DeVonta Smith is one of the most universally loved 1st round picks by the Eagles as it fills a big need and there is nothing he doesn’t do well – he had twice as many YAC in college as the next closest receiver, he almost never dropped a ball, and is elite at separating. DeVonta excelled early in camp before a knee injury. But there were other draft hopefuls and below is a check-in on how they are doing (subjectively ordered from best to worst preseason):
1. Patrick Surtain II
Summary: The best start of any of our targets and is going to be great (but DEN should have taken Fields)
Once the Eagles traded down, Surtain was not a realistic draft target as we knew Dallas was very high on him. So far, Surtain is consistently surprising everybody with how ready he is for the NFL and the only player where it’s really hard to find a bad clip or report out of camp. Surtain made his debut known on Saturday with a 94.8 rating, 11 coverage snaps allowing no catches, 1 PBU, and the pick-six that everybody has seen by now. His coverage has been outstanding throughout camp.
The common things you hear are how impressive his versatility, intelligence, and readiness is as he fully understands the position and has played each of the cornerback positions in camp. He is still listed behind Darby and Fuller on the depth chart but he is going to play. Below is his interception of Drew Lock in zone, saying he “just read the quarterback’s eyes and I was just looking for it, he sort of led me to the pick.”
2. Kyle Pitts
Summary: Yikes, I’m worried about week 1…
Zero yards in an unimpressive preseason debut where Pitts couldn’t even make it on the field… Kidding. Not sure why the Falcons didn’t play him and I would have loved to have seen him in an actual game. The Eagles weren’t ever in range to get Pitts but including him because of the pre-draft hope. Of the pass catchers, Pitts (along with Rondale Moore) is probably showing up the most this pre-season. There really weren’t any questions on Pitts coming out of the draft but if there were any, maybe it would be adjusting to NFL corners where he can’t win on just his size and speed. Well, he is doing just that. There are several good clips of his, but two here. First, a ball where both players had their hands on the ball, it pops up off the corner’s knee, and Pitts comes down with it.
And the clip I like better, Pitts fights through a mugging:
Small sample sizes, but I’m encouraged that Chase Claypool was held to nothing in the Eagles first preseason game as he represents the type of mismatch the Eagles haven’t been able to cover. Ryan throwing to Pitts will be a great test of Gannon’s defense…
3. Jaycee Horn
Summary: He looks to be the real deal
Horn has one of the Panthers starting corner spots locked up entering the season but the Panthers don’t have the secondary that the Broncos do. There are some clips of him getting beat and Matt Rhule said he is holding and grabbing too much (which is one of the pre-draft concerns on Horn), but the Panthers are happy with his progress covering Robby Anderson, DJ Moore, and Terrace Marshall in camp. He has shown his ball skills with 3 camp interceptions (but it is Darnold throwing and the INTs were an underthrown ball and two overthrown balls). He also had 1 tip that turned into a Jermaine Carter interception.
4. Jaylen Waddle
Summary: It really looks like it was a stacked WR class…
Most people didn’t believe when Miami said Waddle was their WR target all along (ahead of Chase) but Miami needed a separator – Devante Parker was second to last in the league in separation last year. And this is what Miami is getting with Waddle. Saturday Waddle had a nice return in his first of what will be many punt returns for the Dolphins. In the Dolphins first depth chart, he is listed behind Albert Wilson which is silliness. He will start.
5. Ja’Marr Chase
Summary: Hasn’t gotten off to the “generational talent” start (I’m one of many that thinks CIN should have taken Sewell)
Chase was never in play for the Eagles, but including him here anyway because there was so much hope for him. If you have seen anything on Chase so far, good chance it is people on Twitter posting clips proving he can separate in response to reports that he hasn’t been separating in camp. There weren’t many that were outspoken pre-draft on concerns with Chase, but credit to Eric Crocker who was one that pointed this issue out (link here). Additionally, Chase has dropped a bunch of balls and most surprisingly, not been winning the 50-50 balls which is what he was supposed to be great at. It’s early and Chase hasn’t played in a long while after sitting out, but he has not slid right into the Bengals offense. I think he will be good but for the Chase clip, here is what I am talking about with all the “yeah see, he can separate” tweets out now (and this is vs. ex-Cowboy Chidobe Awuzie, owner of a 52.0 coverage grade last year and allowed a 149 passer rating vs. Hurts in week 16 so calm down Bengals fans…)
Caleb Farley
Summary: Struggling, and not just physically
Caleb was an early draft favorite (including mine) but became untouchable after his back surgery. He was cleared to practice recently but has had a rough go in Titans camp as he hasn’t played real football in almost two years. First, he has shown some bad body language and was pulled from the practice field after not trying on a play – Coach Mike Vrabel said “He made a mistake or didn’t do something great, and kind of stood there and laid on the ground, and I said, ‘That is not how we are going to do it.’” And then Caleb was pulled from the first preseason game as Vrabel said he is just not ready.
Great read to see how all of the players we had mocked are doing! Agreed with Bengals analysis. They needed that OL, bad!
The skill positions are always glitzy as top picks but there’s just a bigger drop off into round 2 with tackles compared to WRs. Also, minimizing pressure on the QB has a dramatic impact on the passing game (over a 100 point DVOA delta). I am sure Chase will be very good but we see what a long-term JP or Lane or Runyan or Tra and now Mailata mean to the offense. Just Lane being out alone kills this offense.