The Eagles addressed their most desperate need Thursday when they selected TCU wide receiver Jalen Reagor with the 21st pick in the draft.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Reagor joins a wide receiver room with virtually no young talent. The only receivers currently in their 20s on the roster who’ve ever caught an NFL pass are Greg Ward, Deontay Burnett, Robert Davis and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside.
Veterans DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery are both in their 30s, coming off serious injuries and several years removed from their last big-time seasons.
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“(I’m) able to do everything like every other receiver (in the draft),” Reagor said. “People may look at my size and think maybe I can't or my wingspan or my catch radius, but I feel like I can do everything as good as everybody else. … Me being a smaller receiver, I can still be a deep threat because I can jump out of the gym. So, I just feel like that just elevates my game."
Reagor had a big sophomore year with 72 catches for 1,061 yards and nine touchdowns before dropping to 43-for-611-5 this past season. In 39 games at TCU, he caught 148 passes for 2,248 yards, 22 TDs and a 15.2 average.
He also averaged 9.3 yards on 35 carries and averaged 17.8 yards on 23 punt returns.
“I play running back, I played a little bit of quarterback, I'm a little bit of a return specialist,” he said at the Combine. “So I can pretty much do it all. … wherever you would need me on the field, I feel like I can thrive.”
NFL
Reagor is the third TCU player the Eagles have selected in the last five drafts, following late-round offensive linemen Halapoulivaati Vaitai in the fifth round in 2016 and Matt Pryor in the sixth round in 2018.
He’s the first Texas Christian player the Eagles have drafted in the first round since quarterback Davy O’Brien in 1939.
The Eagles have drafted 10 receivers in the last decade, and only two are currently with the team – J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Shelton Gibson -- and they have 13 combined career catches.
Reagor is the first wide receiver Howie Roseman has taken in the first round. Nelson Agholor, a 2015 first-round pick, was taken in Chip Kelly’s one year as GM.
Reagor’s dad, Montae Reagor, was a second-round pick out of Texas Tech in 1999 and spent nine years as a defensive tackle in the NFL. He finished his career in 2007 with the Eagles, playing in seven games.
The Reagors are the Eagles’ second father-son duo. Tight end John Goode played for the Eagles in 1985 and his son Najee played linebacker for the Eagles from 2014 through 2017 and was with the Jaguars last year.
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