The real Reagor may be back in final month
The coronavirus pandemic and an injury that cost him five games have prevented Eagles rookie Jalen Reagor from unleashing his talents, which belie his inauspicious statistics.
That doesn’t mean the explosive wide receiver believes he won’t be able to do something about that disparity over the final month of the regular season, and whatever might come after it.
Reagor, who was the Eagles’ firstround draft choice, has just 20 catches for 256 yards and a touchdown as a receiver and has been used as the primary punt returner just seven times this season, calling for a fair catch on four of them.
But last Sunday’s 30-16 loss at Green Bay gave everyone a glimpse into his bright future when Reagor returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown to cut the Packers’ lead to seven points with plenty of time remaining in the fourth quarter. He also caught a 34-yard pass from new starting quarterback Jalen Hurts on his only target of the game.
There’s no reason to believe he can’t begin to deliver those kinds of vertical plays regularly with a little more practice, which he was denied for a while due to an injury during an abbreviated training camp that followed a virtual offseason with no minicamp or OTAs. Then he suffered another injury after the season began.
All of that interfered with bonding and developing rapport with the quarterbacks.
“It’s been a different type of year,” Reagor said. “Usually you can do team bonding and stuff outside of the locker room, and now it’s about being, you
know, socially distant. So it’s kind of tough because you know[there are] a lot of guys that you don’t really get to know and just establishing that bond of a team we really couldn’t do or maximize ... just because of the year it’s been.
“I’m really looking forward to [a full offseason]. I missed five games, and that’s a lot of reps, considering how much I play now,” he said. “So just imagine if I had those five games, all those reps, all those looks. It does set you back, but I can’t make excuses. I just have to pick up where I left off.”
Reagor hasn’t fully tapped into his speed because heplays slow at times, thinking his way through routes or flat-out going the wrong way. Those growing pains will ease with experience.
He already has the personality to mesh with any of the quarterbacks but on Wednesday spoke of his special bond with fellow rookie Hurts, the starter until further notice. Thoughthey were never teammates in college, they were friends before being drafted by the Eagles.
“Through the college football world, we met through that and played against each other and been communicating ever since,” Reagor said. “It’s about expanding on it and taking it to the field.
We’ve got to take that chemistry that we already have and just expand onit in games, in practice, for us to have success.”
Reagor hasn’t been trusted to return most punts because of shaky ball security. He had troubles in training camp and has muffed two returns this season. However, one of them was the TD on Sunday, when he quickly scooped up the loose ball and started making defenders miss. The play was not unlike DeSean Jackson’s game-winning punt return for a TD against the New York Giants on the final play of a game 10 years ago this month.
But special teams coordinator Dave Fipp earlier this week expressed confidencethat Reagor
will develop in that area too.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in him,” Fipp said. “I mean, I still see us using a combination of both Greg Ward and Jalen. I think Jalen’s doneagreat job. Obviously he’s got to continue to work on catching the football. He’s put two onthe ground nowthis season for us, so he’s got to continue to work on that, there’s no question about that.
“You know, he was out for five weeks there,” he said. “During that five weekshehadthatthumb injury, so he wasn’t able to catch balls. Wasn’t able to catch a pass, much less a punt. ... Then when he came back, he was also playing ... I think 77% of the offensive snaps or something like that. So,
he’s definitely got a lot onhis plate.
“So I think we’ll just try to manage him the best we can and keep trying to take advantage of his skill set andhis ability to make big plays for us. At the same time, just manage his load,” Fipp said.
The key for Reagor is wanting to be great. That part is not an issue.
The desire is there. The talent is there.
All that’s left to make it happen is continuity that they haven’t been able to achieve, but figure to if there are no more setbacks the rest of the way.