Fulgham the fulcrum
Without the receiver, Philly is a last-place team. How did the breakout star come so far so fast?
In just five games, wide receiver Travis Fulgham has made such an impact with the Eagles that his statistics compare to Terrell Owens’ time in Philadelphia and his skill set and playing ability reminds experts of players like Al sh on Jeffery and Mike Quick.
Without Fulgham, the first-place Eagles (3-4-1) almost certainly would be in last place in the NFCEast.
From the time he burst upon the scene with a dramatic, over-the-shoulder, game-deciding touch down catch against the San Francisco 49 er sam on th ago until his most recent reception, a 9- yard touchdown on third down that put the Eagles ahead of the Dallas Cowboys for good last Sunday, Fulgham has been a Godsend. His 435 receiving yards and four TDs lead the team. And his 29 total receptions trail only Greg Ward, who was with the team from the start.
Actually, Fulgham was too, but only as a member of the practice squad. The Eagles didn’t promote him to the active roster until Week4,after losing receivers DeSean Jackson, Jalen Reagor and Quez Watkins and tight end Dallas Goedert to injuries and never having Jeffery available.
So how could a player nobody was talking about and few fans had even heard of before training camp, a walk-on at FCS Old Dominion five years earlier and a man who had been cut four times by three NFL teams ina span of less than one year become such a proven sensation in such a short time?
Opportunity, says renowned Philadelphia amateur and pro football expert Ray Didinger, nowananalyst for NBCSports Philadelphia.
“He gets drafted and gets cut by two teams and then he comes here and it all just happens,” Didinger said. “I mean, that part of it you do see. A guy can bounce between a couple different teams and then he goes to a third team or a fourth team and, just because the opportunity’s there and maybe the system is a fit, all of a sudden, it just happens.”
Coaching, says NFL Draft expert Brad Kelly.
“The talent was there ,” Kelly said ,“but the coaches have done the correct thing getting himin the right spots.”
Kelly wrote a glowing scouting report on Fulgham before the 2019 draft that praised his route-running, contested-catch and pass-tracking skills and called him “potentially the best stalk blocker among wide receivers in the entire NFLDraft class.”
The only potential drawback was that he ran a 4.53 40-yard dash. Not bad, by any means. But certainly not fast enough to be classified as one of the top receivers coming out of college.
Otherwise, Fulgham is not only a legitimate 6-foot-2, but his extra-long arms (33.75 inches) give him the wingspan (80.87 inches) expected of someone who’s 6-9. What’s more, he’s already earned the trust of coach Doug Pederson, wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead and, most importantly, quarter back Carson Wentz.
So with all that was known about him going in, is there an inherent flaw in the NFL system that allows a player of Fulgham’s ability to be typecast as essentially a camp body? Because that’s what he still would be if not for an extraordinary set of circumstances that forced him into emergency action.
Not necessarily, Didinger cautions. “Everybody thinks that this drafting thing is easy,” Didinger said, “and I know from experience, it ain’t.”
Often the Eagles’ biggest critic, Didinger himself tallied 17 positives and three negatives in his J.J. Arcega-Whiteside ledger before last year’s draft, in which Arcega-Whiteside went to the Eagles in the second round andFulgh am landed in Detroit four rounds later.
Did in ger endorsed the decision despite D.K. Metcalf, Terry McLaurin and, of course,Fulgham, still being on the board.
Arcega-Whiteside’s career has never taken off. Metcalf’s, McLaurin’s and Fulgham’s careers have,.
Everything seems to point to dumb luck more than anything else that brought Fulgham and the Eagles to this intersection, which could reshape the for tunes of more than just one franchise.
Fulgham was available to any team before the draft and again as recently as September, when he was re-signed to the Eagles’ practice squad after clearing waivers.
He lasted just nine days with the Green Bay Packers during training camp this year.
“I don’ t know what happened in Green
Bay,” Didinger said, “but when I think of him working with Aaron Rodgers, I think that would have been a pretty good marriage. With a quarterback that can sling it like Aaron Rodgers, that would have worked out pretty well, I think.”
Fulgh am worked with another prolific pass er, Matthew Stafford, in Detroit after the Lions drafted him in the sixth round last year. But Fulgham played in just three games as a rookie, with no catches in three targets.
His short time with the Packers came immediately after being let go by the Lions during camp this year. The Eagles claimed him off waivers when the Packers cut him.
But it’s not like they knew what they had. Fulgham did not survive the final cuts coming out of training camp, but was offered a job on their practice squad — an entry level position on a team that wasn’t exactly overloaded with talent at his position.
“That’ s one of the things that’ s so fascinating about about this game and about this business is you just never know,” Didinger said. “You do all the homework in the world and all the testing in the world and then in the end, you just never know.”
Fulgham, despite lacking elite speed, does everything well. He gets open deep as well as in seams over the middle, he overpowers corners with his large frame and freakish wingspan and he runs precise routes.
For Fulgham, it’s still one foot in front of the other — balance that perhaps comes from being exposed to a vast array of situations and sports while growing up abroad.
All that remains for Fulghamnowisto be paid, and the Eagles would be wise to lock himinto a contract extension.
Now that they’ve stumbled onto a major building block, it would be egregious to let himget away.