gave Philadelphia a 9-3 edge en route to a 41-33 win.
Jeffery caught only 47.5 percent of the passes thrown his in 2017, but that number ballooned to 70.7 percent the following year in the midst of a 65-catch, 843-yard, six-touchdown season in just 13 games.
He opened up the 2019 season as the No. 1 wideout in a pass-catching crew that added ex-Eagles great DeSean Jackson—who was officially released Monday—back into the mix, but the unit was beset by injuries all year, Jeffery included.
Calf, hip and foot injuries slowed him down and forced him to miss six full games and nearly all of a seventh during a Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He finished with 43 catches for 490 yards and four touchdowns.
The 6'3", 218-pound Jeffery is coming off a down year, but injuries played a significant part. When healthy, he could still be a security blanket for a team.
The Eagles will now turn to Jalen Reagor, Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward Jr., J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Marquise Goodwin to move the sticks at wideout. The team also currently has Ertz and fellow tight end Dallas Goedert on the roster.