Hightower going home to Washington for debut
PHILADELPHIA » Rookie wide receiver John Hightower grew up two minutes from FedEx Field in Landover, Md., where the Eagles oppose the Washington Football Team in the season opener Sunday.
A right turn here, a left there and voila ... football. Hightower also knows the shortcuts in case you want to leave the car home.
“It would probably take me seven minutes to walk it,” said Hightower, who starred at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, five miles south of the stadium. “It was a great feeling finding the first game was at the Redskins’ stadium – the Washington Football Team stadium. Just because, you know, I was hoping that all my family and everybody could be there.”
Hightower came off the board in the fifth round of the April draft. The schedule came out in May. A lot of folks figured the coronavirus pandemic would ease enough for the NFL to play a normal season.
Instead, no fans will be in attendance Sunday at FedEx and Hightower and the Eagles will be isolated in a hotel for the trip.
Obviously not the way Hightower or anybody had it figured. The same, however, cannot be said of his progress throughout training camp.
In the camp practices open to the media, the 6-2, 190-pound Hightower played at least as fast as the 4.43 he clocked in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, and that was impressive.
The Boise State product not only got off the line, which was supposed to be a weakness, he got open against virtually everyone including shutdown cornerback Darius Slay. To be sure, Slay won a lot more of those battles than he lost.
Hightower was so quick, Eagles coaches had to review the film to understand just what they had. He also brought attention to himself using his length and his body to shield the ball from defenders. He got up in the air first and screened defenders to catch fades.
All Carson Wentz, Nate Sudfeld and sometimes Jalen Hurts had to do was throw the ball to a spot in the end zone, and Hightower did the rest.
“He just told me to keep doing what I’m doing,” Hightower said. “Make sure I’m in the right place at the right time, and make sure the timing is right.”
At times, the No. 82 Hightower wore in camp was mistaken for fellow rookie Quez Watkins (80), who had a solid camp until a lower body injury interfered. Or even tight end Zach Ertz, who says he’s in the best shape of his life.
Hightower was that smooth. He also expects to be more than a fade threat.
“I definitely feel like I can be a complete receiver,” Hightower said. “Everybody is talking a lot about my speed but I feel like I definitely have other facets to my game.”
Hightower led Boise State last season with
943 receiving yards, averaging 18.4 yards on
51 catches. He also scored eight TDs.
Unless Alshon Jeffery has a miraculous recovery from his surgically repaired foot, or rookie first-round pick Jalen Reagor bounces back quicker than expected from a lower body setback, Hightower is going to get snaps this weekend both offensively and on special teams. He has kickoff return ability, having averaged 24.6 yards, and a love for the game, the latter one of the criteria the Eagles coveted along with health and speed from the beginning of their youth movement.
Veteran DeSean Jackson and Greg Ward will be the starting wideouts if the Eagles open in 12 personnel with tight ends Ertz and Dallas Goedert, and Jackson will get plenty of attention, having torched the Football Team in the opener last season.
But Hightower and JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who had an outstanding camp, are the next guys up, and they’re as ready as you can be after a preseason without exhibition games.
“Looking at John Hightower, who has done a good job in camp, he’s really earned a spot on our roster and really looking forward to seeing him,” head coach Doug Pederson said. “He’s another one we’ve got to get caught up with the game plan and narrow some things down with him.”
It’s safe to say the Hightower family also circled the Eagles’ opener the minute the schedule came out. Grandpa Hightower, according to grandson John, is a diehard Football Team fan.
“Yeah, everybody in my household were (Washington) fans,” Hightower said. “I wasn’t, though. Now, they’re all Eagles fans.”
The Hightowers won’t be able to attend the game. But if they want to slip in the parking lot to give John a hello, he knows the way. It’s only a seven-minute walk.