Is John Hightower the new Agholor?

[John Blutarski]

1 hour ago, EagleVA said:

It's about time don't you think??

Are you serious?? He's a 5th round pick.

[Talonblood]

1 hour ago, BirdsFanBill said:

They played the volume game, which is admirable in its own way. Knowing you stink at something so just getting 10 WR's and seeing what happens is a viable strategy.

Howie- "Since we can't draft for sh**, we'll get 15 WR's and let them sort themselves out. Should be at least one in there somewhere."

[Fresh_Prince]

tbh his speed + body catching combination reminds me a lot of Shelton Gibson

He bodycaught an important one last night tho

[jojodancer]

Watkins is another good prospect. Hope he gets more snaps before EOY to gain experience. All the sudden, we may be stacked here and not have to address this position. Need to draft for the trenches, LB and CB and we may have something. In this lousy division, we will be the team to beat for quite awhile.

[Br3]

32 minutes ago, Fresh_Prince said:

tbh his speed + body catching combination reminds me a lot of Shelton Gibson

 

Hightower reminding you of another howie bust is not what I like to see when I log in to this website

[Fresh_Prince]

Just now, Br3 said:

Hightower reminding you of another howie bust is not what I like to see when I log in to this website

He's not a hands catcher like Fulgham. It's a flaw for Hightower. He might be better at getting open than Shelton Gibson tho

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 hour ago, Fresh_Prince said:

He's not a hands catcher like Fulgham. It's a flaw for Hightower. He might be better at getting open than Shelton Gibson tho

And he's probably got better hands than Gibson too.

[Alphagrand]

Hightower reminds me of Torrey Smith — straight line speed and made plays going vertical but needed to develop a route tree.  Most of Hightower’s best college tape is catching passes in the seam; the Eagles should try throwing him more slants and see if he can get into open field — but for now he’s doing a good job of getting open running go routes 

[Godfather]

I like his potential 

[Nivraga]

19 hours ago, Talonblood said:

Howie- "Since we can't draft for sh**, we'll get 15 WR's and let them sort themselves out. Should be at least one in there somewhere."

Buddy Ryan used "saturation drafting" to name one. It's not uncommon when you decide to fix 1 position - in this case WR. Fred Barnett (3rd rnd) and Calvin Wiliams (5th rnd) were the 2nd and 3rd WR selected by the Eagles of 4 taken in the 1990 draft - they also had 1 undrafted free agent who was added to the active roster after injuries - Marvin Hargrove

[Br3]

Well good for howie acknowledging he can’t draft for ish so rather than waste another draft on another Mack hollins clone like JJAW, howie just closed his eyes and selected 29 receivers and so far some are actually contributing 
 

 

[EagleVA]

I'm still not understanding why this guy is getting so many snaps, he doesn't attack the ball when it's in the air, hell, he barley looks for the ball when he knows it coming his way, they need to give his snaps to Quez.

[PoconoDon]

Their traits are similar. Both are relatively fast, have trouble catching with their hands, and lack the requisite physicality to win jump balls down the field. Neither one is strong enough to consistently be an effective blocker. Hightower is a rookie, so maybe he hits the weight room and figures out how to catch with his hands. He was a Mountain West prospect so he's already got another strike against him due to being from the "PAC-12 light" conference. Time will tell.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

4 minutes ago, PoconoDon said:

Their traits are similar. Both are relatively fast, have trouble catching with their hands, and lack the requisite physicality to win jump balls down the field. Neither one is strong enough to consistently be an effective blocker. Hightower is a rookie, so maybe he hits the weight room and figures out how to catch with his hands. He was a Mountain West prospect so he's already got another strike against him due to being from the "PAC-12 light" conference. Time will tell.

Agreed but you know what... As a fifth round pick who can stretch the field I think he can be a part of this roster. As a #5 WR I think he will actually be pretty good. 

[ggs5008]

If we have reagor, Fulgham, and Ward, why TF is this guy on the field? Repeatedly can't track a ball. 

[manz2821]

Just now, ggs5008 said:

If we have reagor, Fulgham, and Ward, why TF is this guy on the field? Repeatedly can't track a ball. 

Well technically he only got 10 snaps.  Wentz likes him but he should never been thrown a 50/50 ball.

[EagleVA]

25 minutes ago, manz2821 said:

Well technically he only got 10 snaps.  Wentz likes him but he should never been thrown a 50/50 ball.

That's the problem, every ball thrown to him is a 50/50 due to a lack of separation, to make things worse, he gives lack-luster efforts on the 50/50 balls.  

I'm sure Quez would play better.

[EagleTen]

Hightower is absolute rubbish...I honestly don't know how he is even allowed to suit up for games.

 

He has absolutely zero ball awareness, and is always just looking around for the ball, trying to locate it. He never fights for a ball, and after last night's abysmal attempt by him on the INT throw, he had no idea what was going on, made no attempt to try and stop the DB making the pick, and for one of our fastest (supposedly) guys on the team, made no effort whatsoever to chase down the INT run back...he just jogged after the DB, and never caught up with him at all...until the DB just fell down (tripped up over his own feet) after about 30 yards, and Hightower touched him down.

 

Pathetic!

[kentwo]

All of these negative traits were clear in his pre-draft scouting reports.

It seems another example of Howie's drafting skills. I don't mind taking a flyer on a guy like Hightower, but Watkins has similar flaws and even Reagor to some extent with his catching consistency. So the team has a bunch of fast guys that aren't physical, don't track well, and have marginal hands. Fulgham doesn't have their speed, but runs good routes and attacks the ball in the air.

 

"Has concerning lapses with his ball skills and he struggles to catch the ball outside his frame. Not a consistent finisher. Thin frame and he clearly lacks play strength. Has to develop more technique for clearly press coverage and playing through contact in general. Production was modest in college."

"Hightower has issues with catching some passes, including contested catches. If he can improve here, Hightower can be a real problem after the catch. He will need to add strength to upper body. He should still be able to fill out frame without suffering any drop in speed, which is his true weapon."

"He can get pushed around in press-man coverage and has issues winning 50-50 balls as defensive backs just out-muscle him at the catch point.

Despite having the speed to consistently create separation, Hightower doesn't track the deep ball particularly well either and isn't a good enough route-runner to beat tight coverage consistently. He has struggles at times setting up cornerbacks and doesn't always play to his 40-yard dash speed.

Hightower also needs to improve his hands and timing going for the football, as he allows passes to get deep into his body instead of trusting his hands to make the catch for him. While he has an adequate catch radius to make difficult grabs with extension, he dropped too many catchable balls at the college level."

[EagleVA]

On 10/24/2020 at 12:31 AM, Alphagrand said:

Most of Hightower’s best college tape is catching passes in the seam; the Eagles should try throwing him more slants and see if he can get into open field — but for now he’s doing a good job of getting open running go routes 

I don't think he has the heart for NFL slants, it seems like he's fearing NFL hits.

It's a shame because he's a good runner once he makes the reception but his fear is standing in the way of the receptions.

[EazyEaglez]

In a way we have to thank some of these lesser receivers for not being that good at what they do or for some of these other guys to get injured, because if it weren’t for them doing what they do (or don’t do) Fulgham would never have gotten a chance. And no I don’t give Howie credit for bungling the receiver situation so bad he literally had to throw anything at the wall to see what sticks.

[ManchesterEagle]

23 hours ago, kentwo said:

All of these negative traits were clear in his pre-draft scouting reports.

It seems another example of Howie's drafting skills. I don't mind taking a flyer on a guy like Hightower, but Watkins has similar flaws and even Reagor to some extent with his catching consistency. So the team has a bunch of fast guys that aren't physical, don't track well, and have marginal hands. Fulgham doesn't have their speed, but runs good routes and attacks the ball in the air.

 

"Has concerning lapses with his ball skills and he struggles to catch the ball outside his frame. Not a consistent finisher. Thin frame and he clearly lacks play strength. Has to develop more technique for clearly press coverage and playing through contact in general. Production was modest in college."

"Hightower has issues with catching some passes, including contested catches. If he can improve here, Hightower can be a real problem after the catch. He will need to add strength to upper body. He should still be able to fill out frame without suffering any drop in speed, which is his true weapon."

"He can get pushed around in press-man coverage and has issues winning 50-50 balls as defensive backs just out-muscle him at the catch point.

Despite having the speed to consistently create separation, Hightower doesn't track the deep ball particularly well either and isn't a good enough route-runner to beat tight coverage consistently. He has struggles at times setting up cornerbacks and doesn't always play to his 40-yard dash speed.

Hightower also needs to improve his hands and timing going for the football, as he allows passes to get deep into his body instead of trusting his hands to make the catch for him. While he has an adequate catch radius to make difficult grabs with extension, he dropped too many catchable balls at the college level."

 

18 hours ago, EagleVA said:

I don't think he has the heart for NFL slants, it seems like he's fearing NFL hits.

It's a shame because he's a good runner once he makes the reception but his fear is standing in the way of the receptions.

I don't think you can put Hightower on Howie. He's a fifth round pick. Very few receivers turn into useful players in the lower rounds. He is very flawed but so he should be - you don't get polished NFL ready receivers in the late rounds. He has speed which is something. He needs to not play much and hopefully he develops over the next couple of years.

[Bwestbrook36]

He is doing better in year one then Hollins did his whole career and he was a 5th round pick that wasn't even supposed to be getting playing time. You guys will beetch about anything and anyone 

[HErtzMyWentz1186]

Not a big fan of Hightower so far. not gonna say cut him or anything but i'd be fine with giving any of the other WRs his reps right now.

[eagle45]

Think of how bad Quez Watkins must be for him to get 0 snaps over Hightower.