5 Philadelphia Eagles who are underrated entering the 2020 NFL Season

[UK_EaglesFan89]

5 Philadelphia Eagles who are underrated entering the 2020 NFL Season

By Glenn Erby | 15 hours ago

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The Philadelphia Eagles enter the 2020 NFL season with a solid team that has postseason potential and room for more if some big-name stars are able to remain healthy.

The Eagles are stacked at several positions but there are several key players that enter this upcoming season criminally underrated.

Here’s five Philadelphia Eagles that are underrated entering the 2020 NFL season.

TE Dallas Goedert

Ertz is the big dawg in terms of name recognition and status, but it’s Goedert who helps make the engine go via pass-catching and run blocking. Goedert is a top-ten tight end and we’ll have every right to demand significant compensation when his turn arises. At times last season, Goedert had earned an 81.4 PFF grade that ranked seventh at the position despite not being a deep threat. On targets of less than 10 yards downfield, Goedert was PFF’s third-highest-graded tight end, and he was second in yards after the catch per reception at 8.6. Combine that with his run blocking prowess and Howie Roseman has a decision to make.

CB Sidney Jones

Jones has had some terrible moments over the past two seasons, but his play hasn’t been as bad as advertised. Despite what was assumed, Jones quietly had a good 2019 season when he was on the field and put in a position to make plays. In the 300 snaps, Jones played, he gave up a 69.9 passer rating when targeted, good for 13th best among cornerbacks last season with min 150 coverage snaps.

In the last 4 games of the season when he suddenly found his groove again, Jones gave up 4 catches on 11 targets for 25 yards, along with 4 pass breakups, 1 interception, and a 50 passer rating.

Look for Jones to have a breakout 2020 season.

LG Isaac Seumalo

The least known attribute to the Eagles offensive line success over the past two seasons, Seumalo has been better than advertised and deserves to have some respect put on his name. No, Seumalo didn’t land on the list of highest graded linemen like Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Brandon Brooks, but he was still solid last season. Kelce called him underrated during a conference call earlier this week and if you take away his performance against Grady Jarrett, Seumalo was better than expected.

S K’Von Wallace

Yes, we know Wallace is a rookie and hasn’t played a down in the NFL, but there’s something to be said about him slipping to the fourth-round and becoming a big-time blessing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Wallace is an explosive, alpha-male, who’ll join Darius Slay and Will Parks in bringing some newfound energy to the secondary. A famed swizz-army knife, look for Wallace to play big in the box, slide out to the slot, and blitz the quarterback like a seasoned linebacker.

DE Derek Barnett

For all the discussion about his penchant for undisciplined play and penalties, Barnett is better than his statistics suggest and he’ll be a main cog in the Eagles retooled defense.

Barnett will only be turning 24 next. month and he’s still learning the intricacies of the game while developing his own style of play. Analyst and pundits talk about the 6.5 sacks last season and the 14 total since he was drafted in 2017. You can’t account for his motor or the fact that Barnett was tied for 16th in the NFL with 22 quarterback hits despite missing two games. When healthy he gets to the quarterback.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/theeagleswire.usatoday.com/2020/05/15/philadelphia-eagles-underrated-players-2020-nfl-season/amp/

Goedert can definitely contribute more if the coaches really figure out how to use him and Ertz together. Not expecting much from Jones though. 

[jsb235]

I guess the author really thinks Wallace is underrated to put him on the list twice.

I would throw TJ Edwards on this list, as well as Greg Ward. Edwards was by far our best LB last year and should be starting. Ward did nothing but make catches when he was on the field. I see a lot of people having Ward not even making the roster, which is just crazy. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 minute ago, jsb235 said:

I guess the author really thinks Wallace is underrated to put him on the list twice.

Don't know why it does that. It did it before but I noticed before I posted the thread. For some reason my phone isn't copying the highlighted text consistently so it pasted the same info twice. Good spot.

[Procus]

2 hours ago, jsb235 said:

I guess the author really thinks Wallace is underrated to put him on the list twice.

I would throw TJ Edwards on this list, as well as Greg Ward. Edwards was by far our best LB last year and should be starting. Ward did nothing but make catches when he was on the field. I see a lot of people having Ward not even making the roster, which is just crazy. 

I've seen others predict Wallace as a sleeper.  I guess time will tell.

[time2rock]

Jones underrated?  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 hour ago, time2rock said:

Jones underrated?  

I guess he is... Nobody is expecting anything from him but he was a second round pick who barring injury would have been first round. 

[Uscg-green]

Jones will be playing for his career this year so maybe he will play with more consistency.

[time2rock]

7 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I guess he is... Nobody is expecting anything from him but he was a second round pick who barring injury would have been first round. 

To me underrated means playing better than getting recognized for.  That does not describe Sydney Jones thus far.  

[Ross]

Can we just put the USA Today / Eaglewire garbage in the same crap-bucket with with the ESP stuff?

Every single "article" boils down to one of these two things, neither of which is useful:

1) a poorly written re-hash of something that appeared in a legit Philly paper / news site

2) a totally ignorant opinion that shows no actual knowledge of the team

They really are a waste of time.

[Rob331]

Not so fast - Goedert is not underrated,  Jones is a big fat maybe, Seumalo might be underrated, rookies don't belong in this discussion, and Barnett has disappointed for 3 years now. 

[ManchesterEagle]

On 5/17/2020 at 2:26 AM, time2rock said:

To me underrated means playing better than getting recognized for.  That does not describe Sydney Jones thus far.  

Agreed - Sidney Jones doesn't belong on this list. Neither does K'von Wallace. People are relatively high on him and he is a rookie. He could be described as a good value draft pick, but he hasn't done anything to be underrated for yet.

There are arguments for the other 3. Goedert is rated, but I agree people may not recognise how well he has played.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

34 minutes ago, ManchesterEagle said:

Goedert is rated, but I agree people may not recognise how well he has played.

I know I certainly hadn't realised just how well and much he produced during the final 10 games of last year! Really impressive, not far off Ertz really. 

[ManchesterEagle]

50 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I know I certainly hadn't realised just how well and much he produced during the final 10 games of last year! Really impressive, not far off Ertz really. 

I think he's potentially better, especially with his blocking ability.

As hard as it is, I think we have to trade Ertz after this year. I can't see how we can keep them both long term and Goedert is 4 years younger.

[EricAllenPick6]

On 5/16/2020 at 9:40 AM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

Look for Jones to have a breakout 2020 season.

Hey, it's GROUNDHOG day all over again!  It must be the preseason because all of a sudden we see articles about how good Jones is gonna be this year.  

[EricAllenPick6]

4 hours ago, Rob331 said:

Not so fast - Goedert is not underrated,  Jones is a big fat maybe, Seumalo might be underrated, rookies don't belong in this discussion, and Barnett has disappointed for 3 years now. 

I dunno.  This moment may have been worth it...

 

[dawkins4prez]

Jones has flashed legit skills pretty much every time he has been 100%, which hasn't been often, but still.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

6 hours ago, ManchesterEagle said:

I think he's potentially better, especially with his blocking ability.

As hard as it is, I think we have to trade Ertz after this year. I can't see how we can keep them both long term and Goedert is 4 years younger.

I agree with you. It's a really tough decision to have to make but I think it's the decision that they have to go with. Otherwise picking Goedert really doesn't make any sense. 

[time2rock]

13 hours ago, ManchesterEagle said:

Agreed - Sidney Jones doesn't belong on this list. Neither does K'von Wallace. People are relatively high on him and he is a rookie. He could be described as a good value draft pick, but he hasn't done anything to be underrated for yet.

There are arguments for the other 3. Goedert is rated, but I agree people may not recognise how well he has played.

Agreed on Wallace ... no rookies should be on an overrated/underrated list.  

[ManchesterEagle]

5 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I agree with you. It's a really tough decision to have to make but I think it's the decision that they have to go with. Otherwise picking Goedert really doesn't make any sense. 

Unless things work out really well on the wide receiver front, I think we will probably need to go high again with wide receiver in 2021. We definitely need to add talent on the D as well and may be looking for a Kelce replacement, so if we say got a second for Ertz that would help us address more needs. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

10 minutes ago, ManchesterEagle said:

Unless things work out really well on the wide receiver front, I think we will probably need to go high again with wide receiver in 2021. We definitely need to add talent on the D as well and may be looking for a Kelce replacement, so if we say got a second for Ertz that would help us address more needs. 

I doubt they will go WR high again but yeah I would agree they should unless things all work out with Goodwin, Hightower and Watkins plus of course JJAW would need to develop in to a good player and Reagor would need to work out as we hope he does.

We definitely need an X receiver, potentially a slot receiver though that can be a mid round pick and we need a center to replace Kelce.

[ManchesterEagle]

38 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I doubt they will go WR high again but yeah I would agree they should unless things all work out with Goodwin, Hightower and Watkins plus of course JJAW would need to develop in to a good player and Reagor would need to work out as we hope he does.

We definitely need an X receiver, potentially a slot receiver though that can be a mid round pick and we need a center to replace Kelce.

We will definitely have to wait and see. I truly believe Reagor will be really good. I'm really interested to see how Ward develops. He doesn't really have size or speed, but loved his route running and seems to have chemistry with Wentz. Could go either way.

I have no faith that Goodwin, Hightower or Watkins will turn into anything more than role players. It will be a huge bonus if they do. I actually think a lot rests of JJAW. Can he develop into Alshon's replacement? If not, I suspect we will need to go high again in the draft.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

1 minute ago, ManchesterEagle said:

We will definitely have to wait and see. I truly believe Reagor will be really good. I'm really interested to see how Ward develops. He doesn't really have size or speed, but loved his route running and seems to have chemistry with Wentz. Could go either way.

I have no faith that Goodwin, Hightower or Watkins will turn into anything more than role players. It will be a huge bonus if they do. I actually think a lot rests of JJAW. Can he develop into Alshon's replacement? If not, I suspect we will need to go high again in the draft.

Yeah I mean we both agree on Reagor and I think he has the potential to be an absolute beast in the NFL. As for Ward, I mean plenty of really good NFL players have perhaps lacked the ideal size or speed but they just know what to do on the football field. Ward seems to be one of those players. As you say he has chemistry with Wentz and seems to be in the right places and has that rapport with Wentz. The fact they did that when Ward came in during the regular season is really encouraging. Wentz trusts him to be in the right spots.

See I really like Goodwin but the injuries are an issue. And I really think there is potential with Hightower and Watkins but the likelihood is that they don't work out. But in any other WR draft class they would have gone earlier.

[QBhunter58]

On 5/16/2020 at 1:53 PM, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I guess he is... Nobody is expecting anything from him but he was a second round pick who barring injury would have been first round. 

I haven't given up on sid, no expectations. He just needs to put his nose to the grindstone and develop a little swagger, he has good physical tools.

[jsb235]

1 hour ago, ManchesterEagle said:

We will definitely have to wait and see. I truly believe Reagor will be really good. I'm really interested to see how Ward develops. He doesn't really have size or speed, but loved his route running and seems to have chemistry with Wentz. Could go either way.

I have no faith that Goodwin, Hightower or Watkins will turn into anything more than role players. It will be a huge bonus if they do. I actually think a lot rests of JJAW. Can he develop into Alshon's replacement? If not, I suspect we will need to go high again in the draft.

Ward runs a lot of timing routes and back shoulder throws, which require timing and precise route running, and have almost nothing to do with speed. If you watch his tape, a lot of his catches come from throws that are made well before he comes out of a break. If Reagor can be the next coming of Desean, the two could work really well together.

As far as JJ, his best role might not be as the next Alshon, but as the next Ertz, who is mostly an H back in our offense when two tight ends are on the field, and who often flexes into the x. This is a role that Perkins played last year against the Giants, and JJ seems like he could transition into it, especially if the team moves on from Ertz. His blocking is probably at least as good as Perkins right now, and isn't that far behind Ertz, who is terrible at it. If his route running improves, it would be a perfect role for him and would fit with what they want to do on offense.

[time2rock]

2 hours ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

We definitely need an X receiver, potentially a slot receiver though that can be a mid round pick and we need a center to replace Kelce.

That really depends on the development of JJAW.  If he puts it together that eliminates the need.  Too early to write him off.  **fingers crossed**