Eagles snap counts: Eagles need more out of their other receivers

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Quez Watkins and Jalen Reagor played a combined 84 snaps in Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Chargers.

They combined to have three catches for three yards. Watkins had 2 catches for 9 yards and Reagor had one for -6.

In a game where DeVonta Smith had five catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, his fellow receivers did next to nothing.

Here’s how the receiver snap counts broke down on Sunday:

  • Quez Watkins: 55 snaps (96%)
  • DeVonta Smith: 44 snaps (77%)
  • Jalen Reagor: 29 snaps (51%)
  • John Hightower: 2 snaps (4%)
  • Greg Ward Jr.: 1 snap (2%)

The reason Watkins got so many snaps was because he was the lone receiver when the Eagles went to their 13 personnel package as they ran down the Chargers’ throats for a while. So those snaps count, but there were probably fewer opportunities to produce for him than that high snap count indicates.

Still, the Eagles aren’t getting enough out of their receivers outside of Smith. Reagor has been very disappointing in his second NFL season. The 2020 first-round pick has just 21 catches for 159 yards (7.6) and 2 touchdowns.

More offensive notes

Running back snaps were evenly distributed between Boston Scott (25) and Jordan Howard (23), while rookie Kenny Gainwell got 11. Howard had a big game with 17 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. Scott had 10 for 40.

The Eagles played a lot of snaps with multiple tight ends. Dallas Goedert was out there for 53 plays, followed by Jack Stoll (28) and Tyree Jackson (14). This was Jackson’s NFL debut.

Jalen Hurts and his offensive line played all 57 snaps. This is the fourth time this year that has happened in nine games.

Defensive notes

T.J. Edwards and Davion Taylor are clearly the Eagles top linebackers. Edwards played 66 of 68 snaps on Sunday and Taylor played 49. Genard Avery is the other ‘backer in the base package; he played 31. Alex Singleton, who leads the team in tackles, played just 10 snaps.

With injuries to Darius Slay (hamstring) and Avonte Maddox (knee), rookie Zech McPhearson and special teamer Andre Chachere were forced into action on defense. McPhearson played 24 snaps on defense and Chachere played 11.

Fletcher Cox (57 snaps) and Derek Barnett (55) played the most snaps on the D-line. The entire unit failed to get pressure and allowed Justin Herbert to play his first NFL game without getting sacked.

It’s a shame to see Ryan Kerrigan become such an afterthought. This is a guy with 95 1/2 career sacks. After playing 12 snaps on Sunday, he has played 204 this season. He has one tackle and two quarterback hits.

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