What if the Eagles hadn't drafted Nelson Agholor?

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Nelson Agholor is just a year-and-a-half removed from being the 20th overall pick in the NFL draft.

It's safe to say the Eagles' second-year receiver has been a disappointment. Agholor has posted just 44 catches for 499 yards with two touchdowns in 20 NFL games. He's also had only four catches over 20 yards and averaged just 11.3 yards per catch.

Looking back at that draft, Chip Kelly, in his first and only season as the team's GM, made a terrible mistake: He drafted for need. With Jeremy Maclin's leaving in free agency after posting 85 catches for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns, the Eagles desperately needed help at wide receiver. Many projected Agholor to be Maclin's ideal replacement. That has not come to fruition.

Looking at the picks after No. 20, there really weren't many great options. Here is a list of the players taken after Agholor in the first round:

21. Bengals: Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Texas A&M

22. Steelers: Bud Dupree, OLB, Kentucky      

23. Broncos (from Lions): Shane Ray, DE, Missouri     

24. Cardinals: D.J. Humphries, OT, Florida

25. Panthers: Shaq Thompson, OLB, Washington       

26. Ravens: Breshad Perriman, WR, Central Florida

27. Cowboys: Byron Jones, CB, Connecticut 

28. Lions (from Broncos): Laken Tomlinson, OG, Duke           

29. Colts: Phillip Dorsett, WR, Miami           

30. Packers: Damarious Randall, FS, Arizona State  

31. Saints (from Seahawks): Stephone Anthony, ILB              

32. Patriots: Malcom Brown, DT, Texas

There really isn't much to swoon over here. There are only four picks that would've been definitively better: Byron Jones, Damarious Randall, Stephone Anthony and Malcom Brown. With Anthony, you can't complain too much because Chip would go on to draft Jordan Hicks two rounds later. You can't really complain about Brown either with Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan in the fold. 

Jones, an athletic freak, has turned into an important piece of the Cowboys' surprising secondary. Randall has potential and would be an upgrade over just about any corner on the Eagles' roster (although he is currently sidelined with a groin injury).

Many Eagles fans were clamoring for offensive linemen, which is fair considering Lane Johnson was the only lineman the team drafted during Kelly's tenure. None of the linemen taken after Agholor have really panned out either.

The two receivers are kind of mired in the same spot as Agholor. Breshad Perriman's issue has simply been health. He missed his entire rookie season with a partially torn PCL. During this training camp, he partially tore his ACL, but he's made the decision to play through the injury.

What's scary is that Perriman's numbers aren't that far off from Agholor's. Perriman this season has 14 catches for 183 yards. So Agholor has only seven more catches and 33 more yards than a guy who suffered an ACL injury in training camp. Perriman also has three catches of 20-plus yards to Agholor's one. That's troubling.

The other receiver is Phillip Dorsett. Dorsett is a burner, but he hasn't exploded on the scene like many thought he would in the Colts' offense. Dorsett has 36 catches for 511 yards and two touchdowns in 18 career games. Like Agholor, Dorsett has struggled to get open. Unlike Agholor, Dorsett has also been kept off the top of the depth chart by T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief.

Maybe Jones or Randall could have flourished in the Eagles' secondary. Maybe if the Eagles had taken Perriman and he stayed healthy, he would have provided them a legitimate deep threat. Maybe had they taken Dorsett, he would have performed better with the volume of reps Agholor has received. 

Unfortunately, the Eagles can't deal in hypotheticals, as a certain head coach used to say. Agholor was the pick and he's likely here to stay. It's now up to Howie Roseman to clean up another Chip Kelly mess and get Carson Wentz a legitimate receiver.

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